TV Reporter From Enfield Following Her Dream With New Position

ENFIELD, CT — From the time she was about 3 years old, Izzy Post wanted to be an astronaut; in fact, her initial major at Virginia Tech University was astrophysics. However, some personal challenges led to a sports television course, which led to a change of major to multimedia journalism, which led to a job in all facets of television production at Western Mass News in Springfield. Now, she continues to reach for the stars and her ultimate dream by taking a new job in West Virginia.

This past Sunday, Post signed off for the final time in New England - for now - after accepting an anchor/reporter position at WVNS-TV59 in Ghent, W.V. She will be making the 675-mile move next week, and begins work at her new station Sept. 1.

A lifelong Enfield resident, Post attended St. Bernard School through 8th grade ("I was with the same 20 kids my entire childhood," she said) before graduating from Northwest Catholic High School in 2013. From there, it was on to Virginia Tech, where she struggled in her chosen major.

"Multivariable calculus is very easy for most people, but when I failed that for the third time, I realized that wasn't the path for me," she laughed during a recent interview with Patch.

Having lost her mom Norma suddenly in 2009, she absorbed another blow when her dad Dan died in 2014. She took a gap year from the university, returned to Enfield and took a few courses at Asnuntuck and Manchester community colleges. One of those classes changed her life forever.

"I took a class at MCC called Sports On TV, taught by Kevin Nathan from Channel 30," she said. "I've always loved sports, always loved football and always loved talking about sports. Kevin told me I was one of the best students he ever had."

During that gap year, Post changed her major, concentrating on sports media and communications. When she returned to the Virginia Tech campus, she "hit the ground running."

"I got involved with everything I possibly could," she said. "Within a month, I was covering football, basketball, and got involved with the campus TV station and newspaper. I did freelance work with the ACC Digital Network, doing streaming, writing, radio. Anyone who approached me, I said yes. Looking back, I probably should have said no, because I was very overwhelmed. I said yes to everything to get my name out there and pick up that ground work.

"After six months, I was a name on campus. People knew me as "the football girl." I was the student liaison between the athletes and the kids. I was one of them - that was the difference between the beat writers and the TV people."

After graduating, Post came home to Enfield without a full-time job. She did considerable freelance work for about a year before applying for a job at Western Mass News, consisting of ABC40, CBS3 and FOX6.

"A photographer/editor job was all they had, and they hired me within a week," she said. "They quickly learned I had on-air experience and writing experience, so they started making me their jack-of-all-trades."

The station began giving Post some sports assignments, and she ultimately started working on the popular Friday Football Fever segments. Within a year, she became anchor of that show, then became a sports anchor and began filling in as a news reporter.

Post said, "I found my passion in talking to people, finding their stories and telling their stories." That passion was discovered by executives at WVNS, who found clips online and offered her a full-time news position.

"It moved very quickly; it was about a week from their initial contact until they hired me," she said.

A very difficult aspect of moving to West Virginia is being away from one of Post's true passions - the Enfield 4th of July Town Celebration. Her grandfather, Frank Dodd, was involved in the event from its first year, and both her parents were directors. She herself was involved even in utero.

"The year my mom became pregnant with me, both my parents joined the committee," she said. "I was three months old at my first Celebration."

Even in her preteen years, Post was an active volunteer with the group, to the point where, as a joke, someone suggested she be called a "director-in-training."

"The committee took to it, feeling it was a great idea to train the next generation of directors," she said. "It has now been around 13 years. I was the first director-in-training to become a director, at age 19, and there are now four."

Post said after accepting the new job, the first person she called outside of relatives was Committee chair Scott Kaupin. She asked him how she could remain involved from a distance, and Kaupin relied, 'We'll make it work.'"

"The 4th of July Town Celebration Committee family is very excited for Izzy as she begins this next chapter in her news reporting career," Kaupin told Patch. "We've encouraged her along the way and know how much she has earned this new position through her perseverence, dedication to her profession, and the personal drive and determination to be the very best she can be. Izzy has accomplished much here in Enfield, with the Celebration, and at Western Mass News, and we look forward to following her work in West Virginia. I personally am one very proud 'uncle' ... go Izzy!"

Her ultimate goal?

"I want to be a beat reporter on a national level, either college or NFL, covering a team exclusively for a large-scale network."

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