Incredible news.

Hey everyone!  I have been on a wild ride for the past few months!

As most of you know, I have accepted and started a brand new job in Memphis, Tennessee!  I am the new digital content director for WMCTV.COM, and let me tell you, I am loving it!  Of course, adjusting to a new city, new state, new temperatures, and a new job isn’t easy, but I am enjoying every minute of it.  I’ve already been to my first NBA game (Go Grizz!), settled into my new home in Collierville aka Kelseyville (I’ll explain later), and I’ve already found and joined a new brew club…. oh, and I even sang on Beale Street.  Apparently, they let anyone sing there these days!  =)

The suburb I chose to live in has a Kelsey Street, Kelsey’s Canine Medical Center, Kelsey Properties, and a building with my name engraved on it.  Think it was meant to be?  With how well everything is falling into place here and how much I’m enjoying myself, I know Memphis is where I’m supposed to be!

Think that is all exciting news?  Well, I’ve got even more!

The day I arrived in Memphis, I received a call from my former boss at KTVB, letting me know that we won our second regional Edward R. Murrow Award!  KTVB.COM was recognized as best website for the northwest region!  If you’ve been reading my blog over the last year, you might remember that this means we are being considered for the national Murrow award!  We won the national award last year, so I’m hoping we can make it happen again!  I would love to reunite with my KTVB.COM team in the Big Apple!  I hope I didn’t just jinx it!

That about sums up my last few months!  I hope you can all join me in my excitement!  2012 is definitely shaping up to be a great year!

Kels

Facing fears

I faced a fear in October.  And it was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life!  I spoke what was on my mind, in front of a live audience of more than 700 people.  The fear of public speaking wasn’t one I even knew I had, until October 27, 2011.

I’ve been a reporter, and I’ve spoken to thousands of people through a television camera.  I’ve taken public speaking courses and excelled.  I lead monthly analytic presentations to the department heads at my company.  I’m trying to understand why speaking at Ignite Boise made me so nervous that I couldn’t bring myself to eat all day leading up to the event.

Could it be that the Powerpoint slides were timed?  I only had 15 seconds per slide, no more, no less… no matter what.  Or could it be because I actually had the chance to speak about something I’m personally passionate about?  I have no idea what it was, but either way, I conquered it.  If you remember my blog post entitled ‘Courage‘ … I did what I challenged people reading this blog to do — face their fears, and forget about failure.  Of course, the possibility of failure was there.  But in the end, even if I ended up on that stage looking like a fool, at least I could still say that I did my best.  Luckily, my message was well-received, so I have been told.  And I couldn’t be prouder.

Take a look at my presentation … and consider applying to speak at the next Ignite Boise in the spring!

Meet your IPC!

I’m so excited that the Idaho Press Club decided to feature me as their Idaho Press Club board member in the fall newsletter!  When it comes to standing up for media rights, the IPC does some great things.  I’m honored to be on the board!

Read the feature by clicking on the picture below:

 

 

Courage.

I just attended a great panel called “Women in Business” put on by St. Luke’s as part of the St. Luke’s Women’s Fitness Celebration that is coming up this Saturday.  The big event may be Saturday, but they fill the week prior with all sorts of events directed towards women and bettering ourselves whether that be personally or professionally.

Tonight, the keynote speaker of the panel was Cindy Solomon, a woman who has made her living guiding people, and helping people to understand what their goals are and the best ways to achieve them.

Tonight she asked the question, “What is stopping you?”  It got me thinking.  I think everyone can come up with a list of things that are stopping them from doing what they really want, but the real question is… why?  Is it because deep down what you think you want is really not what you want at all?  Or is it because you are scared?  I think fear has a lot to do with why people feel incomplete or like they didn’t do everything they could in life.  I can relate to that and now that I realize it, it’s time to conquer that fear!

