Ecton Theriot

727-***-**** ace7fs@r.postjobfree.com www.linkedin.com/in/ectontheriot

PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND

Tampa Bay Times (formerly the St. Petersburg Times)

May 1998 to April 2014

Since 2001, my primary responsibility as a senior copy/design editor was overseeing the production of the

Tampa section of the Times’ daily Local edition. Skill sets that I used on a daily basis included:

• Editing a wide range of writing from local news to world news to features.

• Preparing articles for publication in print and online by editing for clarity, consistency,

accuracy, spelling, grammar and in-house style based on Associated Press style. Fact-

checking as needed.

• Writing headlines, photo captions and other display type for print and/or SEO.

• Preventing corrections by finding and fixing errors of fact, math errors, name/place

inconsistencies, etc. in stories and graphics.

• Reviewing the quality of work by other copy editors who worked on the section, both

as a team leader and as a co-worker.

• Designing the section by merging text, photographs and graphics to lead readers

through the entire page. I would design the business pages on an as-needed basis.

• Acting as a liaison between bureau editors in Tampa and metro editors in St.

Petersburg.

• On deadline, being one of the arbiters of style and tone of the stories.

• Updating the Hillsborough County page at the Times’ website (tampabay.com) by using

content management systems.

• Contributing to late-night breaking news stories by quickly accessing information in the

Times’ electronic library.

• Adapting to the many changes in software through the years, gaining proficiency in

Microsoft Office products, QuarkXPress, Adobe products (including Photoshop,

InDesign and inCopy) and web content management systems Escenic and Autonomy.

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The Tampa Tribune

April 1988 to April 1998

• Copy/design editor on regional and metro sections, with duties similar to my position

at the Tampa Bay Times (above).

• News editor for Tampa Bay Online. As one of the first two news editors for TBO, my

primary responsibility was organizing the content of the daily newspaper and mapping

out how they would translate to the online product. I also worked with our marketing

manager to create advertisements promoting TBO in The Tampa Tribune and an early

online ordering system for retailers.

• Home & Garden editor. As editor, I worked with staff and freelance writers and

photographers to produce the weekly section. I was responsible for editing most of the

stories for the section as well as designing the section. In addition to my role as Home

& Garden editor, I was also a copy editor and page designer for BayLife, the Tribune’s

feature section.

• Copy editor on a universal desk, editing stories from staff writers and wire services.

Beaumont Enterprise

October 1987 to March 1988

• Copy/design editor for stories throughout the newspaper.

Texarkana Gazette

May 1983 to October 1987

• Reporter (city/county government, courts, health and medical issues), copy/design

editor

Ad-Vantage Public Relations, New Orleans, La.

November 1982 to April 1983

• Account executive handling both internal and external communication for two metro

New Orleans hospitals. I produced a different monthly employee newsletter for each

hospital, as well created fliers for neighborhood health fairs. I wrote news releases for

area newspapers and generated larger story ideas to feed to area media sources, leading

to positive coverage of the hospital and its staff.

Slidell (La.) Daily Times

December 1981 to October 1982

• Reporter (city government), sports writer/editor, design editor, news editor

TRANSLATION OF SKILLS

My background in newspapers and public relations gives me a unique skill set in writing and communication

that easily translates to the corporate world. I am comfortable in both print and web, creating emails, fliers,

advertisements, newsletters, blogs, announcements, invitations, brochures and other materials, as well as

participating and overseeing social media campaigns. My experience in writing headlines correlates to

copywriting. I have an attention to detail to ensure consistency in style for various documents and other

platforms. Deadlines do not rattle me. I am used to working both on long-term projects and other shorter-

term projects that might only take minutes to produce.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism/news editorial with minors in English and psychology

from Louisiana State University. Also, I have attended professional seminars, including those sponsored by the

Society of News Design and the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., and annual libel seminars presented to

employees of the Tampa Tribune.

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