Contact me

E-mail: mail@amyvernon.net … AIM: amyvernondigg … GTalk: amy.vernon.digg … Skype: amyjvernon

About me

After nearly 20 years as a professional journalist for large and small daily newspapers in Florida, Arizona and New York, Amy was part of the Great Newspaper Culling of 2008. That was a good thing. Now, Amy freelances for a variety of websites, including NetworkWorld, AOL’s WalletPop and Hot Hardware and also consults with a variety of sites on their social media strategy.

But wait! There’s more! She also muses about television on TVTyrant and about parenting at iMommyTalk. She also has created the first – and only – bacon news aggregator on the Internet, Bacon Queen. Amy is the top female user of all time on Digg.com and spends altogether too much time on the computer.

Skills/Specialties

electronic media; blogging; social media; social networking; blogworking; teaching myself html, css and other web design; oh, yeah, and writing and editing

Experience

Freelance writer and new media strategist
December 2008 – Present
Freelance writer (ranging from tech to humor and everything in between) and new media strategist for a variety of companies, ranging from individuals to Fortune 500.

Metro Editor/Rockland and blogger at The Journal News /LoHud.com
February 2000 – December 2008
• As metro editor of the Rockland edition, I ensured a staff of up to 17 reporters covered the daily news of this county of nearly 300,000 residents. We had our own front page and local section, generally filled with staff-produced articles. Our edition accounted for a third of the paper’s circulation and a significant percentage of the daily page views. After staff cuts, I took on the role of education editor, a job I had filled for my first year at The Journal News.
• I co-ran the TV blog, Remote Access; created, administered and occasionally wrote on the Inside Rockland local news blog; administered and wrote for The Hall Monitor education blog, including a project where we published lists of graduates from as many of the 80+ high schools and colleges in the three counties in LoHud.com’s coverage area, which garnered significant page views; and contributed to the parenting blog, ice cream is not for breakfast, one of six moms who wrote about the challenges of feeding our children.
• Developed skills in SEO and social media. First developed my social media profile, driving a siginificant amout of traffic to LoHud.com, including one story that garnered 32,000 hits in one afternoon.

Deputy Metro Editor at East Valley Tribune
July 1997 – February 2000
Started as a reporter, moved up to Assistant Metro Editor, was Acting Metro Editor for a few months  and then was promoted to Deputy Metro Editor.
• As a reporter, I was part of a team that won a Thomson newspapers award for in-depth reporting on the water situation in Arizona.
• As an editor, I managed reporters who covered education, religion and health, as well as producing special sections and managing large data releases from the state Education Department.
• As Deputy Metro Editor, I also was in charge of the Sunday paper – enterprise planning, story assignments and line editing.

Reporter at The Miami Herald
September 1991 – June 1997
Covered cops, obits and municipal government during nearly six years working for the Broward edition. During that time, I was  a member of the staff that won the Pulitzer Prize for public service for coverage of Hurricane Andrew. Evacuated with co-workers and my bosses for the duration of the storm, I was among a group who worked almost nonstop for two days to help put out an extra edition before the storm hit and two editions in the immediate aftermath.

Reporting intern at The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal
June 1990 – August 1990
Covered everything from cops and courts to planning and zoning. Wrote a story about the family reunion of siblings who’d been separated at a young age by adoption when their father went to jail after a bar fight and their mother was unable to afford to care for all but the two eldest. Two sisters were still missing; one found her family due to my article and I covered the tearful reunion.