Introduction: A. Champ turned Grill

Hello there.

My name is Anastasia Grill. Many in Nebraska and parts of Iowa may know me best as Anastasia Champ. From 2014 to 2019, I spent my time in life as an anchor and reporter for at least two television news stations. In 2019, I hung up that hat and traded it for one in donor relations at a local nonprofit.

Before we get there, a bit more about me. I’ll be honest, this part will likely be a bit boring and sound like a rehearsed track. In a lot of ways, it is. I’ve said these very words about myself more than a dozen times, written them down more often than I know. I mean it when I say this, but you really aren’t obligated to read this post. I promise more of what you really want to read lies ahead. This is just a starter, I guess you could call it; a welcome, so to say, for those who don’t really know me or know little of me.

I’m a military brat, growing up in at least four states and two countries. I was born in Guam and lived there for a few months before Daddy was stationed in Panama. We lived there for about three years and moved to Glendale, Arizona, where we stayed for about four years. Daddy was then stationed to California, but as luck would have it, he was instead stationed to Great Falls, Montana, and we lived there for about three years. Daddy flew in UH-1 Huey helicopters in Montana and transitioned from search and rescue missions to instruction, so we moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where we stayed for four years. Since I couldn’t really live on my own without Daddy’s help, I packed up with my family and moved to Maryland, which is where I consider home.

I am the oldest of two. My sister is younger by about four years, and she is currently a contractor for the National Institute of Health. I wish I could tell you exactly what she does, but it's really confusing to me. Easily put, she is just crazy smart and loves animals and genetics. My sister and parents currently live in Maryland. My Momma doesn't work, and Daddy works at the Pentagon for the U.S. Air Force doing something I'm not really allowed to know about. My parents met when Daddy was stationed in South Korea, so Momma is 100 percent Korean. She raised my sister and me to be really immersed in our culture, albeit thousands of miles away from Korea. She wanted to make sure we knew where we come from. I grew up living the Korean lifestyle, eating the food and speaking some of the language at home. Momma's family all live in Daegu, while Daddy's family is mostly in Council Bluffs, Iowa. My family is everything to me, and I miss them more than you could imagine.

I went to the University of Maryland and graduated with two bachelor’s degrees: broadcast journalism and history. After college, I moved to Hastings, Nebraska, as a reporter and was eventually promoted to anchor at KSNB, now known as Local4. I met my now husband, Justin, in Grand Island working on a story. I tried to get an interview with him, but he turned me down and gave me his number instead (romantic, I know). I stayed in Hastings for about three years before moving to Omaha to be WOWT’s weekend morning anchor and weekday reporter. I spent about a year-and-a-half doing that before deciding to hang that up.

Like previously mentioned, I met Justin in Grand Island. He was a paramedic for Midwest Medical Transport Company walking through a HyVee parking lot when I approached him that fateful day in June 2015. I asked him for an interview, he said he didn't know enough about the topic to give an opinion and declined, we chatted and I got his number before I had to leave. We got married in October 2018, which I can say was probably one of the best days of my life. Sooner or later, I'll tell you our love story. He is currently a paramedic for Sioux City Fire & Rescue in Sioux City, Iowa. He's my hero.

I announced my departure from news in April 2019, which is also the same month I left. Between February and April, I had been working two jobs. I would work at Nebraska Children’s Home Society Monday through Friday and anchor Saturday and Sunday mornings on WOWT. Trust me, sleep was my best friend when it was all said and done.

Since leaving, I’ve done a lot of work on me. In a way, I’m learning about who I am more than I thought I ever could, and trust me, I thought I knew myself real well before now. This is where this blog comes into play, where you’re all caught up in my life and where the story begins.