
Project Manager at League of Women Voters
San Francisco Bay Area

Project Manager at League of Women Voters
San Francisco Bay Area
Digital storyteller directing youth-centered, social change-oriented media projects. Former photojournalist at the San Jose Mercury News for five years and later pursued citizen journalism through syndicated blog distributed via LexisNexis services.
Adobe Creative Suite 3 (Dreamweaver, Flash, Illustrator, Photoshop), Final Cut Pro Studio 6 (SoundTrack Pro, Compressor), HTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL. Able to master new systems with ease.
(Non-Profit; Political Organization industry)
August 2008 — Present (1 year)
• Directed a digital storytelling project that encouraged civic participation among 75 at-risk youth.
• Secured 60 percent of $35,000 operating budget.
• Crafted in-school curriculum on video production. Produced student films for video sharing sites and Community Access Cable TV.
• Built strategic relationships with California Partnership Academies. The academy model is a three-year program, grades 10-12, structured as a school-within-a-school. Academies incorporate integrated academic and career technical education, business partnerships, mentoring, and internships.
(Online Media industry)
2002 — 2007 (5 years)
(Broadcast Media industry)
March 2007 — May 2007 (3 months)
• Produced daily traffic logs for KTLA-TV, a Tribune Broadcasting station, and maintained programming data for Sales and Promotion Departments.
• Analyzed outbound marketing campaign performance to identify, prioritize and execute on opportunities for improvement in marketing effectiveness.
• Provided expert advice in the areas of collaborative journalism, online community building and social media optimization for KTLA.com.
• Developed press releases, articles, case studies, product launch plans, and timelines.
(Privately Held; Newspapers industry)
2002 — 2007 (5 years)
SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS (circ: 240,000)
• Reported on stories and produced audio, video and photo content for the newspaper and its website.
• Edited use of photography for international, national, and local news in the paper's front section.
• Shared 2005 Executive Editor’s Award for Hurricane Katrina coverage including on-the-ground reporting; embedded with the California National Guard.
• Photography instructor and 1994 graduate: Mosaic, a Mercury News workshop at San Jose State University for minority high school students.
(Non-Profit Organization Management industry)
2004 — 2006 (2 years)
* Launched a Literacy Through Photography Program for ESL fifth and sixth grade students at KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) Heartwood Academy (a charter school) incorporating youth development model.
* Fund-raised for program operation including online community, public exhibition and live auction. Secured camera donations from Kodak plus $20,000 in donations and $2,500 in grants.
* Solicited voluntary involvement of professional journalists from San Francisco Bay Area media organizations. Five college interns instructed 100 students while 20 professionals served as mentors.
BA, AB , Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity (Honors) and Studio Art & Art History , 1995 — 2000
• Won the Louis Sudler Prize in the Humanities and Creative Arts (2000)
• Inbound Marketing Certified Professional by HubSpot; advanced certification in blogging, social media, lead conversion, lead nurturing and closed-loop analysis.
• Digital Media Academy Certification in Video Production through Stanford University Continuing Studies.
• Placed second in 2006 Pictures of the Year International (POYi) competition in newspaper editing division for multiple page feature story.
• Awarded second team prize for “Best Use, Interactive Publication/Media” and shared Honorable Mention in “Picture Editor of the Year” category in 2005 National Press Photographers’ Best of Photojournalism contest.
• Named a Visual Journalism Fellow by The Poynter Institute for Media Studies and a Visual Task Force Fellow by the National Association of Black Journalists.
• Work featured in "LIFE: Year in Pictures," 2001.