DIGITAL
Data/trend-based reporting
Field reporting and writing
Breaking news coverage
Interactive storytelling
Newsletters
SEO/Metrics/Analytics
tv/audio
Field interviews
News package production
Crew management
Script writing and editing
Breaking news coverage
LAUNCHES
Streaming platform show
Breaking news blog
CNN TV ticker
Coronavirus Re-opening guide
managing
Staff hiring
Budget
Staff performance reviews
Set editorial agenda
STORYTELLING
As a journalist, I am called upon to often explain or help shine a light on major policy decisions, breaking news, and cultural touchpoints of our time. I have always believed there is a human side to every piece of data, policy or story that can help people connect.
EXCLUSIVE: George Floyd's brother bonds with Emmett Till's cousin over brutal, public deaths decades apart
Minneapolis (CNN) When Deborah Watts met Philonise Floyd, they already knew each other's pain without saying a word.
The cousin of Emmett Till and the brother of George Floyd both know what it's like to have a family member die suddenly and violently.
To have that death broadcast around the world. Gruesome, graphic, intimate images of a loved one consumed and argued over by strangers.
To know their Black kin died at the hands -- or under the knee -- of White strangers. And to wait for justice. For Till's family, more than 65 years later. For the Floyds, that is now in the hands of a jury.
Watts and Floyd met briefly in Minneapolis during the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former officer accused in George Floyd's death.
When CNN brought them together for an exclusive interview, it was the first opportunity the two had to connect, though each knew the other's story. And the bond they formed was immediate and deep.
You can read the full article I wrote and produced on CNN.com in addition to the TV piece produced above.
How one bullet shattered a body and a family
SAN DIEGO (CNN) Just one bullet.
It shattered Chelsea Romo’s left eye. It nearly blinded her right.
It exploded inside her head. It caused two hematomas that physically shifted the position of her brain.
Shrapnel exploded throughout her skull and face. So much that it clogged a machine doctors later used to suck out the debris.
That single high-velocity bullet was among 1,100 others fired by the Las Vegas gunman who attacked the crowd at a country music festival five months ago.
It did exactly what a round fired by an AR-15 was intended to do: inflict maximum damage. Rounds from similar guns caused the brutal physical wounds suffered by victims in Las Vegas, a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, and a school in Parkland, Florida. It is why the AR-15 and similar rifles are again at the forefront of today’s student-led debate about whether some guns simply should not be available to civilians.
For Chelsea Romo, that single bullet altered her body and life forever.
Chelsea's story was one we hoped to tell as a way to remind people that the impact of a mass shooting lingers long after and the trauma is very real when another one occurs. Her story is also one of hope. You can read the full story on CNN.com.
Traveling the path of destruction: What Hurricane Harvey left in its wake
From Corpus Christi to Houston, Texas (CNN) It begins with a couple of shingles in the road, a power line down here or there. The caravan of utility workers is a sign that things are getting worse. And then, at the Pioneer Beach Resort in Port Aransas it becomes clear that Hurricane Harvey came through with a vengeance.
RVs are lying on their sides, windows blown out. Debris is everywhere. Any trailer that wasn’t moved before the storm was destroyed, says Buddy Seeds, an owner there.
Riding a golf cart through the park, he shows a newly built rental cabin that’s been lifted off its foundation and flung at least 300 yards away.
“That one floated all the way to the dunes,” he says, pointing at the unit. The deck is all that remains. Mangled metal and snapped wood are strewn across the park, which is busy again, but with people hauling away ruined homes, or checking what can be saved. One man hangs sopping wet clothes on a line next to his damaged home. He hopes they are salvageable.
Seeds and other owners say the storm’s massive power caught them by surprise. About 4 feet of storm surge flooded the area from the nearby bay, flinging every trailer onto its side.
“The wind is what started the ball rolling … and then the water finished them off,” Seeds says.
A week after Hurricane Harvey slammed into the coast near Corpus Christi, Texas, and then dumped foot after foot of rain on Houston and its neighbors, we crisscrossed the 200 miles between the two cities to witness what the storm had left behind.
When Hurricane Harvey hit, much of the coverage on TV focused on just one area. My editor and I felt the full breadth of the damage was not being shown, especially in smaller towns where we saw data showing extremely heavy amounts of rainfall. I plotted a path and teamed up with a drone operator and cameraman to organize, interview, write and produce this story which you can read in full on CNN.com.
His first mission was to smuggle war crimes evidence. Now it’s to convince Congress to act
Editor’s Note: This story contains descriptions and images of torture victims that will be upsetting to some readers.
