People want to read compelling stories about the people in their community, and it takes a reporter with curiosity, empathy and an eye for detail to bring it to the readers. My goal is to make news relevant in the readers' lives and make my stories enjoyable to read.

In September 2007, I started at the Skagit Valley Herald as an education reporter. Prior to that, I covered Larimer County, Colorado government and politics, both hard news and feature stories. To my sources I am an honest, open ear.  In turn my sources trust me with stories they might not share with others.

I continue to improve my writing and interviewing skills by attending writing workshops, taking classes on newsu.org and reading blogs and books about the craft. I am very interested in multimedia and am learning how to create Web pages, including this one. I enjoy collaborating with photographers and designers to create compelling packages. I also use Excel spreadsheets to enhance my reporting.