SkillsOverview
Content editing, news reporting, feature writing, social media, copy editing, SEO headlines, AP Style, basic HTML, managing teams, storytelling, big-picture thinking, WordPress, newsletters, proofreading
JournalismExperience
2022-2024
Copy chief
-
Copy edited all stories, from breaking news and investigative pieces to features and opinion columns. Checked facts, read for AP Style and corrected spelling, grammar and syntax.
-
Updated the company's style guide, creating guidelines specific to San Francisco and California. Developed best practices for topics such as the Israel-Hamas war and violence against women, as well as coverage involving race, gender, homelessness and disability.
-
Put on presentations about common errors at staff meetings. Created personalized style sheets and held grammar consultations for individual reporters and their editors.
-
Optimized headlines for SEO. Wrote captions and social media display text. Participated in daily meetings to tweak headlines to increase page views.
-
Edited in Google Docs, WordPress, Datawrapper, MailChimp, Shorthand and more.
-
Served on the editorial leadership team, the style committee, the crime coverage committee and the committee on employing AI and other new technology.
-
Worked as a breaking news editor, and a breaking news reporter, on odd weekend shifts.
2020-2022
Arts and culture editor
-
Reconceptualized and expanded the Art & Entertainment section of Bay City News Foundations's nonprofit Local News Matters to spotlight work by artists in marginalized communities and creative responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.
-
Relaunched the Remember When history section with diversity, equity and inclusion in mind.
-
Managed four features sections total, including Bay City Books and Inspire Me, which focuses on uplifting human-interest pieces.
-
Recruited and managed a team of freelancers to write for these sections.
-
Received four San Francisco Press Club awards in 2021 for work I edited.
-
Wrote and edited Local News Matters' weekly news and arts & culture newsletters on Mailchimp.
-
Edited, copy edited, photo edited and designed articles in WordPress and wrote captions, headlines and display type.
Dec. 2020-July 2021
Sunday swing shift news editor
-
Reported, wrote and edited breaking news for hundreds of clients of the Bay City News wire service.
2010-2020
Senior editor
-
Helped create and shape the editorial vision for an online magazine that put the history of objects into social, cultural and political contexts.
-
Wrote buzz-generating longform articles on everything from hula dolls and vigilante masks to ugly couches and the death of T.G.I. Friday's flair, the latter of which made Bloomberg Businessweek's 2016 Jealousy List and Eater's Best Longform Food Stories of 2016.
-
Was linked on and praised by The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.
-
Edited and wrote articles that regularly garnered 10,000+ UPVs. The No. 1 story approached 2 million UPVs, while the top 10 are all over 100,000 UPVs.
-
Performed content editing, copy editing, web layout and photo editing. Managed freelancers.
-
Managed social media. Brought Facebook followers from 1,000 to nearly 50,000.
2010-2011
Arts blogger
-
Wrote previews, interviews, articles and reviews about the creative culture in the San Francisco Bay Area.
1998-2010
2000-2010
Freelance columnist and features writer
-
Created and wrote the Clubland column to explore the scenes at underground events and offbeat parties, which were not previously covered by the newspaper.
-
Wrote features, often section-fronts, about trends, music and women's issues for the Datebook, Style and Home & Garden sections.
2005-2006
Podcast host
-
Did interviews, edited sound clips and hosted podcasts on the Bay Area music scene.
1998-2005
Features desk copy editor
-
Served as the Sunday copy chief, managing the output of a daily entertainment section and signing off on all final copy and display type.
-
Worked closely with the editor to oversee the production of the Sunday Style section.
-
Copy edited arts & entertainment, books, food, travel, lifestyles and home & garden copy and worked with writers on changes.
-
Wrote headlines, teasers, decks and captions, including an award-winning headline.
-
Designed pages on the pagination system.
2007-2010
On-call Front Page producer
-
Managed the live Yahoo front page, posting and taking down article teasers hourly to keep the Featured module fresh and up-to-date.
-
Wrote, edited and produced teaser packages on breaking news, politics, celebrity, entertainment, fashion, lifestyles, finance and science that drove millions of clicks.
2005-2007
Managing editor of Flavorpill San Francisco
-
Curated the content of a weekly email newsletter that recommended the best cultural events in the San Francisco Bay Area to 28,000-plus subscribers.
-
Edited, copy edited and wrote 100-word items on music, DJs, art, comedy, theater, dance and fashion.
-
Managed a mostly volunteer staff. Coordinated with producers in New York City online.
2004-2006
Freelance writer
-
Wrote about the life of a San Francisco high school student, through her freshman year and most of her sophomore year.
-
Worked on other features for the magazine.
Non-JournalismWork
2007-2017
Contract proofreader for Apple and more
-
Proofread direct-marketing emails for Apple Inc. on an as-needed basis.
-
Proofread promotional blogs, help-wanted ads, white papers and presentations for other companies like California Bank & Trust and Traction itself.
Winters, 2007-2008, 2008-2009
Managing editor, travelogue contests produced for Starwood Hotels
-
Read hundreds of 100-word essays, narrowed down contestant pools and discussed final winners with top editors and hotel promotions staff.
-
Gave winners instructions on blogging and snapping photographs while traveling to Paris, Shanghai, Monaco, Vienna and Miami.
-
Edited content, worked with winners on rewrites, wrote headlines and display type and selected photos.
February-July 2008
THE ROUGH GUIDE TO SAN FRANCISCO
Contributing writer
-
Researched and rewrote descriptive chapters on eight San Francisco neighborhoods for the 2009 edition. Also researched and rewrote listings chapters on nightlife, festivals, galleries, shopping and hotels.
OtherBylines
Glamour, Teen Vogue, Yahoo! News, Jezebel, Bust, Intersection, Bitch Media, Ms. Magazine, Gizmodo, Mental Floss, The Mini International, Venus Zine, The SFist, D.I.W., Swingset, West Coast Performer, The Smithsonian, Zócalo Public Square, The Houston Chronicle, KTVU.com
Education
-
Graduated with special distinction with a bachelor’s degree in news communication from the H.H. Herbert School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
-
Worked as a seven-semester paid staff member in the roles of reporter, features writer, copy editor and copy chief at the award-winning Oklahoma Daily student newspaper.
-
Had internships at The Dallas Morning News and The Norman Transcript.
Honors:
-
Received first place in general feature writing at Columbia Scholastic Press Association's Gold Circle Awards.
-
Selected for the American Society of Magazine Editors' internship program.
-
Named Oklahoma Daily Journalist of the Year.
-
Selected to participate in the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute in poetry.
