I was one of those kids who just knew.
I knew what I wanted to do with my life when I was seven.
Inspired by the thirst for information after 9/11, I started reading the newspaper every day. Built an imaginary news network in my basement.
But then I had to figure out how to hide my passion from my mom’s boyfriend at the time, an abusive alcoholic.
“You don’t know the first thing about journalism,” he’d tell that little boy. “This is not normal, go play outside.”
He smashed up my camcorder, threw out my newspapers, and banned me from stepping foot in that basement unattended.
As if I was some sort of criminal. It was absurd. What kind of parent bans a kid from exploring their imagination – or learning more about the world around them?
I didn’t care. I was inspired to chase it more.
I started doing news reports in front of my class at school. Started a classroom periodical. It wasn’t the greatest night when he got home and found out about that.
After my mom and I escaped and started over, I threw myself at it.
If nothing else, to spite that asshole. And it felt great.
One summer, I begged the small AM radio station in my hometown of Hackettstown, New Jersey to let me intern. That led me to my first reporting job at 15. Before I had my license, I rode my BMX bike for miles with an audio recorder, covering everything from gas leaks to school board meetings.
When I got to college, that stubborn determination helped me land a gig covering the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia for a CBS affiliate in Alaska. Then, as a FOX 29 junior reporter, flipping packages for the weekend edition of Good Day Philadelphia. Before I could graduate, I was on air in the #1 market – as an airborne reporter in NBC 4 New York’s Chopper 4.
I couldn’t imagine explaining all this to that seven-year-old. He’d be beside himself, but I know he’d feel redeemed.
After college, I joined Fox News as a multimedia reporter, traveling across the northeast and the country filing reports from the campaign trail in the 2020 presidential election. That brought me to Atlanta, where I joined Fox 5.
The world has changed a lot. But I learned that from a young age, reporting requires sharp teeth, tough skin, but a tender heart.
That is how I approach the people I talk to and the stories I tell.
