I was the first child born in a family of 3, my mom Joelle, dad David, and 2 younger sisters, Taylor and Deanna. I was born prematurely, the doctors thought I was going to be a vegetable and not be able to do anything, but God had other plans. I went blind when I was 4 months old due to a retna detachment. I can see light and shadows in my right eye, nothing in my left. I began playing the piano and singing at 2 years old, took lessons for 3 years on and off. I have been playing at my church for the last 11 years, sung specials, and led music for the last 7.
I became very interested in broadcasting and radio especially growing up listening to sports on TV and the radio. I have always wanted to do something with radio, whether hosting, sports announcing, etc. When I was younger I used to put my face up to the speaker of the radio when music was about to start and I thought they could hear me, so I would act as a DJ, or host, and introduce the next song or station, thinking they could hear me. I went to high school for broadcasting, but ended up finishing school in Raleigh for my last two years. I had a wonderful opportunity to participate in a junior broadcasting contest for the Carolina Panthers in which the contestants were to reinact a radio call from a previous game to the best of their ability. Good thing the Panthers were my favorite team and I was listening to the radio for this particular game. I won the contest and was eventualy asked to record a couple commercials for their radio network. A short time later I began to take a recorder around with me to baseball games and call the game as if I were on the radio. I grew up listening to baseball for quite awhile and had familiarized myself with the sounds of the game, crack of the bat, pop of the glove, how the crowd reacts to said sounds, etc. I began to realize that even the in-stadium sounds, whether it be certain songs that were played following a homerun, hit, walk, etc and the normal crowd reactions that followed each event were tremendous helps to me as a blind individual. As I got older I have also learned a style of audio both listening to and watching games, or I guess I should say a mixture of the audio between on-field and crowd noise and announcer volume that if I don’t hear that on a broadcast drives me crazy! God has allowed me to and given me the ability to do all of this, to go to college and pursue degrees in counseling and worship leadership, and live in a house on my own, attend a wonderful church, and spread his love through the life, tallents and abilities he has given me.
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