Before heading up north, I braced for the cold winters that everyone kept warning me about. When I tell anyone I’m moving to Connecticut, their response is either “It’s pretty cold up there” or “I hear New Haven has good pizza.” Now that I’m here, I can agree about the weather but I’m unsure about the latter.
It’s my first time in the state, other than a brief pit stop during a recent road trip. As I was driving down the interstate, my first thought when passing the “Welcome to Connecticut” sign was “Wow, Connecticut is gorgeous in the fall.”
I’m originally from Northern Virginia but most recently, I lived in Washington, DC. As much as I enjoyed being in the nation’s capital, at the center of our country’s political and policy debates, I wanted to move to an area where I could really get to know a local community and tell the stories that matter most to them.
I started my career in journalism as a local television news reporter in the DC News Now (formerly WDVM) Winchester, Virginia bureau. There I was able to report on topics like local government corruption and my stories were shared by national news outlets. Then I went into international news as a freelancer for Al Jazeera English. After that, I got my first taste of public media working for PBS NewsHour and then I went on to work at Newsy.
I’m looking forward to returning to the public media space that’s centered on education and accuracy. As a journalist, one of my favorite parts of the job is being able to educate people and help bring them up to speed on important events and explain why they matter. Our job is to provide a deeper understanding while prioritizing accuracy instead of being “the first” to get the news out.
As an investigative reporter at Connecticut Public, I look forward to reporting on the environment, housing, education and other issues that impact the residents of the state. My main priority is making sure that your voices are heard and your concerns are addressed.
The first story I’ll be diving into is in Fairfield, an area where we’ve recently focused on expanding our coverage. Residents in Fairfield beach are concerned about a bad odor that’s coming from a nearby waste facility. I’ll be speaking with people who live in the area to find out more about what they’ve experienced and I’ll be working with town officials to understand what is being done to fix the issue.
So far, I’ve gotten several warm welcomes from my new colleagues and I look forward to getting to know more of you, our listeners and viewers. Thank you for welcoming me into your cars, your homes and your community.
