Resume

Steph Rodriguez
Wordstospill@gmail.com || San Francisco Bay Area, California

WORK EXPERIENCE

KQED Inc. – San Francisco, CA March 2023 to Present

Edit copy across multiple verticals, including food, arts, science, politics, news
Build and schedule stories in WordPress
Created an SEO headline presentation and guide to teach best practices to improve KQED’s online audience reach and search presence
Manage the weekly story budget via Airtable and check in with desk editors
Track online readership per story via Chartbeat, Google Analytics

SFGATE – San Francisco, CA February 2022 to February 2023

Manage and program the SFGATE food vertical’s daily content with quick-turn daily news stories and full-length features on Bay Area and national food trends
Under my leadership, the food vertical’s talent for food storytelling improved greatly and garnered up to 1.6 million views weekly, up from 100k
Manage a team of direct reports, assigned and edited stories for the web
Experience writing SEO-driven headlines far optimum search performance
Tracked the success of reporters’ stories via Chartbeat, Looker
Created monthly and quarterly reports to analyze which stories performed well
Held one-on-one meetings with my reports and content-planning sessions
Worked with the photography department to assign art to each story
Hired two recurring food columnists and worked with freelance writers

Future PLC – Remote September 2020 to January 2022

Edit copy and ensure SEO best practices are met
Quality check that templates were correctly utilized
Record assigned, drafted, and published content in Airtable
Meet timely deadlines and develop stories with editors
Schedule articles to publish across three of Future’s top-performing tech media verticals: Android Central, Windows Central, iMore

Sacramento News & Review – Sacramento, CA August 2009 to July 2020

Managing Editor (2018-2020), Dining Editor (2017-2020), Copy Editor (2010-2020), Freelance Contributor (2009-2017)
Create, write and assign content
Plan special issues: Summer Guide, Best of the City, food and music packages
Manage freelance contributors and direct reports
Copy editor: Copy edit and finalize print issues in Adobe InDesign, InCopy
Record annual budget in Excel
File editorial and contributor payroll biweekly
Extensive Arts & Culture writer/editor: features, guides, cover stories
Project lead of the College Essay Contest 2015-2020
Lead editor of the Sacramento Area Music Awards 2019-2020
Worked with the design and photography departments on content creation

EDUCATION

Sacramento City College – Sacramento, CA August 2014 to July 2018

SKILLS

22 years as an active journalist and editor
Strong SEO understanding and sharp headline writing for the web
Strong team management experience
Strong time management and organizational skills
Deadline-driven, detail-oriented, self-starter
Strong collaborator across multiple departments
Chartbeat headline testing
Experience examining web traffic data trends using Google Looker
Strong experience leading successful projects: Summer guides, Best of the City issues and special editorial packages

ACHIEVEMENTS

My article “Stranded in the Food Desert” (Sacramento News & Review, 2014) was reprinted in the educational textbook, Chronicling California, Cognella, Inc., 2024
Sacramento Press Club journalism scholarship recipient 2018, 2019
Excellence in Journalism Award at the Society of Professional Journalists, NorCal 2018 awards for the story “The Paprika Steeper” food feature (SN&R)
No. 1 in Special Categories at the California News Publishers Association 2018 awards for the “Dessert Issue” (SN&R)
No. 1 news story at the Journalism Association of Community Colleges 2010; No. 1 feature story at JACC 2009

REFERENCES

Furnished upon request.