I'm a Local Editor for Patch.com where I tell stories through different lenses.
When people ask me what I do, I tell them, 'I'm the woman behind the keyboard.' Each day, I'm invited into my readers' homes and I tell them the stories I think they need to know. Just like a traditional news outlet, I follow leads and try to scoop the competition. The only difference is: my newsroom is wherever I am. There's no large staff room buzzing with people or even an office building. I live in the town I cover, so my office is sometimes village hall, the local coffee shop or even the library.  

I'm in charge of providing a town of 27,000 people with the daily news. And to make this happen it doesn’t take much: just me, my Ford Fiesta, a MacBook Pro, a police scanner, camera and my insatiable curiosity.  When I wake up, it’s up to me to decide what’s newsworthy that day, so being a Local Editor at Patch requires an entrepreneurial mind-set and a disciplined worth ethic in today’s 24-hour news culture.

When I’m not chasing leads, I’m editing the work of freelancers, working to find and recruit the best writers for my site, and managing a social network to attract more visitors to the great work we do. 


I’ve come to know a lot of my readers and I know they wake up every morning, expecting to see something new, informative or entertaining. It may seem like a lot of pressure but I can't imagine doing anything else. 

Each day I remind myself how lucky I am to have my dream job.