about.

Growing up, I wanted to be Nancy Drew. Or an FBI profiler.

A focus on finding the truth translated into a focus on accountability and investigative journalism, particularly involving data. Now, I dig for answers and share them in hopes of informing and improving society. 

Most recently, I wrote about Kentucky politics and education for the Pulitzer Prize-winning Courier Journal in Louisville, Ky.

I’ve shone a light on inequities in education, using data to understand racial disparities from where kids go to school to how they fare once they’re there. My education reporting scored me national awards and recognitions, including being named one of the best education beat reporters in the country. It also helped end Louisville’s decades-old racist busing policy.

On the politics beat, I dominated the unofficial culture wars beat during a high-profile legislative session before pivoting to a nationally watched governor’s race.

And I’ve been named the best in Louisville at both beats — first for education and data reporting in 2022, and then for politics reporting in 2023.

I’m known to build and analyze my own datasets out of records requests and public data. I’m also known to be the lead newsletter writer on my beat, first for The Hall Pass (a subscriber-only newsletter I created) and later for On Kentucky Politics.

Oh, and I know how to build and keep a large social media following by sharing news on Twitter and TikTok. (Yes, I can make TikToks.)

Before all that, I covered education at Insider Louisville and technology at TechRepublic, worked on the data desk at the Austin American-Statesman and ran The Louisville Cardinal.

A lifelong Kentuckian, I earned a degree in investigative journalism with a Russian minor from the University of Louisville.

Need more? Here’s my resume, and you can use the contact button up top to reach out to me directly.