I was a reporter professionally since 1999, but I have always loved writing and finding out the real story for as long as I can remember. Throughout my professional term, I interviewed politicians, CEOs, businesspeople, lobbyists, petroleum enthusiasts and clean energy advocates. I attended conferences and events all over the globe, including the COP21 climate change conference in Paris. While I prided myself on remaining neutral in my reporting, the people who always had the best story to tell, the ones who "moved the needle" in the energy space were the clean energy advocates. It's easy to go negative, to say another person or group is in the wrong and that's that. But these clean energy advocates have a positive story to tell and are making progress to help the world transition to a lower carbon economy. A finite transportation resource like oil is just not sustainable in the long run. The U.S. needs lots of energy options if it is to keep up with rising demand and expected future growth abroad in places such as China and India. Ethanol helps fuel an ever-increasing transportation sector, pumping out 14.7 billion gallons of clean, domestically produced energy source in 2015. This year, we look to surpass that record, especially with the growing export demand to Brazil, Canada, China and Mexico. I have long admired and respected the Renewable Fuels Association for its leadership, staff and efforts to help promote and grow the ethanol industry domestically and abroad. After 17 years as a reporter, I decided to hang up my hat and get involved in clean energy advocacy. It's one thing to report on the news. It's another to be part of the news. In other words, "Be the change that you wish to see in the world," as Gandhi said. I am thrilled to now be working at RFA as its communications director and I look forward to seeing the view from the other side of the news.
