Hi friends new and old! I’m Tiffany Murphy, a 2005 graduate of Creston High School.
You may remember my name from my days hosting ‘Trading Post’ on KSIB. After recently hearing me speak, John Van Nostrand, the CNA Managing Editor asked me when I was in Creston for my induction into the school hall of fame, if I would be interested in writing for the paper and suggested my first article should tell you more about me.
After reading the announcements in eighth grade, the secretary at Burton R. Jones Middle School shared a job opening at KSIB and encouraged me to apply. I did, and that sparked my career in television and radio.
When I was back home a few weeks ago for homecoming, I spoke to teachers I had in high school who said, “You’re the same person you were in high school...” and “You haven’t changed.”
In many, very huge ways, I feel like I have changed. I’ve seen more of the world, made a lot of mistakes and grown as a person. But now, more than ever, I am unapologetically me. I no longer apologize for being ‘quirky’ or ‘different’ as some have identified me, I still have a laugh you can hear in Cromwell and I’m firm as ever in my beliefs, and not afraid to kindly share.
After high school, I packed up my car and drove west to Los Angeles to attend Pepperdine University. I worked at TV stations from Santa Barbara to Montana, Las Vegas to Texas and I now call Rhode Island home. I have often worked odd jobs to pay the bills, a quality I learned from my mom and grandmother and the work ethic I believe, embodied by many Iowans. From mopping floors to washing dishes, handing out samples at Costco to sanding and painting before going in to anchor the news, I have worked hard to pay my bills while trudging ahead to accomplish my goals.
From carrying heavy camera gear through treacherous conditions amid huge wildfires in Southern California, covering murders that seem to be straight out of horror films, uncovering fiscal mismanagement by a government entity to being a calming and kind voice as feet of water roared into people’s homes during a thousand year flood, my career has afforded me the opportunity of interacting with thousands of people, and become a mini expert each day on hundreds of topics in different cities across the country.
Besides doing the news, I absolutely love getting on an airplane and traveling to a new destination. (My top travel tips will be published in an upcoming edition of the CNA). I adore my two dogs and two cats, I love reading self-help books and crime novels, enjoy lifting weights and working out and have a passion for volunteering.
Next week, find out why I believe finding a church has proven more difficult than dating.