I’ll never forget as a little girl the first time I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up. My dad was watching SportsCenter and called me in to watch a replay.
Today, I couldn’t tell you what the play was, but I do remember what came next. A woman named Hannah Storm came on the screen and started talking about one of my favorite things. Sports. There was a woman on TV who literally got paid to talk about sports.
It was at this point I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted a job where I got to talk about sports. But even as an 8-year-old, I knew this goal might be tougher for me than most. I played sports, and I understood sports, but the one part of this job that was essential was a skill I didn’t have. I didn’t talk.
And I don’t mean this in a “I’m shy and don’t like to talk” way, I mean I couldn’t talk. As a 2-year-old I was progressing normally and speaking. But then I had a febrile seizure. From that point on, I didn’t say another word for 2 and a half years.
I was in speech therapy throughout my childhood and while I regained the ability to speak again in early elementary school, my speech was heavily impaired and couldn’t be understood by most people.
So here I was an 8-year-old, with a dramatic speech impediment that severely affected my ability to communicate with others, and I picked a career where I would speak for a living. But I worked hard and constantly put myself in very uncomfortable situations where I would have to speak in front of people. I served in leadership positions, gave speeches, and interned at a local talk radio station.
It wasn’t always easy, but I learned as I went. By high school, my speech impediment became less and less noticeable and my freshman year at Central, I was hired by the campus radio station where within two weeks I was put on air with my own live weekly show about the NBA.
Again, it was very much just jumping in headfirst. Sometimes it went great, sometimes not so much, but I learned every step of the way. This year I am now on the air in the news department, once again learning a whole new set of skills and subject matter.
So while the goal I’ve had since I was 8 of “talking for a living” is still very much a work in progress, I’m proud of the obstacles I’ve overcome along the way that have made me stronger and work harder.
No matter where my ultimate destination lies, I know I’ll never regret the experiences that have served me in so many ways. And I know that sometimes our biggest obstacles can be our biggest gifts in making us both who we are and who we want to be.
3-Years-old ------- 19-Years-old
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