A CAREER IN JOURNALISM has allowed me to accumulate a broad skill set, making my versatility an answer to most demands. A visual design background honed my hierarchy, typography and photo editing expertise, with an added pride in creating and maintaining style guidelines. A journalism background grew my editing, ethics, communication and judgment skills. An early love of photography allowed me to understand another journalist’s point of view and know the best practices for displaying their work. Working in multiple software platforms and computer systems confirmed my knack for understanding software, quickly becoming the go-to for upgrades, teaching opportunities, redesigns and control groups. And seven years as a manager helped me understand pressure and deadlines, but also the collective needs for a group.Â
Experience
Tribune Publishing’s Design and Production Studio — Chicago, Ill.
Senior Designer — Oct. 2018 - Aug. 2025
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Managed designers for Tribune Publishing’s studio, DPS, while designing and writing headlines, most recently focusing on the news sections for the Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press.
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Lead print manager for Virginia Media, formerly responsible for Baltimore Sun Media publications while focusing on Chicago Tribune A1.
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Was responsible for DPS style, updates and a complete rebuild of our templates and shapes to migrate anything needed in print for all papers to a shared system with MediaNews Group.
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Took the lead for DPS’ style committee, creating, enforcing and updating a standardized style guide.
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Produced the 2020 presidential election package used in each paper, creating prototypes in advance.
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Produced Top Workplaces sections for Chicago Tribune and Baltimore Sun as well as other special sections.
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Helped handle staff scheduling and finalizing daily responsibilities.
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Chicago Tribune — Chicago, Ill.
Designer/Editor — July 2010 - Oct. 2018
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Business - Responsible for all print presentation: Design, find photos, write or rewrite headlines, edit stories.
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Helped plan story packages, special sections and create daily illustrations.
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Chicagoland - Designed A1 front page and inside pages while being the contact person for editors.
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Approve cover headlines, write cover type referring to stories inside and edit inside stories.
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Chicago Sports - Learned speed from deadline pressure and handled breaking news, championships, firings, heartbreak and the dead period when Chicago baseball was bad and we needed to create art.
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Digital design - Designed parts of a Bears and Bulls sports iPad editions using Mag+ and InDesign.
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Lexington Herald-Leader — Lexington, Ky.
Designer — Sept. 2005 - June 2010.
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Responsible for Sunday A1 design and planning. Began copy editing nightly during design shifts in 2009.
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Designed and helped organize the 2007 and 2010 Kentucky Derby content for two special sections.
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Poynter Institute’s Visual Journalism program for college graduates — St. Petersburg, Fla.
Designer — Summer 2005.
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One of 12 visual journalists selected. Groups of two reporters, a photographer and a designer immersed together on a real beat to find local features and create story packages to publish online.
Skills
InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Workday, Amazon WorkSpaces, Layout Champ,
Newsgate, CCI, Naviga/Newscycle, DTI, Mag+ iPad design, QPS Copydesk, InCopy,
Merlin, Mediaserver, Wordpress, Google Drive, Slack, Snap.
Education
Kent State University
Kent, Ohio
Bachelor of Science School of Journalism and Mass Communication,
May 2005.
Honors
& Awards
2024: First place in Page 1 design, Virginia Press Association.
2020: First, second and Best of Show in Page 1 design, Maryland-Delaware-District of Columbia Press Awards.
2019: Awards of Excellence in News page, Society of News Design.
2014, 2015: Awards of Excellence in Sports page and Editor’s Choice, Society of News Design.
2014: Lisagor winner for Best Design (judged for three pages), Chicago Headline Club.
2007-10: Awards in Special Sections, Best Front Page and Sports Page, Kentucky Press Association.