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I am a public relations professional and freelance photographer based in Elizabethtown, Ky., specializing in written, visual and digital communication.
Experience
March 2011 to present – Speech writer for commanding general, U.S. Army Cadet Command
Serving as the speech writer for the two-star commanding general of U.S. Army Cadet Command. Additional duties include working with the general’s staff to formulate and craft the strategic messaging of the organization.
Duties include:
- Composing original manuscripts, in consultation with the general and his staff, for his delivery in speaking engagements with the public, targeted centers of influence and within the command.
- Designing and preparing audio/visual multimedia presentations.
- Other duties within the public affairs office, to include traveling on assignment to publicize events through writing and photography in our office’s information services; producing video for web, including shooting, editing and encoding; producing press releases to publicize events and news to media outlets; respond to media queries; escort and facilitate media; manage online news and social media sites
April 2006 to March 2011 – Public affairs specialist, U.S. Army Cadet Command, Fort Knox, Ky.
Served as a civilian public affairs specialist for the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), overseeing media relations, multimedia production, photography, writing, social media and command information publications for 273 programs based on university campuses nationwide.
Duties included:
- Newspaper editor: Every summer, in conjunction with the Leader’s Training Course, a summer training program, the office produces a weekly newspaper covering features, events and profiling participants. In conjunction with the weekly printed product, the office also maintains a daily online news web site and several social media feeds.
- Responsibilities: Recruiting and hiring 16-person staff of writers, photographers and videographers; training staff; composing weekly and daily story budgets; assigning stories and coordinating deadlines; copy editing articles for readability and AP Style; coaching writers and photographers; layout and design of pages; layout and design of newspaper web site; coordinating and managing online social media components running parallel to the news site; coordinating publication schedule with commercial printer;
- Magazine visual information editor: The Cadet magazine
- Responsibilities: In fall 2009, designed from scratch the command quarterly magazine, including color palette, font selection and graphic elements; chief photographer on assignment; worked with contributors and staff to coordinate photo submissions; designed online version utilizing Flash, html and Java script programming; copy editing; pagination for printing
- Public affairs specialist: Assist in public affairs duties for national command headquarters.
- Responsibilities: Travel on assignment to publicize events through writing and photography in our office’s information services; produce video for web, including shooting, editing and encoding; producing press releases to publicize events and news to media outlets; respond to media queries; escort and facilitate media; manage online news and social media sites
Feb 2004 to April 2006 – Photographer, The News-Enterprise, Elizabethtown, Ky.
- Worked as a photographer at a daily newspaper covering news, features and sports assignments.
Jan. 2002 to Feb. 2004 – Reporter, The News-Enterprise, Elizabethtown, Ky.
- Worked as a beat reporter at a daily newspaper. Beats covered included general assignment, cops & courts and city & county government. Also lead reporter on state and federal politics focusing on local representatives. Responsible for fulfilling assignments handed down by editor, as well as monitoring my beat and generating and completing story ideas.
May 2001 to Jan. 2002 – Reporter, The Roane County News, Kingston, Tenn.
- Covered two cities, Harriman and Rockwood, Tenn., for tri-weekly newspaper located 30 miles south of Knoxville, Tenn. Duties included covering all aspects of communities, from city council and crime to features on everyday life. Also laid out pages on deadline for the tri-weekly county paper as well as two weekly newspapers covering each town on my beat.
Skills
- news writing
- documentary photography
- studio photography
- copy editing and proof reading
- staff hiring and management
- social media marketing
- photo imaging using Adobe Photoshop and Apple Aperture
- pagination using Quark Xpress and Adobe InDesign
- web design using html editors Adobe Dreamweaver and Adobe GoLive
- multimedia production
- non-linear video editing using Final Cut Pro and Adobe AfterEffects and Premiere Pro
- graphic design including Adobe Illustrator
- advanced knowledge of Mac OSX operating system as well as familiarity with Windows and Microsoft Office software;