[1] Voepel was born in Los Angeles, California, and he grew up in Moscow Mills, Missouri.
[2][3] Voepel studied journalism at the University of Missouri, where he reported on his first women's basketball game and graduated in 1987.
Voepel's first job was in Jackson, Tennessee, and he later worked for news outlets in Columbia, Newport News, and Kansas City,[2] including the Columbia Daily Tribune[4] and The Kansas City Star.
Voepel has also covered other college sports and attended the Summer Olympic Games, the Winter Olympic Games, the FIFA Women's World Cup, and various professional golf tournaments.
[2] Formerly known by the name Mechelle,[8] Voepel came out as transgender on Twitter that August and explained he had begun a gender transition and would begin using the byline M.A.