I challenge you to do the same.  I’m never going to let anything stop me from speaking up when I believe in something, or when I want to try something new.   Her speech brought me back to my fight to save the Grand Forks water tower ‘Smiley’.  What began as a knee jerk reaction to save a structure with a Facebook fan page ended up being a real fight for what I believed was right.  It was a fight to preserve history, memories, the spirit of the town I grew up in.  Saving ‘Smiley’ went from me — and my nostalgia, to me leading a group of thousands in the fight to save a water tower.  Even though we lost that fight, I still thought about that today.  I wasn’t scared to stand up.  I wasn’t scared of failure.  I didn’t have time to think about the ‘what if’ or the ‘how’.  Every time that I feel that fear interfere with what I want in life, I’m going to think about that battle.  I encourage you to do the same.  Dig deep and think about a time that you might have failed.  Where are you at now?  Failure doesn’t mean the end.  You learn a lesson, you move on, fight like heck, and make sure you win next time.

 

Happy, proud … HAPPY!

As it turns out, KTVB.COM is being honored with a national Edward R. Murrow Award!  I know that last time I blogged, I mentioned a regional award.  Those winners went into the judging for the national award.  And… best website went to KTVB.COM!  That is a huge honor, and definitely something I’m very proud of!  We really do have an incredible web team.

It has been an interesting year, and I can honestly say that I’ve never been as proud as I am right now.  We have so many projects in the works, and we are about to kick off some great coverage.  I have created no less than four special webpages in the last three weeks… and I’m definitely excited to see how everything plays out.

I’m heading to Georgia tomorrow morning to work at the BSU Bronco season opener, the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game.  I’m very excited, and honored that I’m able to go, work, and represent KTVB.COM in Atlanta.  We have some great things planned.  It’s going to be a busy week, but I know it’s going to be a great experience.

On a whole different note, I’ve recently become a Wish Granter for Make-A-Wish Idaho!  Competitor KTRV’s Stacey Skrysak and I are teaming up to make children with life-threatening illnesses’ dreams come true.  We have already gotten going on our first wish, and so far, it’s been a lot of fun!  It feels really good to be part of something that truly makes a difference in people’s lives.

A Twitter friend of mine, who has been working hard on his own digital magazine, is doing a piece on us for the September issue.  Let me tell you, this magazine really is something else.  Andre Gensburger is bringing to light a lot of really neat people in Idaho, who are doing some incredible things… If you haven’t already, you should check out his first issue for free by clicking here.  Stacey and I are honored Andre decided to do a feature on us for his next issue.  It isn’t out quite yet, but you can hear some of what we talked about by watching the video I’ve embedded below!

It’s definitely been a very busy, but exciting few months!  Thank you for reading!

Kels

Happy to announce…

I’m sorry that my blog posts are few and far between… it’s been a crazy couple of months with a knee surgery, a move… but now I’m back — and I have great news!

I’m happy to announce that KTVB.COM won a regional Edward R. Murrow Award!  That means our incredible web team is up for consideration for the national award!

KTVB also won Murrow awards for continuing coverage, news series, and overall excellence!

In addition to that, a morning show I co-produced in 2010 is nominated for an Emmy!  I am absolutely THRILLED!

Read more about it here.

The Idaho Press Club Awards are coming up this Saturday, May 7… so I am optimistic KTVB will take home another couple of honors.  =)

Despite my knee surgery, and the loads of stress that came with that… it’s been a pretty great couple of months for me both personally and professionally.

I’ve realized that I’m extremely lucky to have such amazing friends … and I’m lucky to have a job that is willing to work with the unexpected injuries, surgeries, appointments, and physical therapy visits that have popped up lately.  =)

I am BLESSED!  I’m out now to enjoy a drive on this beautiful Sunday with the car top down.

Always,

Kels

Eventful week!

It is only Wednesday, and my week has been crazy.  The good, productive kind of crazy!

At work my week has flown by!  Projects that I’m excited about have consumed me.  We’re getting everything in order for Race for the Cure, which is coming up in May… I spent some of my week so far designing the webpage for that, which should be really cool once it gets built.

We are also starting the planning process for a super cool station-wide project.  It’s so ambitious, an all-around great idea, and I cannot wait to be part of it!  That’s where I’ll stop talking because it is also… TOP SECRET!

On that note… my lunch break is about over, so I should be getting back to work.  Have a great day, and thank you for reading!

Kels