Experience

Recovery and resilience reporter (June 2020 to present)

  • Cover North Carolina's ongoing recovery from 2018's Hurricane Florence and 2016's Hurricane Matthew, with a focus on the uneven recovery statewide. Work has focused on how poor communities and communities of color have been slower to recover from the storms than those in wealthier areas.

  • Coverage has also focused on the state’s efforts to prepare for future storms and what that means for existing communities, particularly the poor communities that are often in the riskiest locations.

  • Covered Hurricane Dorian and Hurricane Isaias, as well as the often-convoluted process of getting federal aid dollars in survivors' hands.

  • During COVID-19, wrote a wide variety of stories with a focus on how the virus exacerbated existing fault lines in society. Early in the pandemic, wrote about how the disease was having an outsized impact on Black and Latino communities and explored the reasons behind that. Also investigated the state’s efforts to ramp up contact tracing and how they were often insufficient to slow the spread of the virus.

  • Covered the compounding impacts of the pandemic and hurricane season in a state that has seen more storms making landfall than any other.

  • Wrote extensively about the widespread impacts of climate change that are already being felt in a state that is vulnerable to a wide variety of threats. This coverage also focused on the challenges small local governments on North Carolina’s coast will have in preparing for an all-encompassing threat like climate change.

  • Position is via Report for America

The News & Observer

Raleigh, NC

StarNews

Wilmington, NC

Regional environmental reporter (Feb. 2017 to May 2019)

  • Covered Chemours’ widespread PFAS contamination in the Cape Fear River, work that resulted in the largest single-site environmental penalty in North Carolina’s history and the Senate refusing to confirm a Trump Administration EPA official.

  • Covered Hurricane Florence, the largest disaster in North Carolina’s history, including the storm’s environmental impact and disparate impacts in low-income areas.

  • Wrote about environmental policy decisions at the local, state and federal levels and how they impacted people on the ground in Southeastern North Carolina, focusing largely on coastal issues and environmental justice.

  • Continued to cover city and county government, illustrating the impacts of policy decisions.

City of Wilmington reporter (April 2016 to February 2017)

  • Covered Southeastern North Carolina’s largest city, which is the center of much of the region’s economic and cultural activity. Reporting largely focused on growth and change, delving into the impacts of rampant development.

  • Wrote about a local magnet elementary school’s discriminatory admissions practices and how they disadvantaged Black and Latino children.

  • Continued to write about Hurricane Matthew’s impacts throughout the region.

  • Continued to cover the opioid epidemic’s ongoing impacts on the region.

Brunswick County reporter (May 2015 to April 2016)

  • Covered one of the nation’s fastest-growing counties, one making the transition from a sleepy rural county with some beach communities to a popular retirement destination and bedroom community for families priced out of Wilmington.

  • Covered a pair of shark attacks at local beaches that drew national attention, with enterprise follow-up coverage focused on the cultural allure of sharks in beach communities and whether local beachoers were safe.

  • Local government coverage included several stories about the ongoing strife between two neighboring towns that, several years later, would evolve into a litigious tussle over a small water utility.

  • Wrote about questionable spending and ineffective recruitment efforts by the county’s economic development department.

  • Chosen as a fellow for the University of South Carolina’s inaugural Media Law School class.

Public safety and general assignment reporter (July 2013 to January 2015)

  • Covered a period of significant gun violence in Southeastern North Carolina, much of which police attributed to gang activity. Enterprise work looked at how gangs in the area were structured and what compelled people to join one.

  • Wrote many stories about Wilmington’s status as an area with an outsized amount of opioid overdoses and deaths. Coverage began when the epidemic was making its way onto the national radar and ultimately evolved into coverage community organizations, healthcare and law enforcement agencies shifting from punitive solutions to harm reduction efforts.

  • Spot news coverage included covering the police shooting of a teenager who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and follow-up enterprise stories about how his death could have been prevented.

Transportation and North Brunswick County reporter (October 2012 to July 2013)

  • Covered transportation agencies, including the N.C. Ports Authority, Wilmington International Airport and Wilmington’s transportation planning organization. Broke news about the dismissal of the then-executive director of the Ports Authority. Wrote extensively about the complications of long-term planning in a rapidly growing region.

  • Covered the quick-growing towns of Belville and Leland.

The News Journal

Wilmington, Del.

City of Wilmington reporter (January 2015 to April 2015)

  • Covered Delaware’s largest city. Worked as part of a team investigating causes of gun violence in the city and its effects on residents.

  • Other work included coverage of city council members’ property tax delinquency, the CDC’s consideration of Wilmington’s gang violence as a public health problem and coverage of the then-impending overhaul of the Wilmington Police Department.

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Pittsburgh, Pa.

Metro intern (June 2012 to September 2012)

Worked on the metro desk at nation’s then-33rd-largest newspaper. Reported and wrote a wide variety of stories covering topics such as business, economy, education, science and transportation. Reported day-of stories, as well as multi-day features. Stories routinely on metro section front.

Awards

  • First place, community coverage (staff) at the 2019 N.C. Press Association Awards

  • Second place, breaking news coverage (staff) at the 2019 N.C. Press Association Awards

  • Third place, special section (staff) at the 2019 N.C. Press Association Awards

  • First place, beat reporting at the 2018 N.C. Press Association Awards

  • Third place, public service reporting at the 2018 N.C. Press Association Awards

  • #DoJournalismWithImpact Award at the 2018 GateHouse Media Awards

  • Second place, investigative reporting at the 2017 N.C. Press Association Awards

  • Third place, enterprise reporting at the 2017 N.C. Press Association Awards

  • Third place, public service reporting at the 2017 N.C. Press Association Awards

  • First place, enterprise reporting at the 2016 N.C. Press Association Awards

  • Second place, general news at the 2015 Maryland, Delaware, D.C. Press Association Awards

  • Third place, enterprise reporting at the 2014 N.C. Press Association Awards

  • Outstanding Collegiate Journalist, 2011 Press Club of Western Pennsylvania Awards