Behind the Byline: Meet Emma Horn, our education and history reporter

Her career has seen her work in Sydney, Adelaide and now Wagga.

Small, quiet and unassuming, her size nevertheless makes her particularly effective in media scrums and she can always worm her way to the front of the crowd.

If you have a story for Emma, get in touch by emailing emma.horn@dailyadvertiser.com.au.

When I was five years old - it was 1999, and I was in kindergarten - I was obsessed with what I thought was the war in East Timor. I used to binge-watch ABC News and the foreign correspondent - I can't even remember who it was now - explaining what was happening.

I didn't even know where East Timor was, but I knew I wanted to be that guy. So it was a five-year-old's dream.

At the moment they are education and history. Education you might think is cute kids and swimming lessons, but it is so much more. Everything would in some way cross over into education, so it is an area where there is a lot of hard news.

I think it was obvious I would end up in education as I have a background in children's news, and I do love telling stories for kids.

History is a little bit harder, especially since I did not grow up here. So I have been reading a lot of Wagga and Riverina history and talking with local historians to get my basic understanding of what makes this town tick.

I think looking at the history of the place informs where it is now and where the future of the city is headed.

I wrote a story on a girl who was allergic to her own skin. They call kids with these conditions 'butterfly children'. The interview was so painful with her mother and her, to see she was just in constant pain. She was 17 years old, and they knew with this condition she would not last very long.

A few months after I wrote the story, her mother called me to say she had passed away. It was just before Christmas. I do not think there was a dry eye in the office.

I am a very calm person, so usually my emotions do not get the better of me. It's also important to remember that we made a difference. Like with the girl, the story was about research into this condition so other kids would never have to go through it.

She helped me make the story meaningful. In those moments, it is essential to remind yourself that you are helping to make a difference.

A phone, a bit of colour in my wardrobe and a home-cooked meal.

When I was in children's media, there were a lot of quirky stories. There was an art student who travelled the world, and she has an Instagram personality where she wears a mouse head and takes photos in front of famous places. She's the travelling mouse.

She was a lot of fun to talk to.

As I was the reporter for the Southern Cross in Junee for a while, I think I have more favourites there.

I thought I was going to hate the Showgirl dinner. I thought it was going to be archaic, but I loved it. There is a lot that goes into girls becoming showgirls, it is not just a beauty contest.

A lot of people think we sit here and talk about how we can ruin people's lives most spectacularly. But that's not what we are about.

Pretty much all of the journalists I have met are trying to be balanced and get a story across that their community will care about.

The toughest part is being away from my family. We are very close and being so far away from them has been difficult, although I am closer to them now than I have been for a long time.

The best part is getting the flavour of different places, meeting new people, you get to see how things work in various towns, and it helps you grow as a person.