This feature was first published in Journeys Summer 2019.

This article was written by communications writer Didi Hari Krishnan.

The journey to becoming a reporter was not always smooth sailing for Sharon Yoo (Class of 2011). Looking back, Yoo can’t help but recall the stress of moving to Singapore from Korea. The fact that she could not speak English made it more of an uphill battle. Learning English as a Second Language (ESL) with Ms. Culnane helped tremendously.

Yoo left Singapore after fifth grade and moved back and forth between Korea and Singapore before finally returning to Singapore American School again in tenth grade. “When I came back for high school, it was easier. It was like picking life back up where I had left it. I was thrilled to be back!” she says.

While at SAS, Yoo was heavily involved in the SAS choir group, Singers. It was the most distinct part of her high school memory. However, it was the journalism class which sparked her interest in visual storytelling— shooting videos and learning to edit footage—that led her to the career she pursued eventually.

After graduating from SAS, Yoo attended college at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. During her four years at Northwestern, she was continually thinking about what she wanted to do after she graduated. Northwestern paved the way for her to be involved in broadcast journalism. After graduating, she moved to Madison, Wisconsin for a stint as a reporter cum multimedia journalist at NBC 15. Later, she moved to Louisville, Kentucky to work as a reporter at WAVE 3 News.

Currently with KARE 11, Yoo is on-air five days a week working on general assignment reporting as well as feature reporting when the opportunity arises. She has been doing a lot of weather coverage this year thanks to mother nature showing some extra love to the north—it was still snowing in March! “It’s definitely jarring to have giant piles of snow around you for more than half of the year— but I love it here in the midwest!” Yoo’s job as a broadcast journalist is definitely not the easiest nor the highest paying job out there, but it sure is fulfilling. She commented, “If you feel that this is the right path for you, believe in yourself!”

Coming full circle, Yoo recalled walking down the halls at SAS on her first day with her mother when her mother told her, “You can spread your wings and really be yourself here.” Yoo thought nothing of it then but now believes that SAS prepared her for the toughest things in life. She shares, “SAS taught me to be tenacious and independent. It taught me to fight for the things I love. However, it also taught me to be compassionate.”

Follow Yoo on Twitter @SharonKARE11 to be in the know of what’s happening in the Twin Cities.