Thanks for visiting my site. Here’s a little get-to-know: I’m a five-time Florida Press Association Award winner and correspondent for People magazine, Chicago Sun Times, Suite101.com and the Associated Press. I’ve produced live TV news programs; feature packages for the Jacksonville Jaguars broadcast team; documentary projects, and corporate and promotional videos for major name clients.
As a journalist, I’ve interviewed dozens of notables, from pop starlet Jessica Simpson to Evangelist Billy Graham to the family of a downed World War II airman discovered frozen in the icy reaches of a Sierra Nevada glacier.
I’m working to build my production company, Kērris Media, focusing on documentary and TV/Web TV series. “Kērris” is derrived from a Creek/Muscogee word meaning “I am learning.” And I am co-chair and member of the founding board of the Norman Studios Silent Film Museum, Inc., a nonprofit organization working to restore and reopen silent filmmaker Richard Norman’s five-building studio complex in Jacksonville’s Arlington district. The Norman property is Northeast Florida’s only surviving, full silent film studio complex and was among the first to break the motion picture industry’s racial barrier, producing films that starred African-American actors playing positive, non-stereotypical roles. Plans include a museum that chronicles Northeast Florida’s days as the “Winter Film Capital of the World,” workshops led by veteran film and television professionals, and a summer camp designed to give underprivileged children a hands-on venture into the world of filmmaking.
I earned a Bachelor’s Degree in communications from the University of North Florida (Go, Ospreys!) in 1996 and continued studies with UCLA, the Poynter Institute, MediaBistro and the Southern Newspapers Association. I’m a sucker for dogs, including my four “failed fosters”, and do volunteer transport for various pet rescue organizations.
