Elizabeth Sims started at WBIR in September 2018 as the station’s first digital storyteller.
She has a passion for history, the great outdoors and connecting with people through the stories they have to share. In short, Elizabeth and the Great Smoky Mountains were a perfect match.
Elizabeth was born and raised in Dallas, Texas where she got her start in journalism by writing for her high school newspaper, The Sidekick.
She graduated from the University of Oklahoma in May 2018 with a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and a minor in Spanish. Boomer Sooner!
While studying at OU, she found her love for digital media in the OU Covers program by following the 2016 presidential election, producing a documentary about refugees in Oklahoma and covering the 2018 teacher walk-outs from the Oklahoma State Capitol.
In 2017, she was selected as an investigative reporting fellow for the award-winning News21 program out of Arizona State’s Cronkite School of Journalism. This News21 project called Troubled Water won a Student Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Digital Reporting.
She worked as a freelance writer and photographer for several local media outlets and charitable organizations in Dallas and Oklahoma City before moving to East Tennessee.
When she’s not on the job, she enjoys gaming, cooking and being outdoors, especially running, paddleboarding and hiking.
If you want to get in touch with Elizabeth, email her at esims@wbir.com and follow her on Facebook and Instagram @e.g.sims or on Twitter @elizabethsimsou.
