As an audience development strategist for the Kansas City Star, I ran the newspaper’s flagship Instagram account, where my team and I reframed local news for a young audience through vertical videos, conversational posts and carousels. We focused on timely, approachable and consistent news. This focus, which was shaped and edited by myself and The Star’s then-assistant audience editor Alison Booth, grew The Star’s Instagram by 73% on average in all engagement metrics over the past 1.5 years, and our following grew by 27,000 — an 83% increase from the previous timeframe.

 

I found innovative and compelling ways to get important local news in front of a broader audience by reframing stories on topics including the Chiefs' LIX Super Bowl appearance and ICE’s escalation in Kansas City.