If there’s a secret sauce to Kayla Sullivan’s “reporter voice,” she hasn’t pinned it down. The 33-year-old Indianapolis native can trace its origins to a natural inclination toward performing and a lifelong admiration of Diane Sawyer and Katie Couric, but there’s no step-by-step guide on how Sullivan mastered the affectation.
However it happened, Sullivan’s voice struck a chord with millions. And it’s landed her among the University of Indianapolis’ most famous alumni.
Known for her viral “reporter voice” videos that turn the ups and downs of parenthood into live news reports, Sullivan has parlayed a few lucky strikes into a real-deal content creation career boasting more than a million followers on TikTok and brand deals with Dunkin’, Amazon, Mattel and more. The online personality was honored April 24 by the University of Indianapolis Communications Department, her alma mater, with a spot on its Wall of Fame.
“This one came from my family. This came from the Communications Department where I spent countless hours and late nights dreaming about this career,” Sullivan told IndyStar. “There was something about that that was full-circle for me, because this is where my career began.”
Sullivan, a Franklin Central High School graduate, was born and raised in Indianapolis. An interest in journalism came early, as Sullivan idolized local newscasters growing up and started workshopping her now-signature “reporter voice” around the age of 9. She honed her skills in high school by hosting her own advice show, “Keeping it Real with Kayla,” on Franklin Central’s own radio station.
Sullivan’s show caught the attention of former UIndy professor Scott Uecker, who also managed UIndy’s in-house radio station 88.7 WICR and UIndyTV. Uecker convinced Sullivan to enroll in UIndyI where she helped found the school’s Society of Professional Journalists chapter and won the organization’s highest honor — student journalist of the year — before graduating in 2015.
After graduation, Sullivan landed a job as an anchor at West Lafayette’s WLFI and worked there until 2019. She moved back to Indianapolis after her son, now 7, was born to take a job as an Indiana statehouse reporter for Fox59 and CBS 4, but said she quickly found the balance of motherhood and the demanding life of a reporter in the throes of a pandemic difficult to navigate.
“I took that very seriously, and it was amazing,” Sullivan said. “But I knew if I continued doing it, I would regret it because I was missing really important years of my son’s life.”
Sullivan knew her work-life split wasn’t sustainable and began looking for another role, eventually landing one with the Oklahoma statehouse as a social media specialist. But she missed the journalism game and sought ways to scratch that itch, and in the first days of 2022, she picked up a toy microphone and filmed a special report on the “two-year-old terrorist” who held her “hostage at Olive Garden.”
When that reel and the handful that followed gained national attention, Sullivan officially swapped the handheld microphone for a hairbrush and stories on bank robberies for ones on bedtime, pursuing a career as a full-time content creator. She’s since moved back to Indianapolis, and her account has exploded with more “on the scene” reporting skits four years after her first post.
“I still got the fix of writing, doing the performance aspect, being on camera, even holding the microphone,” Sullivan said. “It was like the perfect career fell in my lap.”
WISH-TV picked up on the momentum and offered Sullivan her own segment. She hosted “KIDding with Kayla,” a show centered on children and families, from 2022-24.
Though the show is off the air now, Sullivan is no less salient online: She still wields cheese sticks and trophies and sneakers as makeshift microphones to deliver her signature satirical parenting news that garners hundreds of thousands of views. Her current role as an entertainment creator, she said, is just as meaningful to her as her past life as a hard news reporter on the steps of the Indiana statehouse.
“There has been nothing more rewarding than bringing people laughter and bringing people together,” Sullivan said. “It seriously makes me choke up.”
Sullivan hopes her inclusion among UIndy’s honored alumni inspires other students to bet on themselves and chase unexpected opportunities. As someone who left her dream job and pivoted to another career path, Sullivan wants her story to help others wrestling with the same decision.
“You just have to know when a job is too much for you,” Sullivan said. “It’s the wisdom to understand when it isn’t working anymore.”
Contact IndyStar Pop Culture Reporter Heather Bushman at hbushman@indystar.com, Follow her on X @hmb_1013.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Kayla Sullivan, viral for her ‘reporter voice,’ gets UIndy honor
Reporting by Heather Bushman, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
