Mandy Hrach joined the WBBJ news team in October 2016 as a multimedia journalist and web editor. Though she is a recent college graduate from the University of Memphis, she is no stranger to the news business.
Mandy grew up around news her entire life. She has many fond memories of going to work with her dad while he was a reporter for The Marietta Times in Ohio when she young girl.
During her four years as a Memphis Tiger, she took advantage of many opportunities to fulfill her goal of becoming a broadcast reporter.
In fall of 2015, she completed an internship with WMC Action News 5 in Memphis, a well-respected station covering news in the mid-south. There she learned many valuable skills from working with the reporters and photographers.
She also worked for five-semesters reporting and editing for The Daily Helmsman, the independent student-run newspaper at the University of Memphis.
The university was not always willing to divulge information, but she was able to uncover many important news stories. She reported on misappropriation of money, campus crime and a university management reprimand.
She earned many distinctions for her work during her time there.
In April of 2014, she was named the best new reporter at The Daily Helmsman for her work, and in February 2015 she was ranked first place in news writing at the Southeastern Journalism Competition in Atlanta.
In April of this year, she was awarded second place in the Marc Perrusquia Investigative Award for a story that uncovered the poor working conditions the janitors on the University of Memphis campus face.
She also was named the best news writer for 2016 at the annual University of Memphis journalism banquet.
Writing for the newspaper was just one way she reported for her university. She also participated in her university’s television station Insight News as a reporter, anchor and show producer.
Mandy is an individual with a passion for breaking news and a love for reporting. When she is not in the newsroom, she enjoys biking and spending her time at coffee shops.
Mandy loves to e-mail, so feel free to drop her a line at ahrach@wbbjtv.com.
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