Kira Dixon grew up within the Leave out Congeniality generation, when younger women of her age dreamed of glittering crowns and competition robes. After satisfying her early life dream by means of winning Miss America 2015, she got down to carve a brand new trail, transitioning from competition queen to a distinguished determine in golfing journalism.
Her tale serves as a testomony to non-public expansion, showcasing how she overcame demanding situations, embraced alternatives and made a reputation for herself in sports activities media—together with her position on the Paris Olympics—thru sheer perseverance and flexibility.
Coming into the competition international
Within the yr 2000, the movie Leave out Congeniality used to be launched, and 12-year-old Dixon used to be a right away fan. After looking at the film, she knew she had to go into a competition. She persuaded her folks to let her enroll, acquire a get dressed from eBay and take part within the native competition—which she went directly to win. This fueled her spark, and Dixon used to be concerned about every year pageants till she went off to university.
All the way through her senior yr in school, she got here throughout a competition alternative to win scholarship cash for legislation faculty. Hesitant to start with, she consulted an outdated competition pal who inspired her. “I nonetheless had some buddies from that point in my existence that had carried out Leave out The usa locals. I talked to one among my buddies. She [said], ‘Oh my gosh, you must utterly do it. It’s so amusing. Like, if now not for simply… one remaining hurrah of that existence,’” Dixon remembers.
She competed in Leave out New York and positioned within the best 10.
Later, when she’d been permitted into legislation faculty at Notre Dame, she attempted for the scholarship cash. This resolution paid off when she used to be topped Leave out The usa 2015. Alternatively, all the way through her yr as Leave out The usa, she briefly discovered that legislation faculty wasn’t her true calling. As an alternative, she found out a keenness for golfing media. When she used to be invited to play within the Professional-AM as Leave out The usa, she noticed a possible profession trail.
Ultimately, she transferred to USC and registered for a grasp’s in specialised journalism.
Competition phases to golfing classes
Dixon wasn’t new to the arena of golfing. Her folks inspired her to play from a tender age, labeling it a basic “trade talent.” On account of this, figuring out the rankings and nature of the sport wasn’t tough for her.
Moreover, her transition length from Leave out The usa to golfing journalism used to be an extension of her competition queen skillset. Her earlier agenda of touring 20,000 miles a month, internet hosting, turning in awards and presenting taught her precious classes that she carried over into her new profession.
Following her reign as Leave out The usa, Dixon moved to Los Angeles and leveraged her competition community to land a internet hosting gig at the purple carpet. Progressively, she constructed her recognition in golfing media by means of attending identical tournaments and networked in the neighborhood. Her laborious paintings paid off, and her area of interest grew as invitations and collaborations poured in.
On her trail, she additionally realized extra concerning the folks concerned, now not almost about the game and its related way of life. “I used to be actually keen about the tales of the particular folks which are making golfing their lives… and what that takes,” Dixon stocks. “And I discovered myself… actually attracted to the real reporting and journalistic a part of the golfing media panorama revel in.”
Environment her attractions on sports activities tv
Decided to practice her dream and deepen her figuring out of the golfing neighborhood, she pursued openings at sports activities tv networks. That used to be when the true grind started. Setting up her credibility in golfing media used to be very important, and she or he recalled a number of studying phases within the procedure. She wasn’t a qualified golfer, however she had on-camera internet hosting revel in. Whilst she‘d by no means reported unscripted content material on reside TV, she had the talking abilities for it.
She contacted reps persistently all the way through this time. One of the crucial largest classes she had to be informed used to be that rejection used to be a part of the method. This taught her resilience.
“I heard—and nonetheless listen—the phrase ‘no.’ Then I heard the phrase ‘sure,’” she recounts. “You need to simply be like, very OK with consistent rejection or consistent, like, ‘Oh, we’ll circle again.’ And… it took me a little bit bit to remember that… there’s not anything non-public about that. That’s simply… the character of the trade… [and] I in my opinion stated sure to the rest and the whole lot I may.”
Rising to search out luck
Dixon’s large destroy got here when the US Golfing Affiliation cold-called her and presented her a reporting alternative as a virtual host for its championship protection. After accepting the position, she received precious on-the-job revel in. “I grew such a lot in having a company more or less simply imagine in me and be capable of, like, throw me out into the wasteland and spot if I will be able to determine it out,” she says.
Alternatively, later down the pipeline, Dixon’s profession plans have been halted by means of the pandemic, so she determined to use to the USC Annenberg College for Communique and Journalism and hone her abilities in conventional sports activities journalism. Consequently, she used to be presented to writing recreation tales and investigative items and figuring out field rankings.
Following commencement, she won a internet hosting be offering for an approach to life display referred to as Golfing Consultant at the Golfing Channel. From there, her laborious paintings culminated in a reside tv reporter position for the PGA, a well known golfing convention, and she or he used to be promoted to reporter and host for the Golfing Channel and NBC.
Whilst her experience is in golfing, Dixon helped make historical past on the Paris Olympics as an on-call reporter this previous summer time. After reporting on U.S. swimming occasions within the years main as much as the Olympics, an NBC government presented her the position of sports activities table reporter. The transfer from golfing reporting to the Olympics used to be new flooring for her—she describes the reporting taste as being “on-the-fly” and fast paced.
For every game, she would briefly be told the fundamentals from the supplied analysis packets, from how scoring labored to which athletes to concentrate on. This used to be additionally a perfect gateway into different sports activities fields—she branched out into equestrian, rowing, trampoline, water polo and extra. She describes the revel in as exhilarating.
Construction a expansion mindset
Lately, Dixon is counting her profession milestones. Her distinctive transition from Leave out The usa to reporting on reside tv taught her the best way to construct a expansion mindset. She credit the comments and positive grievance she won all over the years for the place she is now.
“I believe an important expansion section for me to get to the place I’m lately—which is now, like, 4 years later within the Golfing Channel—[is] having simply mountains and mountains and mountains of comments,” she says.
Reflecting on her start line 10 years in the past, Dixon’s takeaway is that her trail has in the long run became out higher than she’d envisioned. Her agenda is simply as busy, and she or he nonetheless travels 30 weeks out of the yr, however she has shifted her number one center of attention to search out extra balance and work-life stability.
In the long run, she believes that expansion is part of each profession. “There’s a area for everybody. You need to paintings very, very laborious to get your area, however there’s a area,”
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