The officers of the Florida Press Club have been looking for ways to make the organization more useful to you, our journalism colleagues. With the industry in turmoil, we wanted a place to discuss all the changes going on in the industry, to share ideas to “save” print journalism and to highlight the good work that is still going on.
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sherry Mims, and I am the membership coordinator of the Florida Press Club. My “real” job is that of copy editor/page designer of The Daytona Beach News-Journal in Daytona Beach. (Yes, I work with Jennifer Cason, the FPC president.) I’ve been in Daytona for just over three years. When I saw how much fun the club was, I volunteered. Before the News-Journal, I worked as the interim features editor of the Daily Commercial in Leesburg (near Orlando). In the spirit of full disclosure, I worked with Megan Shannon, our treasurer, at the Daily Commercial.
It’s not much of a stretch of the imagination to say that in journalism in our fair state, you’re bound to work with people who have worked with other people you know. Probably the most interesting connection I had was with Dianna Wu, our former FPC vice president. She and I saw we had a mutual friend, who lived in Australia, on Facebook. It turned out that she had worked with Jodie O’Brien in Pennsylvania, whereas I had worked with Jodie in Leesburg!
From left: Jennifer Cason, president; Sherry Mims, membership coordinator; Dianna Wu, vice president; Megan Stokes, treasurer.
I’ve learned that many of my co-workers have similar stories. Do you?
As we continue this blog, I’d like to encourage members to e-mail me topics, or even better, submit guest posts on journalism. You can find my contact information on the officers’ page.
Thank you for reading!