Moving from Minnesota to South Dakota in May 2023, Julia Lin joined KELOLAND News after graduating from Minnesota State Mankato with a bachelor’s degree in mass media and a minor in marketing. Her interest in broadcast journalism stems back to high school when she anchored her school’s morning news show, Tiger News, led by video production teacher Mark Toutge, a former KELOLAND employee. Ironically during her senior year, she used to write to Angela Kennecke, former reporter/anchor at KELOLAND, about becoming a journalist.
One piece of advice Angela gave her that continued to stick with her throughout the years was, “Focus on the writing and storytelling! The performance aspect of this job will come with practice. But you must be a good writer first and always!”
Lin got her start in print journalism working for her college newspaper, The Reporter, which has been student-run since 1926 still printing a full newspaper twice weekly. In her last year, she was the editor-in-chief and won several awards from the Minnesota Newspaper Association. The first award she ever won was an investigative reporting piece she wrote looking into Minnesota police standards and how they vary across states. She also won first place for best social issues story in the state about students’ experience coming to school in the United States from Tigray, a region in Ethiopia. Lin enjoys shedding light on important humanitarian issues. Lin also worked for the Mankato Free Press under Robb Murray, an MSU alum and award-winning journalist in Mankato. During her time at the Free Press, she also was awarded second place for best arts and entertainment story from a local publication that prints over 10,000 newspapers daily.
This is Lin’s first time working in broadcast journalism and she is eager to learn the broadcast style of storytelling. She enjoys the visual aspect and art of sharing stories important to the community and is excited to meet people in her new city, Sioux Falls. When she’s not working, Lin enjoys spending the day on the water at her lake home, baking treats for her friends, traveling and trying new foods. One of her favorite foods is sushi and is on the hunt for the best ramen place in town!
