PARTNER SPOTLIGHT

JAN:  Angie, I’m so excited and proud to interview the only court reporter who qualified for both legs of the 2025 realtime contest!  I can’t even remember a time when that has ever happened!

ANGIE:  Thanks, Jan!   I don’t know whether it’s happened before either, but I was quite surprised it happened!

JAN:  Angie, we‘ve worked together since the early 1990s, and even back in the earliest of days you were a phenom, but I’ve watched you grow into literally one of the best captioners in the country, so I cannot say I was shocked to see you emerge as the realtime champion. And on top of that, you also came in first place in the literary leg of the speed contest.  That’s incredible. #respect!

ANGIE:  Well, over the years people have made comments to that effect, but honestly, that’s not how I’ve ever viewed/felt about myself.  That contest result was 37 years in the making, I guess!  Or maybe it was beginner’s luck!  Or maybe a fluke!      

JAN:  It was neither a fluke or luck, I’m sure of that.  Angie, let’s take a step back and learn a bit about you.  Tell us a bit about your family and what you like to do when you’re not captioning or shattering records.

ANGIE:  My husband, Bill, and I recently celebrated our 25^th wedding anniversary. 

JAN:  That’s a big milestone.  Congratulations!

ANGIE:  Thank you.  My, how time flies.  We have two young adult children and two adorable four-legged kids (dogs).  When I’m not working, I enjoy spending time with family and friends, attending theater productions, concerts, and festivals. 

JAN:  How did you get your start in the profession?  When and where did you go to reporting school?

ANGIE:  My mom was a legal secretary, and I was planning to follow in her footsteps.  But then her boss asked if I had ever considered court reporting.  I didn’t even know what a court reporter was!  I did a little research, toured the campus of the University of Minnesota – Crookston; and next thing I knew, I was starting the court and conference reporting program in the fall of 1986. 

JAN:  How long did it take a phenom like you to get out of school?  Just curious…

ANGIE:  It took me two years. See, I’m not really a phenom. LOL.   

JAN:  Well, trust me—you are.  How big was your class?

ANGIE:  We began with 28 students.  Seven of us completed the program within months of each other. 

JAN: Angie, tell everyone what your career has looked like since graduating from reporting school.

ANGIE:  My first job out of school was with an agency in Marshall, Minnesota called Southwest Reporters.  I thought I was going to Marshall for a month of training, after which I would stay there and work.  Turns out the opening was actually in the Twin Cities.  And after only a week of training, I covered my first deposition in Mahnomen, MN, and shortly thereafter moved to the Twin Cities.  In 1989, I met Lisa Richardson – CART captioner pioneer and legend – and started training to caption the news at KARE-11, the NBC affiliate.  In late 1990, KARE-11 decided to discontinue live captioning and went to scripted captioning, so I  moved back to my home state of North Dakota and started working for a firm in Fargo,  Norman E. Mark Court Reporter Service, in January of 1991.  I didn’t know if I would ever caption again.  But Lisa and I stayed in touch, and in 1993 I moved back to the Twin Cities and started working for the newly formed and expanding court reporting firm Ballman, Richardson and Seward—or B.R.A.S, as we affectionately called each other.  During that period of time, I provided court reporting, CART, and captioning services.  Then in 1998, B.R.A.S. merged with two other local court reporting agencies, becoming Paradigm Reporting and Captioning, which is now the Minneapolis office of Veritext. 

JAN:  And here we both are. It’s been a 32-year journey together—all good!  Angie, do you have a favorite type of event to caption?  And what’s your least favorite, as long as I’m inquiring?

ANGIE:  Gosh, I don’t think I can list only one, but my favorite types of events to CART/caption are legislative sessions/political events; special-education-related meetings/events; and galas/fund-raisers/conventions.  Undergraduate college classes have become my least favorite things to caption, as most of the students are right out of high school or even still in high school, and nobody wants their mom or maybe even their grandma in class with them!   

JAN:  Well, that and how challenging all those NAMES must be!  Yikes.  There seem to be less and less Marys and Johns graduating these days.  And then maybe it’s Merry and Jon! Angie, tell us about some of the more memorable assignments you’ve ever captioned.  I know there have been a ton!

ANGIE:  Wow… I need to think for a while.  Actually, some of the biggest events are kind of a blur!  Like captioning the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon with Lisa.  I had to ask her if I even captioned!  I can’t even remember the first night I captioned the news.  I was probably terrified.  I captioned Barack Obama at the Target Center.  It was before he was President.  I don’t remember if he was campaigning or what the event was.  Other notables are Oprah Winfrey when she was on her Weight Watchers tour.  She was very inspiring!   I captioned both Jay Leno and Diana Ross at the PACER event.  Those are a couple that come to mind.

