The Project: MyNorth Media is a multimedia organization that features a native platform, MyNorth.com, newsletters, social media, and print magazine with a circulation of 24,000. They enlisted me to write a text profile featuring a historic interpreter at Colonial Fort Michilimackinac in celebration of 2019’s Michigan State Parks Centennial. I proposed expanding the project to produce a multimedia package including a text profile, photo, and video optimized across platforms. 

The Role: Writer, Producer, Project Coordinator

The Strategy: I presented a new story concept to editors at MyNorth Media that would help them connect with a broader audience. Production included:

• Recruiting an award-winning photographer and videographer from Floodgate Media to direct, film, and edit a 90-second video profile.

• Story development and collaboration with Floodgate Media.

• Coordinating editors, colleagues, and Michigan State Park officials.

• Conducting historical research, phone interviews, and onsite interviews for both print and video profiles.

• Creating suggested social media copy to promote the piece via Instagram and Facebook.

The Story: “Go Back to the Year 1776 at Colonial Fort Michilimackinac” is a short web story and video profile for MyNorth.com plus a longer profile and photographs for the August 2019 magazine. Both photographs and video are adapted for social media.

Fun Fact: As a kid growing up in Williamsburg, VA, I worked for Colonial Williamsburg for six years! This project felt like a piece of home.

The Project: Traverse Magazine is working to include more local artists in their publication. The managing editor and I worked together to develop an editorial concept: a three-part multimedia series profiling local female illustrators in their studios alongside multimedia pieces.

The Role: Writer, Producer, Story Development

The Strategy: I interviewed each of the three artists and created two custom multimedia pieces to display alongside the profiles on both digital and print platforms.

The Story: Expected publication is December 2019.

• Part One: Brianne Farley

  • Produced 90 second video.

  • Researched and wrote text profile.

  • Conducted onsite interview.

• Part Two: Dani Knoph

  • Researched and produced infographic featuring the artist’s work in wildlife conservation.

  • Researched and wrote text profile.

  • Conducted phone interview.

• Part Three: Em Randall

  • Conducted in-person interview.

  • Researched and wrote text profile.

The Result: Video profile of Brianne Farley received over 1,000 views in ten days. Expected print publication: December 2019.

Fun Fact: I first came across Dani Knoph five years before this piece when I bought a print of hers for my dad’s birthday!

The Project: I am passionately interested in the effects of climate change on local culture. Working with Belt Magazine, I created a full feature story and photographs tracing the effects of climate change on one of the truest aspects of “up north” culture: dogsledding. What is it like to be a rising young professional in a sport that is literally melting?

The Role: Writer, Researcher, Story Development

The Strategy: Producing this story necessitated phone and in-person interviews, onsite visits, and thorough research on both dog sledding and climate change in the Great Lakes. This included:

• Identification of and continual onsite and phone interviews with the protagonist of the story, Laura Neese, as she raced through the 2019 season.

• Attending and covering the UP200 Sled Dog Race and its surrounding events in Marquette, MI.

• Frequent updates to editors at Belt Magazine on the progress of the story.

• Collaborating with my editors on both the story arch and final edits of the piece.

The Story: As of June 2019, “Is Michigan’s U.P. Winter Culture Melting?” garnered an average read time of five minutes for an approximately 1000-word piece on the Belt Magazine website. It also received numerous likes, shares, comments, and discussion via the Nature’s Kennel Facebook page.

Fun Fact: Yes. I got to go trail riding in a dog sled, and I still can’t quite believe I was that lucky!

Personal Favorites

• What’s it Like at Interlochen Arts Camp? — 08.2019

• How Michigan Lumberjacks Celebrated Christmas — 12.2018

• The Night Shift with Corrections Deputy Alison Sumerix — 10.2018

• For Avocado Toast Eaters Everywhere, A Flowchart — 10.2017

Resume Available Upon Request.