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

Professional Experience:

SFGate
Food Editor || February 2022-Present
• Manage and program SFGate’s food vertical with daily content: From quick-hitting news items to creative and informative features, we highlight the Bay Area’s vast and vibrant food community. I really connect with food nostalgia and when food and culture intersect. That is my passion. I lead one of the largest teams in the newsroom. Under my leadership, the food vertical’s talent for food storytelling has garnered up to 800,000 views in a week. SFGate reaches up to 1 million readers per day.
• Highly proficient in CMS, Trello, Looker, Chartbeat, Google Analytics, team management, writing features and daily news items, and organizing and executing a daily, weekly, and monthly calendar
• Experience writing SEO-driven headlines for optimum performance in Google search

Sacramento News & Review
Managing Editor, Dining Editor, Cannabis Editor, Copy Editor
Freelance Contributor: April 2009-February 2022; Managing Editor et al.,: May 2018-July 2020
• Create, write original content; Plan special issues; Manage freelance contributors
• Copy edit for grammar, punctuation, and AP style; Finalize print issues in Adobe InDesign
• Record annual budget using Microsoft Excel; File editorial and contributor payroll biweekly
• Completed internships in the events and editorial departments in 2009
• First place for The Dessert Issue at CNPA in 2018
• Project lead of the College Essay Contest 2015-2020
• Lead editor of the Sacramento Area Music Awards 2019-2020

Future PLC: Android Central, iMore, Windows Central
Deputy Editor || September 2020-January 2022
• Copy edit articles for grammar, AP and house styles, SEO best practices, and ensure templates are correctly utilized; Record assigned, drafted, published content in Airtable
• Schedule articles to publish across three tech media sites: Android Central, Windows Central, iMore

Education:

Sacramento City College Graduate 2018 || Degree: Associate in Arts, Journalism
Activities: Editor-in-Chief, the Express newspaper; Editor-in-Chief, Mainline magazine

Skills and Qualities:

• AP Style proficient
• Deadline-driven, Independent work ethic, and a great team collaborator
• WordPress, CMS, Airtable, Trello, social media savvy
• SEO headline writing experience for fast-paced daily newsroom
• Detail-oriented copy editor with 15 years of experience in online and print publications

Awards & Scholarships:

CNPA: First place in special categories for the Dessert Issue 2018 for SN&R
SPJ NorCal: Excellence in Journalism Award Winner for food reporting 2018
Sacramento Press Club Dan Walters Journalism Scholarship: 2018 and 2019 recipient
JACC: First place news story 2010; First place feature story 2009

References:

Furnished upon request