Author: Allison Dodson

Angelica Edwards

Alyssa Blair

Alyssa Blair is a junior at West Springfield High School in West Springfield, Massachusetts. She discovered journalism through creative writing and enjoys journalism because of the fact that it is storytelling of real people and events. WJMC helped Alyssa to realize her true passion for written journalism, educated her in the field, and surrounded her with a community of people who she felt understood by. In school, she is a member of the Spanish National Honor Society and the Superintendent Advisory Board, is an editor for her school’s newspaper and news station, and is an outstanding member of her school’s swimming program. She hopes to pursue a degree in mass communications following her graduation in 2019 and is looking forward to helping a whole new group of WJMC members on their journeys in the field of journalism.

Alex Varada

Alex Varada is currently a junior at Rock Ridge High School in Ashburn, Virginia. In her free time, she likes to volunteer at her local hospice center and tutor elementary and middle school students in various subjects including public speaking and math. She is tri-lingual and aspires to become a pediatric psychiatrist. Alex is also a photography editor for her school’s yearbook. WJMC was a one-of-a-kind experience for Alex, because she was not only fortunate enough to meet speakers such as Sonya Gavankar and April Ryan, but she also interviewed Arthur Bryant about the current state of affairs.

Dayna Smith

Dayna Smith, President, ImageSmith Media

Dayna worked as a newspaper photographer for 30 years, traveling around the globe covering civil wars in Central America, the anniversary of the fall of Saigon, the cholera epidemic in South America, conflict and famine in Somalia and the Los Angeles riots. Her photographs of the struggle for independence by Kosovar Albanians won the coveted World Press Photo of the Year in 1999. She now owns her own company, ImageSmith Media, where she enjoys shooting “real people – real situations,” in the categories of news, food, architecture, travel and special events.

Nicole Livas

Former Anchor, WAVY News and Fox 43 TV

Nicole Livas is a veteran broadcast journalist who relocated to the DC area for her husband’s career promotion in March 2016. She’s now an independent journalist, media consultant, and trainer.

Previously, she anchored four weekday evening newscasts on the WAVY and Fox 43 TV in Norfolk. In addition to her on air work, Nicole kept busy behind the scenes by producing web stories, blogs, and social media posts.

Nicole is a community leader who speaks to aspiring journalists and various community groups.

Nicole is a proud graduate of George Mason University, and serves on the Board of Advisors for G.M.U.’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences. She also serves on the board of the Society of Professional Journalists, Virginia Chapter.

Nicole spends her free time with her husband, infant daughter and family, in the gym or yoga studio and loves traveling, reading, cooking and supporting local businesses.

Phil Murphy

SportsCenter Anchor, sub-Saharan Africa

Phil Murphy is the host of SportsCenter across sub-Saharan Africa. Murphy joined ESPN in January 2010 after five years covering high school sports in and around Washington, D.C. Since joining ESPN, he has worked as a producer, reporter and on-air anchor, contributing to ESPN’s coverage of college football, college basketball, recruiting and mixed martial arts.

Murphy hosts the daily SportsCenter produced by ESPN as part of its long-term collaboration with Econet Media’s Kwesé in sub-Saharan Africa. The daily program will air nightly at 8pm locally (CAT) and with a predominately American sports focus will provide a fast-paced snapshot of the top stories in global sport for fans in 19 African countries.

As a self-described “military brat,” Murphy grew up in the Eastern United States and Western Europe, developing an affinity for travel and global sport, particularly global soccer, American football and basketball.

Murphy has lived in Gonbach, Germany, Alabama, Connecticut, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Virginia and has a degree in marketing from George Mason University. He is an avid recreational athlete and outdoorsman, including interests in weightlifting, soccer, hiking and mountaineering – the latter of which includes summiting two of the world’s “Seven Summits” — Mount Aconcagua in Argentina (22,841 ft. / 6,961 m) and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania (19,341 ft. / 5,895 m).

