Ever since I was a little girl I knew I wanted to work in sports. 

I was always the kid who knew the scores from last night's games, who scored, and who had a bad game. My free time was spent reading game previews and post game notes, studying stats, and watching TSN Bardown’s hockey quizzes, soaking up as many niche little tidbits of hockey knowledge I could. At lunch, I would randomly start talking stats to my friends, and they thought I was speaking a foreign language.

My dream was always to be in the NHL, playing the sport I loved. But during an 8th grade career project, I couldn’t choose professional athlete, so I chose the next best thing: Sports media. My poster was decked out in pictures of famous broadcasters, journalists working with Minnesota sports teams and national organizations. I looked up to people like Michael Russo from The Athletic, Anthony LaPanta from Fox Sports North (Now Fanduel Sports North), and Julia Tocheri and Raegan Subban from TSN.

Seeing these people on TV or writing for big organizations inspired me and showed me that my dream could be real. Especially seeing women in the sports media scene showed me I could achieve almost anything. I take what I saw as a kid as my motivation for my future. I want to be the person that people, especially young girls look up to and realize they can achieve their dreams.

My freshman year of high school sparked my growing interest in journalism when I took a photography class. One of our first assigned projects was to make a presentation on a famous photographer, explaining who they are, why we chose them and showcasing their work. 

Being obsessed with hockey, I chose legendary hockey photographer Bruce Bennett. After a strong start in the class with the presentation, I started to slowly lose interest. After the class I didn’t consider pursuing photography, I thought writing was my calling.

It wasn’t until my Sophomore year of high school that I joined my school's journalism team. My first story was to do a profile on our school's new American History teacher. Terrified for my first interview I dragged one of my friends to come with me. After I finished the interview I realized that it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Once you had someone talking, the questions would begin to flow, making the interview feel more natural rather than forced. That only further bolstered my confidence for future interviews and helped me to ask more questions outside my comfort zone of my already prewritten questions.

Since that first interview I have grown a lot. From being terrified talking to new people and interviewing them, to consistently asking questions in PWHL press conferences, interviewing college professors and social media influencers, to even networking with some of the biggest names in sports media.

Four years after my freshman year photography presentation on Bruce Bennett, I had a full circle moment. I met Mr. Bennett at the 2025 Hockey Hall Of Fame induction, where he was inducted. Since the presentation I have grown my photography portfolio and had the opportunity to talk and show my work to Mr. Bennett himself .

Now only two and a half years after starting my journalism journey, I have a lot to look back on and reflect on how far I’ve grown. This growth also prompts me to look towards the great things I can achieve in the future. Motivating me to change sports media for the better.