Experience

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  Kansas Children's Service League

  • Topeka, Kansas

  • Community Relations Manager, Adopt Kansas Kids

    • May 2019 - Present
    • Topeka, Kansas

    Promote the adoption of children who are in foster care through television and newspaper profiles, photos of waiting children, social media posts, recruitment events, photo gallery displays and other means.• Create and execute day-to-day social media strategy for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Monitor conversations and respond to reviews and comments. Generate monthly, quarterly and annual social media reports.• Increased active engagement on the Facebook page by more than 400%, year-over-year, in the first 12 months. Increased website users by 20%, sessions by 10.3%, and page views by 4.2% in the same time period.• Develop and maintain collegial relationships with photographers, media and other collaborators, creating a network of volunteers.

• 

  Salina Journal

  • United States
  • Newspaper Publishing
  • 1 - 100 Employee

  • Executive Editor

    • Mar 2016 - Sep 2018

    Led a staff of 20 reporters, editors, designers and photographers in producing a daily newspaper and numerous special editions in the city of about 45,000. Managed the newspaper's social media accounts.• Collaborated on overall design and story selection. Established and maintained long-term, mid-term and emergent deadlines.• Developed and managed the newsroom budget, consistently staying on or under budget.• Wrote and edited content for the website, Twitter and Facebook and monitored traffic through Google Analytics. Increased online engagement by about 20% year-over-year.• Collaborated with IT department and outside vendors and trained staff during software system upgrades.• Earned Gatehouse Media "Inner Circle" status each quarter by meeting rigorous criteria. • Led staff through company acquisition; kept team informed and engaged during a challenging time.

  • Deputy Editor

    • May 2008 - Mar 2016

    Hired, trained and supervised up to 12 reporters and photographers.• Assigned and edited stories, making them more interesting to readers and ensuring accuracy. Assigned photographers to take photos to accompany stories.• Wrote and edited content for the company website, Twitter and Facebook, especially during spot-news events such as tornadoes and other natural and man-made disasters.• Assisted in developing and managing the newsroom budget.

  • Staff Writer

    • Apr 2001 - May 2008

    Wrote news, feature and in-depth stories to keep readers informed about governmental and judicial affairs.• Covered the Saline County Commission, city and county law enforcement and Saline County District Court, including capital murder cases.• Built and maintained a network of sources to keep ahead of the news and learn the intricacies of court and government operations and finance.

• 

  Ellsworth County Independent

  • Ellsworth, Kansas

  • Founder

    • Apr 1999 - Apr 2001
    • Ellsworth, Kansas

    Founded and operated, with a partner, a weekly newspaper in a city of about 3,100.• Set up and executed the billing and payroll system using QuickBooks Pro.• Marketed the newspaper to townspeople and potential advertisers.• Wrote and edited stories; took and edited photos using Adobe Photoshop; designed newspaper pages using Quark XPress.• Competed with an established weekly, garnering about 2,000 paid subscribers within the first year.