My upcoming launch to NBC 4

When astronauts once dreamed of going to the moon, when they were children they undoubtedly looked up at sky and wondered if they would ever get there. In a similar way, I looked to NBC 4 in Washington and asked the same question. Always having an interest in news and media, always wanting to be in the know and on the scene in the Nation’s Capital, I always wanted to work for Channel 4. Beginning next week I will set foot on the moon.

In my role of writing for the station’s website, NBCWashington.com, and working on the Assignment Desk for News 4, a dream of mine will become reality, furthering a burgeoning journalism career that began when I was still in high school. While I got my start in video and TV, many know I also was given the opportunity to become a news reporter at News & Messenger in Prince William, Virginia. I covered my hometown, and through my insight and experience was able to connect to stories in ways others couldn’t. Thankfully, someone at Channel 4 took notice and decided they wanted to me come work there.

When John F. Kennedy made his case to go to the moon, uttering the words “we choose to go to the moon in this decade, and do the other things not because they are easy but because they are hard...,” it set the tone that forced the space program within 10 years to break the bounds of earth for a journey to another world. My journey, thus far, has taken a decade. Through trials and tribulations, joyful gains and heart-breaking loss – some of which I brought on myself, and the others, like most, happened unexpectedly. But it was the tough moments and hard times that made me push on, to never let go of the dream and to never forget where I came from. I owe many for helping me along this journey still in transit. They are the ones I can’t forget when I finally arrive at my destination. 

The rocket is now on the launch pad the countdown clock is ticking. I hope you will come along with me during my adventure at NBC 4. I’ll be working to bring you all the news alongside many of the same faces in the business that I have long admired. But as usual I’ll bring my own style and my own newsgathering tools, especially Twitter and Facebook, so you and we can keep the conversation going. This is one takeoff I sure don’t want to miss.

Hanging up the daily reporter's hat

It’s time for a change.


Beginning Sept. 20, I’ll hang up my News & Messenger reporter hat for a job developing websites and producing video for businesses.

I am very excited about my new endeavor, and it will be a new and welcomed challenge for me much different from chasing the news each day.

For the past four years I have worked at the offices of News & Messenger, starting when it was still the Manassas Journal Messenger. I worked in the advertising department, helping businesses market themselves to the community they served.

From there I took an unusual turn, accepting a smaller paycheck and following my passion back into the news business - where I had started in TV many years before - to a weekly paper in Stafford County affiliated with News & Messenger, the Stafford County Sun.

It was there, and after my transition to the Potomac News in Woodbridge, that I quickly learned how to paint a picture with words, and how to ask specific questions to tell the story – unlike my days in TV where we often asked “how does this make you feel?”

While at News & Messenger, I have been privileged to cover so many different people who care about the community in which they live and serve.

That community is the same place that I call home.

During my time at News & Messenger, I've written bad stories, good ones, stories that you think and ones that made you want to help others during a time when so many people these days need some kind of help.

I’ve also been honored to work with some of the most passionate people in the business, all dedicated to not only getting the news of the day but looking for the local angle of each story, explaining why and how the story affects the reader.
More than a learning experience, it has been an adventure that I wouldn’t trade for anything.

I’ll be around from time to time, keeping a presence on the Web, writing about what matters to our community and featuring the voices that make it whole.

I’m a journalist at heart, and there will always be a story to tell.