Leslie Coons

Current

• editorial director, Hudson Valley Connoisseur magazine, Poughkeepsie Journal at Gannett

Past

• managing editor at The Valley Table magazine
• freelance writer & editor at Self employed
• editor-writer at The Culinary Institute of America

1 more...

Education

• Wells College
• Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn

Recommended

4 people have recommended Leslie

Connections

138 connections

Industry

Online Media

Websites

• My Company
• My Company

Leslie Coons’s Summary

Experienced and creative content developer and manager for Web, magazines and newspapers, as well as non-profit/education marketing.

Leslie Coons’s Specialties:

Create audience-appropriate content.
Web 2.0 skill set, including Twitter, Facebook and Blogspot.
Title branding & identity, SEO & creative marketing strategies.
Recruit & manage freelance content creators.
Frugal resource management & enterprising repurposing of content across platforms.
HTML, social networking, Chicago Manual & AP Stylebook.
English, German and French languages. Some Spanish knowledge.
Experience working with diverse cultures & backgrounds.

Leslie Coons’s Experience

• editorial director, Hudson Valley Connoisseur magazine, Poughkeepsie Journal

  Gannett

  (Public Company; GCI; Newspapers industry)

  February 2006 — Present (3 years 6 months)

  Hudson Valley Connoisseur is a glossy magazine published bimonthly by the Poughkeepsie Journal newspaper for Gannett. I was hired to create this magazine. Our first issue appeared in June 2006. Seven months later, HVC won the Best of Gannett award for nondaily publications.
  
  For the magazine, I map editorial budgets, write all non-bylined content, recruit and manage freelance writers, assign stories and art, edit copy, write headlines and cutlines, scout locations and oversee photo shoots, oversee Web site development (including SEO), and assist with marketing strategy such as Web 2.0 and live events. I blog at hudsonvalleygoodlife.blogspot.com and on the newspaper's Web site.
  
  I am a member of the Poughkeepsie Journal's Editorial Board, and write editorials for the newspaper and its Web site.
  
  I also am the newspaper's Quadricentennial Coverage Coordinator, and oversee the site www.HudsonHappenings.com, the blog quadupdates.blogspot.com and special projects developed for the 2009 Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial celebrations in New York and Vermont.

Additional Information

Leslie Coons’s Websites:

• My Company
• My Company

Leslie Coons’s Interests:

technology, culinary arts, food production & policy, Slow Food, horticulture, travel, photography

Leslie Coons’s Groups:

Slow Food USA, Hudson Valley (NY) Convivium, 2001-present (former co-leader and Steering Committee member). Press corps, Terra Madre 2006, Turin, Italy

Garden Writers Association, 1998-present (Plant a Row for the Hungry (PAR) volunteer campaign leader, Hudson Valley, NY 2001-2003).
Philadelphia Symposium 2000, Montreal 2003 Regional

Friends of Elmendorph Inn (historic site preservation and overseers), Red Hook, NY, 1976-present (founding and life member). Past member board of directors & secretary

American Field Service (AFS) returnee, Germany 1978; host family 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982; exchange student counselor, 1982. (International intercultural exchange)

•    LinkEds & writers
•    Foodies
•    ThoseinMedia
•    Gannett
•    Slow Food
•    American Field Service (AFS)
•    Newspaper Professionals Network
•    FOLIO: MediaPRO -- Magazine & eMedia Publishing Professionals
•    World Wide Travel Writers
•    Garden Writers of America
•    Wells College Community

Leslie Coons’s Honors:

2006 Best of Gannett, Non-Daily Content Div. II, for Hudson Valley Connoisseur magazine

2002 Cap Creal Journalism Award, The New York State Agricultural Society

1994 Distinguished Local Reporting Award of Excellence, New York Newspaper Publishers Association

Leslie Coons’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• job inquiries
• expertise requests
• reference requests
• getting back in touch