What has your life been like since leaving Southeastern? What do you do for a
living? And have you married and/or had children?
During my senior year at SLU, I decided to do an internship at WAFB (after Lester Kenyon convinced me!) I stayed there for 23 more years in various roles, from 6 p.m. and morning show producer to assignments manager and handling special coverage for the station. I left news in 2019 and joined the team at Louisiana Economic Development. I currently work as the project manager for strategic communications. While I do occasionally miss the adrenaline surge of live news coverage, I do not miss working seven days a week during big events and sleeping on an air mattress during hurricane coverage. I got married in 2002 and have two kids — Noah, who will be 13 in March, and 19-year-old Hannah, who began her first year of college in Washington, D.C. And, yes, this mama is struggling with her baby girl being so far away.
What do you remember most about your time at Southeastern and working with student publications?
As an extremely shy small-town gal from Bogalusa, I was very intimidated the first time I walked into The Lion’s Roar office. While I was only helping out for a short stint, by the time I left, that dark hallway leading to the smoke-filled office felt like home thanks to the wonderful people I got to learn from each week. I loved how open and honest the crew was, just shouting out what they really thought and not sugar——-coating anything. That was a beautiful, crazy time I cherish.
Give me your back story. How did you wind up at Southeastern and interested in working with student publications?
In first grade, we had a class assignment, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” In my very sloppy handwriting (which is still an absolute mess), I simply said, “A writer.” That never changed. My mom went to SLU and many of my friends were headed there, so I looked into the classes offered in journalism and English. I was sold. Once there, I got introduced to the various publications I could work with and groups related to my field. Mr. Vic and Dr. Mirando’s enthusiasm for both convinced me to get involved. Best decision ever.
What would you say is the biggest thing you learned while at Southeastern?
The biggest thing I learned at Southeastern was to toughen up, get some thick skin, find my backbone and learn to speak my mind when I see things aren’t going in the direction they should. I got my first lesson in Dr. Mirando’s intro class. My first paper came back just bleeding in green ink (the grading color of choice that year). It was filled with questions. “Why is this relevant? Who said they believe that, Further explanation needed.” You get the idea. A very humbling moment, but it made me want to really prove that, yes, I was meant to be in this field. Those same lessons kept me level-headed while working in television and continue to guide me in state government. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t thank my lucky stars that I chose SLU and got to experience this amazing group of talent.
Southeastern Student Publications Alumni 