NOTEBOOK: Career journalist pivots to become co-owner of Sylvan Learning centers Friday, March 5, 2021 6:00 AM
Becoming a small business owner was a long-held goal for April Samp, and in the past year that dream became a reality for her, despite the pandemic.
Samp, who had worked in broadcast journalism for nearly two decades, most recently as news director of WOI-TV 5, took on a new role last summer as co-owner of Sylvan Learning of Iowa.
Samp first saw an opportunity to join Sylvan seven years ago, but realized the time wasn’t right as a single mother with her then 7-year-old son. Instead, she landed the news director role at Channel 5 and helped create the “We Are Iowa” brand and built a news team that won several awards during her time there, including a Walter Cronkite Award for political journalism.