MATTHEW J. KOEHLER

ad1cjn@r.postjobfree.com 219-***-**** https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-koehler-ba7b952b/ 240 M St. SW, Washington, D.C. 20024

PROFILE

From the Budokan to the Streets of District…

As a blackbelt in karate and lifelong writer, I've lived by Bruce Lee's suggestion to be water. Like how I trained my body, I taught my words to crash when necessary, flow at other times, and take any shape to tell the story. For the past 10 years, I've worked to turn my writing into a meditation on the multifaceted qualities of water – always adjusting to the environment while shaping it at the same time. In that pursuit I've broken stories, worked with and informed the community to affect change with my words. EXPERIENCE

October 2021-June

2022

Local Reporter and Consultant, Walking Cinema

● Hired by the Walking Cinema team for the “Beyond the Bulldozers” project as an on-site reporter and researcher. In my role, I conducted interviews with community stakeholders and subject matter experts as well as researched and found documentation that helped the team build an augmented reality walking tour that profiled the pre and post urban renewal era of Southwest DC.

● Used my background as a community member and reporter to do outreach connecting to and conducting interviews with local church leaders, historians, activists, and generational community members to find voices of authority in the neighborhood, which allowed the production team to build a narrative of the history of the people and their community using their voices

● Conducted and coordinated research at archival repositories and local libraries, and provided facsimiles of primary resources and detailed summaries of historical events and biographies of community members, which lead to the production team to accurately reconstruct historical figures and the neighborhood, as well as map out the tour in Southwest DC.

● Helped the production team time-stamp, video edit, and preview the walking tour route of "Before the Bulldozers" which gave the team accurate timing and pinpointed locations on the tour so users don’t get lost.

● Nominated for a Webby award, earning the distinction of Nominee in the Public Service & Activism category of the Metaverse, Immersive & Virtual section out of 14,000 projects submitted in 2023.

● Presented “Before the Bulldozers” as a subject matter expert during the Hirshhorn’s Sound Scene Fest and spoke to over 100 people about the genesis of the project, how it works, and what it means for the Southwest DC neighborhood in the 21st century.

July 2019-September

2021

Copy Editor, Breaking News Reporter, Southwest DC Journalist, The Southwester

● Managed and made final decisions on all the copy editing, fact-checking, design, page layouts, writing, and publication for monthly print and online newspaper with a circulation of 13,000.

● Edited and copy-edited pieces on varied topics and a broad range of news items, including reports, studies, letters to the editor, reported features, Op-Eds, press releases, social media posts, and internal and external emails.

● Edited submitted pieces to conform to AP style and standardized English in order to make them digestible for a wider audience.

● Fact-checked all published stories to ensure accuracy and improve consistency of written pieces.

● Managed a small team of volunteer reporters by delegating story ideas, coordinating events to cover, and initiating relationships with sources and contacts to ensure wider community coverage.

● Formatted all photos and captions published every month for publication.

● Did outreach to community stakeholders, local activists, faith leaders, legal and scientific experts, government officials, and corporate representatives to contribute content and news pieces via reported features, Op-Eds, photographs, and blogs.

● Contributed to published content by reporting and writing on average three pieces per issue.

● Corresponded and interacted regularly with community leaders, neighborhood organizations, communication and media departments to source stories and quotes to produce news pieces relevant to the community.

● Used my knowledge and membership of the neighborhood to develop, and source story ideas, and break news on complex reported features relevant to the neighborhood that informed the community, dispelled misinformation and rumors, and kept our coverage fresh.

● Interviewed subject matter experts and community stakeholders, local activists, faith leaders, legal and scientific experts, government officials, and corporate representatives to provide depth and context to my reported features. 2015-Present Freelance Writer and Editor, Greater Greater Washington, Misbar, Upwork, and Others

● Wrote and edited stories on urban planning, environmental justice, local and national politics, racism, drug policy, parenting, and humor for publication in local, national, and international outlets.

● Conducted data and historical research to produce essays, articles, academic papers, blogs, and social media posts.

● Edited and proofread to style a wide range of client documents, including reported features, graduate-level research papers, press releases, news blogs, personal statements, letters of intent, personal essays, emails, and humor.

● Beta reader for numerous fiction novels, nonfiction manuscripts, and short essays. 2006-2014 ESL Teacher, Nagano Board of Education, Japan, Kaplan International, D.C.

● Taught students in Japan and foreign nationals in the United States to assist them with adjusting to a foreign culture and language.

● Created lesson plans based on a national curriculum for use by both the Japanese teachers and Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) for school-aged students and professionals.

● Collaborated with teachers to create daily lesson plans based on national and international standards for teaching TOEFL.

● Maximized student engagement and learning by implementing new and original curricula.

● Key lead in onboarding new Japanese teachers of English (JTEs) and ALTs, which included managing expectations, introducing them to local cultural protocols, and providing mentoring.

EDUCATION

Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana

May 2005: Bachelor of Arts in English Literature

June 2005: Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy

KEY SKILLS AND CHARACTERISTICS

· Writing

· Editing

· Proofreading

· Research

· Critical Thinking

· Critical Thinking

· Meticulous Fact-Checking

· Adaptability

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