Emily Merz found the path to meteorology through her passion for journalism. A 2019 All-MS Honoree, the Minnesota native attended Center Hill High School after moving to north Mississippi while growing up, where she began her media career by writing for the student newspaper. As she developed media skills and moved up the ranks in the paper, broadcasting became the relevant interest in her final year of high school.
“ By my junior year I was an assistant editor to our editor in chief, and then my senior year, I myself became editor in chief,” Merz said. “That was also when I discovered broadcasting. I auditioned, got in, loved it, and realized I loved being on camera.”
Merz had dreamed of becoming a meteorologist since she was little, and realized she could use her TV broadcasting and news writing developments to pursue it. She then began attending Mississippi State University, entering into their broadcast meteorology program. During her junior year, a summer internship became the priority, leading her to trace back to the location she originally grew up in.
“I had such fond memories of growing up in Minnesota and the Midwest,” Merz said. “I was curious. Was it just nostalgia, or is it actually that good of a place to be? When I started looking for internships, I knew I wanted to be in a smaller market like that.”
Merz landed an internship right away at KEYC, a small news station in Mankato, Minnesota. There she quickly gained experience, including getting on air for the first time and leading a weekend evening show by her second month. This led to her getting a job for the station, where she broadcasted remotely from Mississippi during her senior year. After graduating in 2023, she returned to Minnesota to work there full-time. Merz attributes this experience to her willingness in putting herself out there, having a sense of self-belief while also not being afraid.
“I feel like the buzzword for it would be blind confidence, not being afraid to take a risk,” Merz said. “I’ve always lived off of the motto ‘the worst that they can say is no’, and that has really been a major factor for me since high school.”
However, things weren’t settled for Merz at KEYC, as after just a year and a half the station experienced layoffs and show cuts from their parent company, Gray Media. This led to her immediately branching out to other stations, quickly finding a position at WBAY, the largest station in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where she now lives and works.
“ So when all the unexpected changes happened at my old station, I realized this is my time to see what other opportunities are out there, which is how I landed my current job,”Merz said. “My-now chief meteorologist posted an opening in a Facebook group I was in, and we ended up hopping in a zoom call the next day. And him and I clicked, like it was just meant to be. It really felt like a universe moment.”
Looking back on her time developing in journalism up to now, Merz has learned that the media aspect of working in meteorology is benefitting her the most, with the years in school of honing her craft in writing and broadcast directly working to her advantage on TV.
“ The science is not what I’m interested in anymore,” Merz said. “I could fall back on print journalism or web journalism or anything like that. So much of TV weather now is having to do online work and social media. I think like just having years of experience with storytelling has definitely set me up for that.”
Merz’s high school experiences were critical to her growth in exploring her skillset and building relationships, including opportunities to see other high school journalism programs in Mississippi through MSPA. This only furthered her motivation, showing how she can both get better as well have her hard work pay off.
“Being a part of high school newspaper and broadcasting and then the bigger picture of MSPA is a big thing that stuck with me,” Merz said. “Meeting other people that were coming from bigger and better programs, seeing what they do, and then thinking while we aren’t as well-funded, we can still win.”
For current high school journalism aspirators, Merz does have some perspective and advice to share. She noted how being in TV and media can tie directly to your digital life, where you need to know just what is out there.
“ Now is the time to start being aware of your digital footprint, especially if there’s anyone has interest in being in TV,” Merz said. “Women in TV unfortunately deal with a lot of harassment from viewers or the public. And now with AI, it’s so important for people to know exactly what is out there about them on social media.”
Merz also emphasized the importance of being mobile to break into TV roles, something that came naturally to her, with travel being something she’s both loved and experienced a lot in her life.
“ You have to follow the job, you can’t just necessarily go to whatever town and get what you want,” Merz said. “If you’re willing to move anywhere, that’s going to be really marketable. It’ll pay off down the line for sure. It’s also fun to go somewhere completely new and be able to reinvent yourself if you need to. It’s been awesome, and I have friends all across the country now.”
Lastly, Merz went back to the idea of confidence as the central factor of developing a career in journalism, to not let your own mind or emotions get in the way of a multitude of opportunities in the field.
“ Don’t let your anxiety win, and don’t let the ‘what ifs’ win,” Merz said. “Like I said, the worst that they can say is no.”
