I am leaving journalism

I was a year out of college before I landed my first job in journalism. And I didn’t even have to interview to get it.

Walter and Helen May Leonard, publishers of The Chelsea Standard and The Dexter Leader, needed a reporter to cover a Dexter Village council meeting in May 1992 and they happened to have my resume on file. Mr. Leonard called and asked if I would be interested in the assignment. I agreed and arrived at their office the next morning to write it. He put me at a desk with a bottle of WhiteOut and an electric typewriter.

Yes, a typewriter.

At the end of the day, I asked if he wanted me to come back. He said yes and I did for the next three years before both papers were purchased by Heritage Newspapers, a newspaper chain based in Southgate, Michigan, that was buying up small weeklies across Washtenaw and Wayne counties.

Over the next 15 years, the company would be purchased by Michigan-based chain 21st Century Newspapers and then by national chain Journal Register Company and Digital First Media. During this time, I stayed on and found myself climbing the career ladder, from reporter to associate editor to editor of The Chelsea Standard and The Dexter Leader, to editor of The Saline Reporter and Milan News-Leader, and then managing editor of the eight weekly newspapers in Washtenaw and Wayne counties that came to be known as Heritage Media-West.

The last position I held for DFM was director of community engagement and editorial training for the Michigan group of papers. I credit this promotion for setting me on a path that has brought me the most professional joy while working and living in California for Gannett and the USA TODAY Network.

Thirty years ago, while reporting on life in Dexter, I never dreamed my career would take me to USA TODAY, where my work has been published online several times, including a fact-check piece I produced about COVID-19 that generated 6,357,491 page views.

Yes, 6.3 million.

If I were to gather every piece of content I had ever produced in my lifetime, the number of views wouldn’t even come close to that single story. That's the power of a national audience and a hot topic.

One might think that was a career highlight, but it really wasn’t. Researching and reporting that piece wasn’t even my main job. I was just helping out on the new fact-checking team during the pandemic while serving as national manager of the Storytellers Project as we figured out our pivot from in-person shows across the country to virtual.

I’ve had many career highlights, from huge once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that led to professional growth — like serving in DFM’s ideaLab, launching the Southeast Michigan Community Media Lab in Ypsilanti and being named to parent company Gannett’s Emerging Leaders program — to professional wins — like leading my staff to two Newspaper-of-the-Year awards — and many micro highlights that elevated the journalism of my colleagues and created community connection — like starting the 530 Media Project to teach digital literacy, and working with my team at the Ventura County Star to produce its first podcast, newsletter and Storytellers Project, as well producing the Ventura County Spelling Bee, Picture This art auction and fundraiser, Facebook Live interviews from the Food and Wine Experience, community engagement activities at the Ventura County Fair, and the Star Scholars program.

My work for the last three years at the Storytellers Project has taught me valuable project management skills while immersing me in the art of live journalism, and the importance of personal storytelling to connect people.

With all this said, I’ll admit it.

I’ve buried the lede.

I am leaving journalism. I’ll start a new job on April 4 that will surely bring exciting new challenges as I continue my growth as a leader and community connector. I’ll still do what I love, which includes writing, creating social media content, promotion, doing community outreach and education, and training, but in a different industry and in a role that will be new yet I know will feel very comfortable because it incorporates a lot of what I’ve learned and done for the last 30 years.

Yes, 30 years.

Stay tuned for more! I’ll formally announce my new employer after I actually start and it's official 😉