Specialties :

Newspaper layout, newspaper copyediting, news writing, beat reporting, tempo/feature writing, multimedia content creation.

Computer Skills: HTML, Cascading Style Spreadsheets (CSS), Digital Photography/Basic Photo Editing, Pagination (InDesign/Quark), Search Engine Optimization, Adobe Photoshop, Audio Recording and Editing, Video Recording and Editing.

Experience

Owner/operator

Just Lemont

(Internet industry)

April 2010 - Present (4 months)

I founded Just Lemont in April of 2010. It is an experiment in providing hyperlocal news coverage of Lemont, Illinois, a town of 10,000 people. Just Lemont is built around the Wordpress blogging engine and utilizes a skeleton frame which I then further customized to meet my needs for the site.

As the owner and operator of Just Lemont, my responsibilities include finding content (other news sites, Google News Alerts, community tips) and preparing them for publish. I also conduct Just Lemont-exclusive investigations. Content is also pushed to our Facebook page, which is used for news updates and community interaction.

Web Editor

Sun-Times News Group

(Public Company; Newspapers industry)

January 2010 - Present (7 months)

My work mostly revolves around posting content to the four daily news papers (Aurora, Naperville, Elgin, Joliet). In addition to posting written content, I create banner images and some HTML/CSS/Javascript work. I also push for exploring multimedia formats, including maps and videos.

Editor in Chief at the Flyer

Lewis University

(Educational Institution; Higher Education industry)

August 2008 - December 2009 (1 year 5 months)

-Organize and direct 15 dedicated staff members and dozens of part time writers to create a bi-weekly publication 24-28 pages in length.

-Lay out 5-9 pages per issue using Adobe InDesign.

-Copy editing each issue.

-Contribute articles on a regular basis

-Contribute to each issue's staff editorial

-Worked with layout editor to redesign aesthetics of the publication.

Online Editor in Chief

Lewis University

(Educational Institution; Higher Education industry)

May 2008 - December 2009 (1 year 8 months)

I directed a complete web site redesign, migrating to a new server running Wordpress as a CMS. I personally did custom page appearances, theme editing and content work flow, teaching myself javascript and php along the way.

Layout/Copy Desk Intern

Daily Southtown

(Privately Held; Newspapers industry)

June 2009 - August 2009 (3 months)

I laid out various hyperlocal sections of the Southtown Star five days a week using Quark.

Evening News Web Producer Intern

WGN-TV

(Public Company; Broadcast Media industry)

June 2009 - August 2009 (3 months)

I managed www.wgntv.com during 5:30 and 9 p.m. newscasts on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Duties included editing news packages for the web, creating online stories from transcripts and generating hits on the web.

I was in the news room and responsible for web content during: The Iran election riots, the deaths of Michael Jackson and Walter Cronkite and the Burr Oak Cemetery debacle.

Sales Associate

Sears Holdings Corporation

(Public Company; SHLD; Logistics and Supply Chain industry)

March 2007 - June 2009 (2 years 4 months)

Content Contributer

Lewis Flyer Website

(Educational Institution; Higher Education industry)

August 2008 - May 2009 (10 months)

-Responsible for the creation, implementation, and updating of a front page Twitter display for providing story updates, campus events and sports scores.

-Generating content including blogs, podcasts and videos.

Staff Writer/Reporter

Lewis Flyer Newspaper

(Writing and Editing industry)

August 2007 - April 2008 (9 months)

General staff writer for a variety of sections including news, sports and feature/tempo. Also covered 'Facilities' beat for six months.