A new chapter for me started when I ended the one I loved. 

If I start counting, I’m now in my fourth chapter. 

I studied engineering in college for two years before I figured out that wasn’t it. While I could do the math, something was missing. I walked out during a test in Calculus 2 and roamed the campus for what felt like forever. Then a friend asked a simple question that changed everything: “When did you last have fun at work?” I thought of my time working on my high school’s newspaper, writing about interesting classmates and issues that led me to the principal’s office for the first time in my life. I’ve always been mission driven and understood the power of a story that resonates. The next day, I walked through the doors of The O’Colly, our campus newspaper. 

After changing my major to journalism (my father wasn’t a fan), a couple internships and a stint with the Associated Press upon graduation, I came to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1999 to work for the news organization I had always looked up to, the Tulsa World. I stayed for 26 years, going from a feature writer to launching the digital side of the business inside the newsroom in the early days of the Internet. I worked with incredible teammates on everything from news to advertising to marketing. I spent the last five years there in what I had long said was my dream job, as the 10th executive editor in the newspaper’s 120-year history. I led each day with the goal of making the best local newsroom in the country in Tulsa. My side hustles included teaching at our community college, tech school, my alma mater and a local business incubator supporting start ups. 

That chapter as executive editor was one of the most rewarding and meaningful times of my life. 

And then, it was time to start a new story in the city I believe in so much. 

My mission today is as clear as it was in that newsroom: Serve my community and collaborate with people to create the city we all deserve. And know that the only way anything moves is to push. 

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