Emma
When asked to describe her average work week, Emma bursts out laughing.
“There is no average week or day!”
She started working for KUNC three years ago, a few months after graduating from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University (ASU). Occasionally, she fills in as a morning show host: “I drive here really, really early. I usually get here around five, and then I come in and prep the scripts. I write down what the weather is, I write down everything that I need to say for the different breaks, prep the music—all those types of things. Then the show goes live, and you are just on that roller coaster from six till ten a.m. And there could be breaking news that comes in, and then you have to change up something in the show.”
But as KUNC’s general assignment reporter, Emma spends most of her time emailing, interviewing, recording, photographing, writing, and publishing stories. Of course, sources aren’t always available at convenient times. And sometimes radio hosts get sick.
“What I always tell people is, ‘I’ll tell you my schedule, but it might not be the truth.’”
One thing does stay the same every day; it’s Emma’s favorite part of the job: learning something new.
“I have sat with Governor Polis. I have sat with a mother who is struggling to feed her child. I have sat with someone my age who is unhoused. I have sat with indigenous people who are trying to communicate the past through their art. I have sat with a five-year-old boy—probably six now—who wanted an accessible playground in his community because he’s in a wheelchair. There are so many fascinating people on this earth, and everyone carries a different story in them.”
Not every story is easy to tell. When the news weighs heavy, Emma leans on her empathetic co-workers, as well as her church family. At Red Rocks Church, Emma found doctors, nurses, recovery center workers, and police officers—people whose fields of work also bring them close to tragedy.
“When I show up and say, ‘Yeah, it’s been a hard day,’ they know the heaviness that comes with that. . . . These bad things happen, and we are looking at it. And we can’t look away. But here is a room full of people that get the hard part of life and know that there is a hope we can trust in.”
Emma has seen God at work in the milestones of her life—from running into a fellow Christian while visiting ASU, who told her “God calls people everywhere,” to a post-prayer job offer from KUNC. She’s wrestled with doubts about God, but through friends and mentors, she’s learned the why of her religion.
“My time in college was understanding why there’s joy in my salvation and understanding why I believe what I believe. I would say my time in Colorado has been: ‘What does it mean to live on mission?’”
A self-prescribed “extrovert at work, introvert in life,” Emma’s aware of just how lonely Colorado can be—especially for young adults.
“But curiosity is not just something housed within a journalist,” she says, adding that everyone should take time to discover their passions and their people.
“We weren’t made to do life alone. It’s so important to find people who can hold your hands up in battle when you don’t want to hold up your hands yourself.”
