Photograph by Devyn Glista
OCCUPATION: Anchor, Local 12
STYLE: Eclectic, evolving constantly
When you’re putting together an outfit, what’s your starting point?
My coworker (Paula Toti) and I coordinate. So she’ll send me a color or I’ll send her a color. And most of that revolves around a tie. So for work, I start with a tie. But if I’m just going out for a night out on the town—if I’m going out for a drink, if I’m doing something casual or social—I usually will start with a shirt.
Hold up. Does that mean you guys coordinate your outfits every single time you’re on the air together?
Every single day. It started kind of coincidentally when I started—we wanted to match for our first day on air together. And so we did it and I wore this goldish yellow tie that I had bought, I was so proud of it. And I told her, Hey, I’m gonna wear this gold tie and a navy suit. Just so you know. I’m gonna match you. And we did it. We took a picture and the picture turned out really well. And we were like, We should coordinate. And so it just happened.
I think it really just adds a little something to the newscast. Because you don’t want to clash, right? We don’t always match perfectly, but we always at least coordinate. So if she’s wearing a color, I’m not gonna come in with the clashing color, because then you’re distracted. We want the focus, obviously, to be on the news. And we think that if we look good, then you’re not going to be wondering what we are looking like. You’ll focus on the news.
When did you know you wanted to be an anchor? Did you always want to be on TV?
When I was a kid, I used to watch Saved by the Bell when I was eating breakfast. And I would not eat my breakfast, and I’d be late to school. So my mom started making me watch the news because she thought, Oh, he won’t want to watch that. He’ll focus on eating and get ready to go to school on time. Well, I fell in love with the local news when I was 7 or 8. And from that point on, I was like, I want to be a journalist. This is where my passion is. At the time, I didn’t know it was journalism. I just want to be on TV. When I was in high school, I started working on the high school newspaper, and fell in love with telling people’s stories and interviewing them, and just being under deadline, and the pressure, and all of that. But I didn’t really know that I loved the print medium. And in my high school, they had a morning announcements class where the announcements went out over a broadcast network at our school, and it had anchors and people were running the directing and producing. And when I took that class, I was like, This is it. This is it. So I’ve known that I wanted to be in broadcast journalism ever since I was a senior in high school. I majored in it in college. Thought about changing my major to education and quickly realized that was not for me. But basically, it’s been the only thing that I’ve been super passionate about, professionally, for as long as I can remember.
You’re a big suit guy. Do you think that would be the case if you weren’t an anchor?
I love a good suit. And I love a good-fitting suit. Suits are suits, but I think fit is what is the most important. You can buy a suit from Macy’s, you can buy a suit from K&G, you can buy a suit from T.J. Maxx. But if you go to the right tailor, there’s nothing like a good-fitting suit. It can be a basic black or a pinstripe. But it’s all about the fit. If you see somebody in a good suit, you’re like, Oh, that looks good.
I’ve always liked to dress up—even in high school. I would never wear sweatpants to school. I wasn’t wearing suits, but I would probably still be in suits. If I weren’t an anchor, I don’t know that I would wear them as frequently as I do. I have a lot of dinner jackets that I don’t get to wear very frequently—so I think that’s an indication that I just enjoy high fashion.
Is there a recent fashion clash you can remember that turned heads around the office?
[Laughs] I have some blazers that are a little controversial. There’s a white blazer that I absolutely love, but I don’t wear very often because it’s so bright. And sometimes viewers complain about it. They’re like, It hurts my eyes. I obviously don’t want to hurt anyone’s eyes, but I want people to tune in. I love that blazer. It’s like this beautiful knit material. And I got it tailored impeccably. It is probably my favorite piece right now, but I don’t get to wear it very often. You can only wear it in the summer.
Who’s your style inspiration?
That’s constantly evolving, but I currently love what Steve Harvey’s style has done. I mean, the man is, like, high fashion of everything right now. He has a very different style than what he probably had like two years ago. I’ve been trying to read André Leon Talley’s book for the last two-and-a-half years. But I love André Leon Talley (who passed way this year) because he was just so much himself. He was a timeless fashion icon to me, and I know he was more on the fashion journalism side, but he always was impeccably dressed and kind of did things his own way.
I’m a big Instagram scroller. Oh, I like what this person is wearing today. Lizzo looked amazing at the VMAs. I love Kanye’s fashion because he doesn’t care. I don’t always agree with what he wears, but I love to see him. Tracee Ellis Ross is easy. And even though I don’t wear dresses, I’m always inspired by women in terms of the colors that they wear or how they would put an outfit together. I love to go through the pages of Vogue and just scroll—just look at what people are wearing.
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