Behind the byline: Four questions for our audience director

What led you to work in audience and engagement—and what drew you to Floodlight?

In a previous life, I worked in museum education. I loved welcoming groups in and helping them connect with big ideas — but I started craving a way to do that at scale. Engagement journalism seemed like the perfect way to spark connection and conversation more broadly, and I got my break at a political print magazine before moving into the world of online news. I saw the Floodlight job ad at the start of the year, and was immediately drawn to the unique collaborative approach and the chance to work at a newsroom investigating one of the biggest crises of our time. I applied that very same day, and the rest is history!

What’s something people might not realize about how our stories find their way to readers?

Floodlight’s entire model is built around collaboration, not competition. We strive to find a national and/or local partner for every story—whether that’s a major site like The Guardian or a small-town radio station in Alaska. In the second quarter of this year alone, our stories were republished more than 200 times! This means most people read our work somewhere other than our website, making building our own audience a little trickier… Which is where you can come in! Forward our newsletter to a friend to help spread the word about Floodlight.

You work across newsletters, social media, partnerships and more. What’s been your favorite project so far?

This Q&A series! Getting to interview our stellar team and learn more about my new colleagues has been such a joy. It’s been a fun, low-key way to introduce readers to the people behind Floodlight’s reporting, and a reminder of just how thoughtful, curious, and passionate this crew really is. (Missed the earlier interviews? Meet Terry, Ames, and Dee — with more to come.) I’m also incredibly excited about our forthcoming coastal retreat series; watch this space…

When you're not thinking about metrics and distribution, what helps you unwind or feel inspired?

Needing something to balance out all the screen time in my day job, I took a bicycle mechanics course last year. Now I help run a worker-owned community bike shop, and two nights a week you’ll find me with greasy hands, elbow deep in a pile of old parts, fixing up donated bikes and teaching new volunteers how to do the same. It’s messy, satisfying and surprisingly relevant to my day job: I’ve learned a lot about problem-solving, knowing when to be patient and when to just dive in even while you’re still figuring things out. Nothing beats the feeling of giving away a fixed-up bike for free to someone who needs it — knowing it might make their life a little easier and their impact on the planet a little lighter.