Hi there! My name's Olivia and I'm an ambitious and experienced young journalist based in Madison, Wis. I'm a born and raised Wisconsinite and grew up in La Farge, a small southwestern town in the heart of the Driftless. I graduated from the University of Wisconsin with my bachelor's in Journalism & Mass Communication in 2019.

For three years I covered all angles of local government and politics for the La Crosse Tribune, my "hometown" paper growing up. Some of the projects I'm most proud of there include my series on homelessness, my environmental reporting on PFAS and flooding, and my dogged political coverage of everything from city council to congressional races.

In late 2022, I joined the Wisconsin State Journal, covering K-12 education. Here I covered the ins and outs of the Madison School District while also reporting on statewide trends, like budget shortfalls driving record numbers of districts to referendums and classroom issues. After working as an intern at the State Journal right after college it was a joy to be back with so many familiar colleagues and stories.

After a short personal break, I joined the American Independent in November 2023. I've been covering issues like infrastructure, education, elections, health care and politics for their Wisconsin-based paper, the Wisconsin Independent. Here, I've  been able to dive deeper into enterprise work and do more work in communities where the news is happening.

I'm really passionate about investigative journalism and long-form reporting where I can take a story further than just a headline about a new policy or law, but actually talk to residents who will be affected by what the people in power are doing. I love Wisconsin and enjoy meeting new people in communities around the state and have a record of being a trustworthy, unbiased, truthful, compassionate and unrelenting journalist.