When Audrey Marr checked her email inbox at the end of her junior year at Indiana University-Bloomington, one email caught her eye. The subject line read ‘NBC Sports Big 10 x Audrey Marr.’
She hesitated, but despite her reluctance, when the email mentioned a reference from an old professor and offered her an interview for an undisclosed opportunity, only one word crossed Marr’s mind.
“Yes.”
For Marr, now 22-years-old, that word defined her career. Right after graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington in 2025 with a Bachelors in Sports Media, Marr started working at WMTV15 News, a television station based in Madison, Wisconsin.
As a weekend sports anchor and reporter, local news coverage is a big change from college reporting with The Hoosier Network for Marr.
“Local news is a different animal,” Marr told The Daily Cardinal. “With college what was so amazing is that, yeah, you were also balancing classes, but you had your own time.”
The transition has been demanding, but Marr said she’s glad she said yes to the opportunity and credits her current position to her drive throughout her early career.
“Something that I learned a lot is just taking any avenue that could be a possibility, even if it doesn't sound appealing at first,” Marr said. “Either way, you're going to learn a lot from it.”
A lit spark
Marr’s childhood was simple, yet it built a path to her future dreams. She grew up playing sports — including swimming for 12 years — before realizing she didn’t like playing sports, but she enjoyed covering them.
She began working in sports in high school at Virginia Academy in Ashburn, Virginia, where she assisted her school’s athletic director, Antwaan Randle El. Randle El, an inductee in the Indiana Athletic Hall of Fame, encouraged Marr to go to his alma mater because of her interest in sports reporting.
Marr studied Sports Media and spent the next four years fostering a love for storytelling and learning from her peers.
The first eye-opening opportunity for Marr came in her sophomore year from her sports storytelling class. The class lit a spark in her, even though she felt like a newbie.
“I loved it, even though I was horrible at it,” Marr said. “I will never, ever watch back any of the stuff I did in that class.”
Marr said she relished every moment in the class, and it was there that she was introduced to The Hoosier Network — a student-led media organization focusing on Indiana sports. The Hoosier Network turned Marr’s lit spark into a fiery passion.
“It just really, really ignited something in me,” Marr said. “I knew that I found what I wanted to do on my end, and that was storytelling through covering sports.”
The Hoosier Network is also where Marr learned how to be open to any opportunity. When she joined her sophomore year, there were no open positions until Marr was offered the chance to be the sole reporter covering swim and dive.
Marr welcomed the challenge, despite her hesitation and inexperience. She dove into the job and dedicated herself to uncovering as many stories as she could.
“You just have to take it seriously, because then that's when you're going to grow the most,” Marr said.
The managing staff recognized her dedication and she was asked to step in for other reporters on major games and stories. “Yes” became Marr’s motto.
Her hard work paid off, and she joined the football beat alongside two other reporters. She traveled for games, spending her own money on gas and occasionally skipping class.
“I was a lot more focused on work and what I wanted to do than I was with college life,” Marr said. “When you're doing a job like this, it doesn't feel like work.”
Jumping into the real world
As Marr’s time at Indiana came to an end, she weighed the next steps in her professional career. The first opportunity came in that fateful email with the mysterious opportunity.
The interview led to a part-time position as the student video representative for NBC Sports in partnership with the Big 10 and Indiana. By saying yes, Marr got to cover Indiana football’s record-breaking first season under head coach Curt Cignetti.
Marr even became the first female student reporter to interview Cignetti, a monumental milestone that Marr credits to her persistence throughout college.
“It's almost like saying yes to yourself,” Marr said. “I would have never thought signing up for this class or being annoying to an Indiana communication staff person would lead me to here.”
All of Marr’s early ambition and dedication led her to relocate to Madison to work for WMTV15 News in June 2025.
The Connecticut native grew up visiting family and friends in Wisconsin, so she welcomed the chance to start her new life here. As a recent Big 10 graduate, Marr said she enjoys living in a college town with a similar school spirit to her alma mater.
“[Madison] seems like you're still in a college town, but you're also in almost a city,” Marr said. “It's better than being kind of far from family in a place that you don't know, in a small town.”
For Marr, her next dream opportunity to say “yes” to is unknown. Not because she can’t think big but because she has already accomplished so many dreams.
“I know I can have so much more that can excite me,” Marr said. “I think right now I'm just really happy with where I am.”
