Resume

Darleene M. Powells
darleene -at- gmail -dot- com

Employment History

CBSLA.com, Studio City, CA
Features Editor/Online Producer, 9/05 – present
Recruited, managed and edited a team of 25 freelance writers in verticals such as Food & Drink and Family & Pets. Covered breaking news, edited wire copy and scripts, wrote headlines for stories and video and packaged it with images, video and audio. Syndicated stories to sites like the Drudge Report, Fark, Facebook and Twitter.
»Subscribe to my most recent stories on CBSLA.com

The Wedding Decorator, Los Angeles, CA
Editor, 01/05 – present
Wrote content, took photos and designed Wedding Decorator from work done while decorating weddings. Transferred blog to WordPress in 2003, redesigned it, used Google Analytics metrics to tailor content. Successfully implemented search-engine optimization strategies. Used Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+ to promote content and engage with readers.

The Glendale News-Press, Glendale, CA
Reporter, 2/03 – 9/05
Covered business and politics for the News-Press, the Foothill Leader and the Burbank Leader. Was the sole Saturday reporter. Served previously as the education reporter, covering Glendale and La Cañada unified school districts, and cops and courts reporter, covering the Glendale Police Department.

City News Service, Century City, CA
Part-time cops reporter, 11/02 – 2/03
Worked the overnight shift at Parker Center-LAPD Headquarters’ media room writing traffic, police and crime stories for three counties.

The San Gabriel Valley Tribune, West Covina, CA
Freelance reporter, 10/02 – 2/03
Wrote about community events in the San Gabriel Valley for the weekly Highlander section. Occasionally also shot digital photographs.

The Arizona Republic, Phoenix, AZ
Features Reporter, 6/02 – 8/02
Was the sole Home & Garden beat reporter for two months. Took a number of feature assignments from the Food & Drink and Arizona Living sections, including Q & A interviews.

The Orange County Register, Lake Forest, CA
Freelance reporter/intern, 3/02 – 5/02
Covered Laguna Hills, writing daily “Our Town” news for the daily. For the weekly, wrote about city hall meetings, features about Laguna Hills’ citizens, collected the weekly cop blotter and calendar items.

Brana Fine Art, Pacific Palisades, CA
Webmaster, 5/01 – 5/02
Redesigned the Web site to make it easier to navigate for the gallery’s audience and to make the site easier to update for the graphic designer and programmer. Maintained the site, administrated the email distribution list and wrote the biweekly newsletter.

The Daily Titan, Cal State Fullerton, CA
Editor in Chief, 1/00-12/01
Served as assistant news editor, news editor, production manager and finished as editor in chief. Supervised a staff of 30+, designed pages and oversaw production each night.

Education

California State University, Fullerton
B.A. in journalism and Asian American studies, 06/02

Activities & Honors

  • Author of the blog, darleeneisms, since 1998
  • Author of the Tumblr blog, The Hack Mom, since 2011
  • Member of the Asian American Journalists Association
    • 2009 Co-President, Los Angeles Chapter
    • 2009 Trivia Bowl fundraising event coordinator
    • 2008 Los Angeles Chapter Board Member, website redesign committee member
  • Best Writing and Best Spot News Story awards, Times Community News, 2003
  • 2002 Pulliam Journalism Fellow
  • CSUF Asian American Studies Department Craig & Claire Ihara Outstanding Asian Pacific American Student of the Year, May 2002
  • CSUF Communications Department Award for Professional Promise in Journalism, May 2002
  • First Place Daily, Newspaper of the Year, 2002 Associated College Press Conference, Los Angeles
  • First Place Daily, Sept. 11 Special Coverage, 2002 Associated College Press Conference, Los Angeles
  • Eighth Place, 2001-2002, In-Depth Writing category, Hearst Journalism Competition
  • First Place Feature Story, 2001 On-Site competition, California Intercollegiate Press Association

Skills

  • Social media – Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, Tumblr and Instagram
  • Blogging – WordPress
  • Web site development – Adobe GoLive, Dreamweaver. Proficient with HTML and CSS. Some knowledge of PHP. Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
  • Graphics – Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign
  • Print Layout – Quark Xpress (PC & Mac)
  • Operating systems – Mac and PC