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Date: 10/4/2022
To say my first three years at Reminder Publishing have been a whirlwind is an understatement. Between going from part-time to full-time while covering several different communities it has been a journey. Now I am making the jump from staff writer to managing editor of The Reminder’s Hampshire County papers.
As part of the ongoing changes in the hierarchy here with Executive Editor G. Michael Dobbs’ retirement on Sept. 30, former Hampden County East Managing Editor Payton North took over for Mike, and former Hampshire County Manager Editor Chris Maza shifted into Payton’s former role.
I started my time with Reminder Publishing as a part-time reporter back in 2019 covering Westfield and Southwick for The Original Pennysaver after the company purchased the Westfield News Group.
To Northampton readers, my name will be familiar as I was the lead reporter for the Northampton edition of The Reminder when we launched it back in April of 2021, after my time in Westfield. Between the findings of the Northampton Policing Review Commission, long City Council meetings and the election of a new mayor – I have seen it all and have a familiarity with the area.
Following my brief stint covering Northampton, I jumped over to Ludlow/Belchertown Reminder for the launch of that paper back in October of last year. Up until this August, I spent my time digging deep into those communities while also preparing for my transition to managing editor. Since March I have worked closely with the editorial teams on our production days learning the tools of the trade as I prepared to take my next leap. And I have to say, I have had some of the best teachers.
Chris was one of my first editors and I learned quite a lot from him. He really showed me the ropes when it came to covering municipalities and their meetings. Prior to working with Chris, much of my work consisted of feature stories and much less hard news than I was used to. I know Chris will do an excellent job in his new role over in the East Longmeadow office.
When I shifted over to East Longmeadow during my tenure as the Ludlow/Belchertown reporter I had the opportunity to work more closely with Mike and Payton than I had in my prior two years with the company. When I was working for Payton, my writing experienced the most growth it had in my time with Reminder Publishing to that point. From her, I also was able to learn much of how the behind-the-scenes work happens. Payton has big shoes to fill, but I know she will be able to do it.
During that time, I also had the pleasure of working with Mike much more closely. With his retirement, there’s not much I can add to what has been said about him. Our “fearless leader” truly helped me learn about journalism and how to carry myself as a reporter. While I didn’t report directly to Mike, I learned much from his example and consider him one of the best role models I could ask for.
While I may have had some reservations about this change in position, I know I’m in the right spot. During a lunch meeting. Mike recently said that I “deserved to be here” and that I was a “good reporter.” His words of encouragement put me at ease, but it wasn’t until I sat down with one of our new reporters, Rory Liddy, who covers the Hadley-Amherst Reminder, that I really felt like this is where I belong.
Rory is relatively new to the newswriting style so one day we sat down to go over one of his stories he was working on. For about 45 minutes we went line by line through the story going over corrections and discussing the “hows” and “whys” of newswriting. In that time, seeing him understand and pick up what I was explaining to him made me realize this is what I want to do; being the person behind my team, pushing them to learn and improve their writing and imparting some of the knowledge I have to them. This feels like the job I was meant for.
With all that being said, I am excited for the future and ready to get to work.