JAN:  And I know there were lots more, because whenever something big came in on the captioning side, Lisa had you right in the mix.

Angie, let’s talk about the 2025 NCRA Convention and contests.  Was this your first time competing at a national level in either the speed or realtime contests?

ANGIE:  Yes, it was my first time participating in the national contests.

JAN:  Dang!  That’s so amazing!  How were the nerves going in?

ANGIE:  You know, they were pretty high.  What was really helpful, though, was that Tuesday evening, before the contests, they held a practice session.  Afterwards most of the people went to dinner.  I ended up sitting next to Patricia Nilsen – who won the Realtime AND the Speed contests last year!  That really helped calm the nerves.  No one was wearing a cape.  They were just easy-going, fun people.  Thanks to Pat Mahon for letting me tag along with him!    

JAN:  I ran into a lot of contestants at the convention who told me the Realtime test this year was insanely difficult and they didn’t even turn theirs in… and this from some very big names in the NCRA Contests world.  How did you feel writing the two legs of the Realtime test, which were Literary at 200 wpm and Two-Voice at 225?  Did you feel like you had a chance to at least qualify (and you needed to be at 95% accuracy to qualify)?

ANGIE:  You know, for the Realtime legs I didn’t really know.  When I caption, I always watch my writing; but I found during the contests it was too distracting, so I put my laptop lid down.  When I lifted the lid after the Testimony leg, I saw that for the very last word I had “well” instead of “welcome,” so that didn’t make me feel too confident.   

The Speed contest took place in the morning.  There were two legs – Literary and Testimony.  They decided not to do the Legal Opinion this year.  For the Speed contest, you have 90 minutes to edit each leg.  The Realtime contest wasn’t until 3:00.  In between the tests, and after we had turned our tests in, several of us went through our files, with one person reading aloud and the rest jumping in if they had something different.  By my count, I had three errors on the Literary leg, so I was confident I had qualified.  And the graders came up with the same result.  For Testimony I found 39 errors, so I thought I had a good chance of qualifying for that one too.   

JAN:  Truly mind-blowing, Ang.  Biggest question of the day:  What did it feel like to hear your name called as The Only Qualifier in either leg of the Realtime contest and then have the whole ballroom erupt in thunderous applause?   Describe what that was like.

ANGIE:  I was in shock!  I think I just sat there for a moment, and then Pat Mahon turned to me and said, “Go up there!”  Honestly, it’s still a bit of a blur.  Our colleague Merilee Johnson sent me a few videos.  I just rewatched them.  They make me laugh out loud – I was so wobbly – I could hardly walk!  I had calmed down a bit by the time the Speed Literary was called though, thankfully.   

JAN:  Well, I know I received a lot of emails and texts of congratulations on your behalf.  You became a court reporting household name overnight!

What can you tell us about the infamous “contest culture”?  I know it’s a tight group of reporting friends who compete each year, and it’s an intense day, but what’s it really like to be “in the room where it happens” with all those phenomenal reporters?

ANGIE:  I was amazed at how friendly everyone was to this newcomer.  I mean, I didn’t get a chance to meet or talk with every contestant, but the ones I did were so friendly and supportive.  I have more friends on Facebook now.  LOL.  

JAN:  I know elite athletes often have a ritual they go through to mentally prepare to pitch or to putt or before they dive off a platform.  Have you developed any such habits or rituals, whether superstitious in nature or just how you’ve always done it?

ANGIE:  I honestly don’t have a practice routine… but that doesn’t mean that I don’t need one!  I really should warm up before every assignment.  I recently joined Rich Germosen’s 100-Day Challenge, and I intend to check out some of Mark Kislingbury’s materials. 

JAN:  Wow—great advice from a Champion—there’s always room for improvement. Always!

Okay, last question, but perhaps the most important question, Angie:  What would you say to others who are considering competing in this contest… or to any reporter or captioner who aspires to reach new heights?

ANGIE:  Well, I had been thinking about participating in the contests for a while, and I really don’t know why I waited so long.  I know it can be intimidating to think about, but if you’re curious about it or have been thinking about it, just do it—to steal one from Nike.  Just do it!  Because you never know…😊 

JAN:  Angie, I want to thank you for your time and graciousness in allowing me to ask questions, which by now you may have been asked many times.  It is truly an honor to call you Colleague and Friend, and I’m sincerely proud of all of your many career accomplishments, but particularly what you achieved this year at the NCRA Convention!  Congratulations again!

ANGIE:  Thanks, Jan!