10 Within 10 Recognition

Majors: Integrative public relations, journalism and broadcast, and cinematic arts

Current job: Anchor, WXYZ ABC 7 Detroit

Current city: Detroit

What has been your coolest moment since graduation?

Landing a job at WXYZ! It's the station I grew up watching and worked my whole career to get to. Being able to share the stories of my community and connect with people in my hometown is a dream come true.

What advice would you give new graduates?

Accept help and don't be afraid to be vulnerable. I wish I could whisper to my 21-year-old self as I walked across the stage to accept my diploma, "You don't have to be so tough." We're meant to live as a community and lean on each other through successes and failures. Life is so much easier when you accept that sometimes things are hard and open yourself up to learn from others.

What has your work life taught you?

Never let anyone else determine your value. As long as you work hard, stay true to what you believe in and do the right thing, YOU define who you are and what your success is.

What about CMU helped you succeed?

When I started college, I was an insecure, anxiety-ridden teen whose high school English teacher had told me, "Some people are just average." But my college professors believed in me, and the university invested in me, providing every opportunity to grow and succeed, and I did. Sure, being on TV is cool, but it's that spark the CMU community lit inside of me that made me believe I could actually make an impact through my work. When people ask me about CMU, I always say it's the place where people believed in me and poured love and confidence into me when I had no love and confidence in myself.

What has been your biggest accomplishment since graduation?

Winning my first Emmy!