I’ve been working in TV news since 1998, and have been covering news in Tampa Bay since 2003. I joined the Newschannel 8 team in 2016.

I am a storyteller. I love connecting people. It began as a love of connecting the community through television reporting, and over the years expanded to social media. There’s never been a more exciting time, in my opinion, to work in broadcasting. The ability to see the world more clearly, deeply and differently is here. Exploring the connections that can be made locally and globally drives me. In my TV career I’ve been honored to do a TEDTalk on social media and news reporting, and I’ve received an EMMY Award for my reporting and social media.

But my greatest achievement in connecting people actually came in 1999, when I did a report on a woman named Debbie Parker, who was in dire need of a liver transplant. As a result, a viewer named Ken Schuler, who shared the same rare blood type as Debbie, came forward and within weeks donated a portion of his liver to save Debbie, in what was the first stranger-to-stranger living liver donor transplant in the world. Ken is my hero to this day, and he is why I’m a strong advocate for blood, marrow, tissue and organ donation.

If you follow my social media accounts, you’ll see I’m incredibly dedicated to my four adopted fur kids (adopt don’t shop!), and I have an unhealthy addiction to coffee. I love to travel, and have been known to take international vacations on my own, just to see the world. I’m also fortunate to have many family members here in the Tampa Bay area.