A big prairie hello to the city of Humboldt.
I grew up in Ottawa, so more than a stone's throw away but I already feel a special kinship to the province of Saskatchewan. I come from a long line of prairie dwellers and passionate Roughrider fans on my mother's side, so no doubt I'll fit right in out here.
I come from a media family, so I know I was born to do this. For me, a passion for journalism - and good story writing - is something that is engrained in my DNA. When I was young, I'd be holed up in my bedroom writing my own stories that ripped off the Nancy Drew series but I have a little more originality nowadays.
Before embarking on my writing journey, however, I attended Dalhousie University out East and obtained a bachelor's degree in history. I consider myself an aficionado on all things related to British history and American colonization, but really I love digging out historical tidbits of all places I visit or read about. That's why working at the Humboldt Journal/East Central Trader is right up my alley, since it has its own rich history as a staple in the area for over 100 years.
Although I loved my time in Halifax and am proud of my education there, I knew that I wanted to do more with my career; I couldn't see myself as a curator of a museum or a teacher to a class of daydreaming seventh-graders.
And that's when I decided to move back to my hometown and enrol in Algonquin College's journalism program this past September.
I've always been a people person in the most cliché sense of the word, so it was important to me that I have a profession which brings me into contact with people from all walks of life; to listen to their stories and uncover ones that haven't been shared.
I finished my degree last month and even though I'm from a big city with big names, I wasn't hesitant about grabbing onto the job opportunity at the Journal. I've always been spontaneous, curious and excited to embark on new opportunities. So far, I'm loving Humboldt, its mom and pop shops but also the expansion it's undergoing. It seems that I've arrived just in time to witness an exciting period in the growth of the city.
Aside from journalism and history, my other interests include working with the local SPCA, nature hikes and fitness. If you ever see a sweaty young woman chugging along Glenn Hall Drive in a sweatband, that's probably me. I'm also probably the only person who has all 11 seasons of Frasier on DVD and who is an endless fountain of bizarre trivia and useless facts. If I could ever incorporate all that knowledge into my writing, I'd be in the golden era of my career.
For now, I'm keen to jumpstart my journalism career here at the paper and look forward to friendly faces I'll meet along the way.
