Adjunct professor / University of Montana, School of Journalism

(Aug., 2012 – Present)

I teach four courses at the UM J-School: legislative reporting, social media, feature writing and introduction to news writing. The latter two I teach solely online. I also consult with the school in developing online curricula and and teaching tools and direct the school’s social media and marketing strategies.

Freelance editor, speaker, facilitator and writing coach

(August, 2023 – Present)

As an editor, I help authors and publishers through copy editing, developmental editing and coaching. Most recently, I copy edited “When Flowers Sing,” a poetry anthology from a thousand flowers books. As a speaker and facilitator, I run workshops through Humanities Montana in communities and schools on media literacy and how to look for “newstritional” information online. I also helped create and co-lead a twice-yearly wellness and writing retreat for women in agricultural communities through the Red Ants Pants Foundation, of which I also sit on the board.

Past Gigs

Co-owner, co-farmer / Prairie Heritage Farm

(March, 2009 – May, 2019)

My husband and I run a small organic farm near Power, Montana, on which we grow vegetables and ancient and heritage grains for direct market sales. I run the operations, marketing and customer service side of what we do as well as doing some of the heavy lifting, weeding and harvesting.

Managing editor / MediaShift

(June, 2011 – July 2017)

As the managing editor of MediaShift, I oversaw editorial operations, including recruiting and managing contributors, helping manage social media and email newsletters and editing every piece of copy that came through the site.

Co-founder, editor-in-chief / New West

(Jan. 2005 – Sept. 2010)

I co-founded NewWest.Net in 2005 with my business partner Jonathan Weber. I ran all things editorial, including reporting, writing, blogging, editing, directing content, aggregating news, managing staff, freelancers and bloggers, leading web development and crafting our marketing and social media strategies. We won awards (including an Online Journalism Award for general excellence our very first year), pushed the envelope and changed the media landscape in the Rockies.

Co-founder, instructor  / Rural News Network,

University of Montana

(Sept. 2006 – May 2009)

I helped create the Rural News Network at the University of Montana School of Journalism in 2006 to help small towns that had lost their newspapers re-imagine them online.

Newswoman / Associated Press, Helena, Mont. and Omaha, Neb.

(July 2003 – Dec. 2004)

At the AP, first in Helena and later in Omaha, I wrote local and national stories while editing both broadcast and print copy for the wires. In Omaha, I served as the night editor.

Education

UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA (Graduated, Dec. 2003)

BA, Journalism