Washington (CNN) — He thought all he had to do was get the photographs out to the world. He’d need to risk his life time and time again. Smuggle contraband across front lines. Make meticulous plans in secret. But it would be worth it.
Surely if the world saw what he saw – children, women and men starved and slaughtered by the Syrian government – things would change.
So he saved the photos surreptitiously to thumb drives, smuggled them out of the country and laid bare the brutality of the Bashar al-Assad regime.
The horrifying pictures – almost 55,000 of them, taken by him and others – showed scenes that were compared to the depravity of the Nazis.
But a world that said “Never Again” after the Holocaust appeared to shrug.
“I honestly thought that if I could have the courage to go for the years that I did … endangering my life every single day, that once I came out and showed the world what I had, that the entire conscience of the world would move,” he says.
But it didn’t.
So the man – known to the outside world only by his codename “Caesar” – decided he had to risk his life again. Maybe this time would bring the action to stop the killing. He pulled up the hood of his blue parka and slipped on gloves, afraid that giving any sign of his identity to pro-Assad forces could bring death to his door, and agreed to another interview.
This story, which can be read in full on CNN.com, was about trust and finding a way to humanize a story that is too difficult for many to look at. Writing and producing this piece required ensuring the highest level of security in anonymity for this man. We had to organize with our security, and have prepared a setup to disguise his voice and face and a space to conduct the interview that was safe.
Putting the TV and Digital gallery together required viewing instances of horrific war crimes and determining what to censor. I also worked with our design team to create an image element so readers could connect to the people who died, rather than just the resulting photos of the aftermath of their death.
We created images like this
to add throughout the story.
Explore more of my work
In 15 years at CNN, I have written hundreds of stories than I could note here. The above are selections of stories that show specific highlights.
For a more thorough list of my work click here.
LEADERSHIP AND INNOVATION
During the Covid pandemic I was asked to join CNN's Health team in dire need of help, despite my lack of subject matter expertise, but because of my strong news, writing, editing, and producing skills.
I have regularly been asked to step in on major network products, projects or stories due to my strong leadership in the field and ability to work with nearly anyone under deadline.
NEWSLETTER, PODCAST AND INTERACTIVES
In addition to prepping lengthy research and helping to produce for Dr. Sanjay Gupta's live national TV,
I also worked with our audio team on a weekly podcast we launched at the height of Covid, editing down interviews and formulating episodes.
Our team also transitioned Dr. Gupta's weekly newsletter into a Covid-specific newsletter for our readers. I was responsible for researching and writing the newsletter for Dr. Gupta's approval during this time when it performed as the #1 ranking CNN Digital newsletter among subscribers.
I also spearheaded the above interactive project working across multiple departments to produce an interactive answering questions people had as life "re-opened" for the first time after Covid. I worked with designers, editors, developers, and high-level stakeholders as the lead producer on this project, which involved me finding and securing key stakeholder voices to answer questions, edit answers down, and help turn it into this helpful guide.
BUILDING AND MANAGING A TEAM
For a relaunch of the CNN broadcast visual on-air "look", I was hired to oversee an editorial staff of 10 members for the product known as the TV Ticker.
This opportunity allowed me the chance to hire a team, manage them day to day, conduct performance reviews, oversee a budget for freelance staff, set an editorial agenda, develop workflow standards and work with key stakeholders as high as the CEO to execute this new product.
I also worked with teams across several departments in engineering and sales to build a new platform to make the product available for CNN digital and one we sold to Samsung for their phones.
Producing and launching a daily streaming news show
I joined CNN+ as a senior producer and anchor producer to launch a daily 30-minute streaming show. On the show"Big Picture with Sara Sidner" we covered topics across the spectrum of politics, international news, sports and cultural issues.
In my role, I shaped the framing of episodes, anchor introduction, segments, interview questions, graphic elements, and guest booking.
This show helped me flex new muscles in a live show environment, working with audio technicians, floor staff, and control room staff.
I also helped establish workflows for junior team members for graphics, scripts, and video elements to ensure the show met our high editorial standards. I also helped maintain an editorial calendar for the show.
Below are highlights from the show that are a result of all the above skills in action.
PUTIN'S WAR AGAINST UKRAINE
UNLOCKING THE HUMAN GENOME
HISTORIC NOMINATION OF KETANJI BROWN JACKSON
THE HOUSING CRISIS
Research, production, SEO for a streaming CNN YouTube show
I also helped produce several "fact-check" style shows that use history to examine a current topic. I was responsible for finding guests, interview prep, monologue editing, archival footage research, final script editing and post-production work with an editor.
Additionally, this role required using SEO and other data to help program our YouTube channels -- which requires an entirely different set of keywords, images, language and edit length.
Below are two examples of this work.