Sophia Beausoleil
Photo courtesy KXAN

KXAN has a new morning reporter and she’s a Texan. Sophia Beausoleil, 24, a native of Katy, near Houston, started on air this morning.

KXAN News Director Chad Cross says Beausoleil is the permanent replacement for long time morning reporter Kate Weidaw, who left in July for a new career as a journalism professor at the University of Georgia.

Angie Beavin, who has been filling in most recently on the early AM beat, is moving to what Cross describes as her normal reporting schedule, filing stories for the 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. newscasts.

Beausoleil comes to KXAN after two years as a general assignment reporter at WCIA, Champaign, Illinois. For examples of her Illinois work, here’s a link.

She earned a Broadcast Journalism degree in 2010 from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. While at Mizzou, she worked as a multimedia journalist at the university’s commercial station, KOMU.

Beausoleil says she was looking to return to Texas and hoping for the perfect job.

“I knew KXAN was the right place when I walked in,” Beausoleil said. “My interview was on the day of the UT bomb scare, and that offered me good perspective on how KXAN’s newspeople react to breaking news. Everyone dropped what they were doing and everything was updated quickly–air, Twitter, web.”

The new reporter is still adjusting to the early shift, going to bed at 7 p.m. and getting up at 2 a.m.  She says her morning show colleagues make it easier.

“I love everyone I work with,” Beausoleil said. “It’s a great atmosphere with people who are creative and hungry to work.”

Like many before her, the new reporter says Austin is unique.

“I come from corn country, so I am enjoying the beauty here,” Beausoleil said.