I've never been a big makeup person. In high school, I had a very unfortunate sense of style and it definitely did not involve makeup. In college, my aesthetics improved, but I still wore very minimal amounts of makeup.

When I first interviewed at WTAP, I remember being caught off-guard by the copious amounts of makeup lathered on the faces of WTAP personalities (past and present). I couldn't believe it. But, put these people in the studio under the bright lights and they come across to your television screens looking flawless.

Still, I swore I was never going to be one of those people. But, as I continued to evolve as a reporter, I learned that looks are a big part of the package (much to my dismay). So, with some smoke, mirrors, and a lot of blush I gave in.

People in the community are used to see my face with an inch thick mask of makeup. So, when viewers see me outside of work, the reactions say it all. Saturday I got up, ran 10 miles, showered, and went to run errands.. sans makeup and wearing a hat. When I went to the dry cleaners, the woman there looked at me for a minute and said, "Wow, you look...(pregnant pause.. OK, more like Angelina Jolie ready to burst with twins pause) different in person." With the seemingly never ending pause, I knew that different was definitely not a compliment. Ouch. OK, so she did have a point, and it stung.

On-air people get back-handed comments like this frequently. My favorite is "You look so much skinnier in person." Translation: I always thought you needed to lay off the desserts.

My point in all of this is that while you might know us as being made-up like we're in a beauty pageant, dressed in suits, and wearing enough hair spray we might spontaneously combust, that's not who we really are.

So next time you see us out, please think twice before you tell us we look.....

...different.