Wednesday, April 24, 2024

State News Alumni Notebook for Summer 2021

The latest goings-on among S'News alums from all over

<p>The MSU stadium behind spring flowers on April 29, 2021.</p>

The MSU stadium behind spring flowers on April 29, 2021.

Photo by Lauren Snyder | The State News

A quick recap of just some of the great things happening to your fellow S’News alums and friends of The State News as of late:

  • Melissa Domsic Anders in April was hired as a communications strategist for Byrum & Fisk Advocacy Communications of Michigan. Prior to that she was a freelance writer for clients including the Chicago Tribune, Detroiter Magazine and BLAC Detroit, among others; a statewide business reporter for MLive.com; a business reporter for the Lansing State Journal; and a city reporter for the Traverse City Record-Eagle.
  • Joe Clark recently became the communications director for the Michigan House Democratic Caucus. He had been working in the Michigan Legislature for about nine years, between Democratic communications and policy offices.
  • Matthew Corkins in April started work as a copy editor for Insider Intelligence. Prior to that, he edited for The Real Deal and HBO, the New York Observer, Latin Post, and Resource Magazine, and served as managing editor and copy chief for Commercial Observer.
  • Aaron Foley in June began a new role as senior editor for PBS NewsHour. Prior to that, he was director of the Black Media Initiative at the CUNY Craig Newmark Graduate School of Media’s Center for Community Media, a fellow at the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowship at Stanford University; the chief storyteller for the City of Detroit; editor-in-chief of BLAC Detroit Magazine; an associate editor for Penton Media; a reporter and web producer for MLive.com; and a copy editor and writer for the Lansing State Journal. 
  • Sean Gagnier in June was promoted to the role of senior strategist for Doner. Prior to that, he was a digital and social media strategist at Doner and had stints at Franco, General Motors, The Topps Company, and Automotive News. 
  • John Hudson in June was dispatched to Geneva, Switzerland by The Washington Post to cover the first summit between the American President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Hudson is the national security reporter for The Post. You can watch a recording of live stream coverage here.
  • Liz Kersjes in June began her new role as planning and research specialist at the Illinois Housing Development Authority in Chicago. Prior to that, she was a Master in Urban Planning and Policy student and a teaching assistant at the University of Illinois at Chicago, also interning at the IDHA; the Cook County, Ill. Assessor’s Office; and the Chicago Impact Development Company.
  • Lindsey LaParl in May was hired as a senior designer at Publicis Sapient in Chicago. Prior for that, she did design work for Huge, Alight Solutions, Vibes, and Team Detroit.
  • A.J. Moser in April was hired as social media manager at Epic Games. Prior to that, he was a content strategist with Big Spaceship and a freelance writer for the Daily Dot.
  • Nick Perles in May was promoted to art supervisor at Intouch Solutions. Prior to that, he was senior art director at Intouch and AbelsonTaylor.
  • McKenna Ross in June started working at the Las Vegas (Nev.) Review-Journal as a Report for America corps member. She was previously reporting for MLive.com
  • Kellie Rowe was voted one of Metro Detroit’s best traffic reporters in an Hour Detroit reader poll for its 2021 “Best of Detroit” annual guide. Rowe is a digital reporter for Fox 2 Detroit.
  • Sasha Zidar in June was hired as a digital content producer for KFMB-TV, the CBS affiliate in San Diego. Prior to that, she was a digital content producer and Lifestyle TV host for WZZM-TV in Grand Rapids and a breaking news reporter for MLive.com, also in Grand Rapids.

Do you have a status update to share with the S’News? Please let us know and we’ll consider it for publication in the next newsletter and on SNAA social sites! Email your news to alumni@statenews.com.

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