Diane Roberts

DIANE ROBERTS

Sports Anchor/Reporter, WUSA9; Correspondent, Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien

Diane has more than 20 years experience in broadcasting, and is a sports anchor and reporter on WUSA9, where she specializes in feature reporting. She enjoys telling the stories about athletes persevering through adversity and getting to the heart of what makes players tick. She has interviewed athletes from Michael Jordan and Bryce Harper to the second chance high school coach who turned around a team and the cheerleader who fought cancer with the help of her community.

She is also a correspondent with Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien, a nationally syndicated political magazine program rated the #1 new weekend show in syndication. Diane is also the President and Founder of Diane’s Talking, a company that assists with all broadcasting and communications needs, from producing high quality videos that tell the story of companies and businesses to voice over work and media coaching.

Scott Jackson

SCOTT JACKSON

Freelance Sports Broadcaster and Talk Show Host, SiriusXM

Scott Jackson is a freelance broadcaster in Washington D.C. He is a fill-in talk show host at Team 980 and 106.7 The Fan, part time sports anchor at SiriusXM and WTOP, and the TV play-by-play voice for ODU Basketball. A Northern Virginia native and lifelong D.C. sports fan, Jackson is also the official Washington Commanders Football Post-Game Show co-host. He also calls high school basketball and lacrosse for Monumental Sports Network. His career includes time in Raleigh, NC and Jacksonville, FL.

Mark Hopson

Co-Founder, HPC Leadership Institute

Mark C. Hopson holds a Ph.D. in intercultural communication (Ohio University) and M.A. and B.A. degrees in organizational communication (Western Michigan University). His main areas of expertise include critical intercultural communication; the rhetoric of race, culture, and gender; and the communication of violence prevention education.

Dr. Hopson’s publications include Notes from the Talking Drum: Exploring Black Communication and Critical Memory in Intercultural Communication Contexts (2011, Hampton Press); and Masculinity in the Black Imagination: Politics of Communicating Race and Gender (2011, Peter Lang).

Dr. Hopson’s research extends his value for teaching and service. He received the Spirit of King Award (2011, Office of Diversity Programs and Services, George Mason University). Also, he served as chair of the African American Communication and Culture Division of the National Communication Association (2007-2008).

In 2008, Dr. Hopson began facilitating Changing Lives Through Literature (Fairfax County, VA), an alternative sentencing program for men on parole, and juvenile groups. The award winning program has been nationally recognized. In 2007, he was appointed to the leadership committee for the George Mason University Campus Climate Taskforce― an interdisciplinary effort to create safer environments for discourse about cultural difference.

As co-founder of the HPC Leadership Institute, Dr. Hopson facilitates violence prevention education seminars targeting relationship abuse, sexual assault, and harassment prevention. Dr. Hopson believes that cultural and racial sensitivity can lead to social responsibility. He actively promotes communication research that contributes to the health and wellbeing of society.

Maggie Linton

Host & Executive Producer, The Maggie Linton Show

Maggie Linton has been in broadcasting for 42-years. Maggie began her career in 1972 as a Sports Anchor for the KU Sports Network at KANU-FM in Lawrence, KS. In 1974 she became Community Affairs Director and weekend Sports Anchor for KAKE-TV in Wichita, KS. As the first woman Sports Anchor on TV in Wichita, KS she repeated this honor in St. Louis, MO at KPLR-TV and again in Washington, DC at WTTG-TV.

Maggie was a Sports Anchor and feature reporter for XM Satellite Radio USA Today News Channel. She was also a producer for the Major League Baseball Channel, Associate Producer for the 2006 Grammy Awards, and Host of Red Cross Radio which aided the government, Red Cross and victims of Hurricane Katrina. From 2006 – 2013 Maggie was Program Director of Sirius XM Book Radio. At present she is Host and Executive Producer of The Maggie Linton Show, a two hour weekday talk show on Sirius XM Urban View Channel 126. Guests include New York Times bestselling authors, plus stars of sports, entertainment and politics.