Changing careers is never easy, especially when it’s a 180-degree turn. 

For those of you who don’t know me, I’ve had quite a few different jobs: line cook, server, barback, cashier and various construction jobs. But the outlier on the list is my experience as a professional Muay Thai boxer.

I went to college for a couple of years after graduating high school in the southwest suburbs of Chicago and tried the financially smart route by going to a local community college. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough, and due to financial problems, I put my education on hold.

Fortunately, I found another passion during that time: Muay Thai. I began training in the sport the summer after high school and started competing in amateur fights about a year and a half later. After I stopped college, I started to take it seriously as a career path.

That profession took me to compete across the country and, eventually, to the other side of the world.

I moved to Thailand in early 2012 and did nothing but train and compete in Muay Thai boxing. Every action and moment during that time in one way or another was designed to further my career. My diet, sleeping schedule and time with friends all revolved around the sport.

But after 20 amateur and 53 professional fights, three years living abroad and visiting a dozen countries, I still felt ashamed about never finishing my education. My hunger for competition  is still there, but I knew it was time to finish what I started.

I returned home and enrolled in a journalism class at the local community college and immediately knew this was the career for me. So when I researched Chicago-area journalism schools to finish my degree, I knew it had to offer more than just a strong academic program. 

Enter The Chronicle.

This newspaper was the determining factor in choosing Columbia, and I’ve spent most of my two years at the college in the southeast corner of the second floor of 33 E. Congress Parkway.

My tenure at The Chronicle began as a Metro reporter in fall 2016. I had two published stories before I even walked into my first class at Columbia, which could be a strong achievement on its own. 

But the accomplishments that truly make me proud are whenever my stories create visible change.

During J-term 2018, I learned  the college’s Student Veterans Society lost its recognition as a student organization and its designated space in the 600 S. Michigan Ave. Building. As a result, the organization was absorbed into the Student Diversity and Inclusion Office in the 618 S. Michigan Ave. Building during summer 2017. 

I gathered the facts, interviewed numerous student veterans and college administrators and, after the story was published, The Chronicle received several Letters to the Editor. 

The group now has a new designated space in the 33 E. Congress Parkway Building, next door to The Chronicle, and is working hard to again be recognized as an official student organization.

That story meant a lot to me. Afterward,  I talked to several student veterans  who were thrilled they had a new designated space just for them. After more than a year and a half of reporting, I finally made an impact, and I walk past it every day when I come to work.

That’s when I realized what The Chronicle does. It molds its employees into professionals. It made the career transition far easier than if I had not joined the publication or enrolled at a different college.

It’s thanks to the reporting I did here that I got a full-time job as a government and politics reporter, which starts a week after graduation.

After two years at The Chronicle, I feel confident, prepared and ready to enter this new chapter in my life.