When the lightning crackled in the dark grey skies and the sirens blew across Louisville, I was excited. I would spend a lot of time in front of our large kitchen window in awe of the rolling dark clouds. My adrenaline was high and part of me was scared but I had a fascination with how and why these storms were happening. I would say my interest grew in middle school. My mom would call my sister and I down to the basement where we would turn on a local news station to find out the latest. I would be scrambling to make sure there were blankets and pillows under the basement stairs in case a tornado were to come through, then I would rush to see what the meteorologist were saying.
In my eyes the meteorologists were heroes. They were telling me what the storms were doing, where they were going and what I needed to do to be safe. How could they know this stuff? Did they have a crystal ball? I had no idea how it all worked at the time, but I admired their abilities.
As I grew older and moved on to high school, the pressure of knowing what major I wanted to pursue in college increased. I was very shy in middle and high school and couldn’t imagine myself on TV but it was a goal I had set for myself and I was willing to break out of that shell to achieve it.
I joined the student newscast in college where I was trained by an experienced and accomplished meteorologist, Tammy Garrison. I was definitely intimidated by her at times but looking back I think it was because she was everything I wanted to be, a strong, intelligent female meteorologist in a career dominated by men.
After being in the business for almost 5 years now, I’m glad I chose to pursue this career. It’s been a fun and at times, “crazy” journey.
