Laura Fries
laura [at] laurafries.com | LauraFries.com | friesMedia.com
Download print resume on Scribd
OVERVIEW
- Blogger for 4 years, writing about food, pop culture and travels on LauraFries.com and web publishing on Web.AAN.org
- Online journalist fresh from managing the online editorial operations of a newspaper company
- Web 2.0 enthusiast with professional work standards
- Extensive experience with CMS, including project managing of two company-wide transitions
MEDIA EXPERIENCE
Association of Alternative Newsweeklies [AAN]
Web Director, February - August 2007
- Site Redesign Manager AltWeeklies.com (process blog) and AAN.org
- Web Publishing Best Practices Blogger, Web.AAN.org
- 2.0 Brand Manager, Set up & optimize 2.0 presences including AAN on Facebook, AAN on Twitter, AAN on Flickr, and AAN on del.ico.us
- Community Conversations Editor, for 2007 AAN Convention at Portland2007.AAN.org, setting up blog, recruiting community writers, and assisting with the creation of a web to print community-sourced newsletter.
Creative Loafing Media
Web Editor, February 2005-August 2006
- Online Production Creative Loafing Atlanta, Charlotte & Tampa Weekly Planet: Oversee and assist with production of all CL paper content (130+ stories weeklies) including editing photos; managing requests for graphics; maintaining article comment forums; and coordinating & assigning site corrections to staff
- Editor of Multimedia Projects including CL blogs [JohnSugg.com, MyToxicLife.com, WhatAreWeFor.com]; editor of CL podcasts [AudioFloss.com, JohnSugg.com, Ed Loves Bacon]; Editor of special projects [Best Of Atlanta, Tampa, Sarasota (behind the scenes)]
- Project Manager for 2 company-wide CMS transitions Sketched out site; worked with designers to create templates; worked with webmasters to build & test templates; worked with vendors to troubleshoot import of archives and automated import of content Behind the scenes
- Manage Legal Paperwork & Budgets Advise managers on feasibility of proposed and existing contracts with vendors; manage online freelance budget; develop corporate policy on new media projects (blogs, podcasts); write and maintain release forms for new media projects
Creative Loafing Tampa
Food Editor/Staff Writer, October 2004-February 2005
- Responsible for edits and photo assignments for Food sections of both Sarasota and Tampa papers
- Wrote a weekly food column, “All You Can Eat”
San Antonio Current
Food Editor/Staff Writer, January-July 2004
- Headed and coordinated the creation of a Restaurant Database
- Pushed for online exclusives, posting recipes and photo galleries online
- Generating and assigned story ideas, photo shoots, responsible for billing, copyediting, and galley edits
- Transformed section in print, tripling and diversifying content
- Started and headed a revamped Editorial Internship Program
Calendar Editor, March-December 2003
- Solely responsible for transition to web-based CMS (Drillpress) for all listings content; including assisting in the production of export scripts for print
- Designed and implemented a new system for calendar in response to a production crisis
- Copyedited, galley proofed, managed editorial process in addition to duties of producing the calendar each week
- Reported breaking news stories while investigating long term projects
WEB SKILLS
- CMS systems; including Saxotech’s Publicus, DesertNet’s Dispatch & Gyrobase, Drillbit, Drillpress
- Blogging software; including Movable Type, Wordpress, Typepad, Blogger
- Front end systems; including Adobe InCopy, InDesign, Quark, MSOffice
- Photo editing for the web; using Adobe Photoshop
- Text formatting; using html & xml tags, markdown syntax
- Web 2.0 applications; including Flickr, del.icio.us, Furl.net, My Yahoo 2.0, MySpace, clipmarks.com, vimeo.com, twitter.com, pownce.com
- Project management software; Basecamp
- RSS Aggregators; including Bloglines, Pulp Fiction, Netvibes
EDUCATION
Academic Education
- B.A. History & Sociology
Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas
Magna Cum Laude, May 2003 - Awarded the Philip F. Detweiler Prize for Excellence in Historical Writing for independent thesis, “Betty: A History Through Cookbooks”
Continued Education (excerpted)
- Society of Professional Journalists Seminar on Cyberethics, Atlanta, Nov 2005
- Poynter Online Editors Conference, St. Petersburg, June 2005
- Saxotech Users Conference, St. Petersburg, April 2005
- Poynter Web+10 seminar (unofficial attendee), Jan-Feb 2005
- J-Lab Conference on Interactive Journalism (SNPA.org), Tampa, Jan 2005
- Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism, Boston, Dec 2004
- Poynter News Reporting and Writing Fellowship for College Graduates, June & July 2004
