As founding editor of LoneStarLive.com, I invested extensive time shaping our news strategy. The work here reflects projects I directly managed with the talented team, all designed to grow a loyal, engaged audience that supports a sustainable news business. These projects highlight my commitment to creating the helpful, interesting, and innovative storytelling that drives both community impact and reader revenue.

Strategy: Outflanking competitors on the Texas voucher bill with human-centered reporting

As a startup publication, we lacked the resources to compete with legacy outlets on day-to-day coverage of the Texas school voucher bill. I set a strategy to focus on unique, human-centered angles that would illustrate the bill’s impact on communities with a focus on high school sports and homeschooling — two institutions that make up a unique part of Texas’ zeitgeist.

“They make movies about Texas football,” a high school football coach told LoneStarLive.com when asked about the potential impact vouchers and other legislation could have on high school sports. 

On the homeschooling and religious front, we illustrated the complexity of the issue by profiling a religious group’s stand against vouchers and highlighted concerns some parents had about taking money from the government.While investigating opinions among homeschooling families, we discovered that one of the most popular curriculums in the state is created by an entity associated with a conservative Christian college in Florida. I worked with reporter Emily Topping on a story that detailed the experiences of former students while providing behind-the-scenes access to the school as our reporter went undercover as a potential student. Our social video detailing five rules at the college became a centerpiece of our engagement strategy for the story and was one of the most-shared news videos for the LoneStarLive.com team on social media.