Content Management

Lisa Petrillo

***** ******* **. | San Diego, Calif. 92129

858-***-**** | ****.********@*****.***

Summary: Award-winning web content producer with a strong news media background. I know how to write for the web. My training as a metro news reporter developed my gifted storytelling abilities to create content that opened minds, changed laws and saved lives. Now my considerable skills have expanded into web content production and communications in the fields of health care, government, finance and education. Expert in delivering vivacious and scrupulously accurate communications tailored to engage any target audience. I am good at what I do, I learn fast, and I never miss deadline.

Technical skills: Skilled on PC and Mac, in MS Office (including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) in social media (Facebook, blogs, Twitter) in graphic design (Photoshop, InDesign) and web development (Content Management Systems, Dreamweaver, HTML). Superb command of grammar, spelling and AP style make me the go-to in-house editor. Proven expertise in research and analysis. Proven ability to translate complex subjects into easy-to-understand copy. Possess people skills worthy of a diplomat, gained from years of interviews with more than 10,000 people from every imaginable background.

Experience:

SDCERA San Diego County pension fund: Communications officer for $8 billion public pension fund (January 2011 to July 2011)

• Handled communications, including web-content creation, media and social media

• Provided strategic counsel to management on media communications

• Created publications with better consumer-friendly approach translating complex financial material into easy-to-read content to create great user experiences

• Developed in-house style guide overhauling outdated standards scattered across multiple venues into one comprehensive 40-page guide of cohesive standards – for the first time at the organization

• Performed web content review of existing site for website best practices, accessibility and user experience, using web analytics to guide revamp of site

• Worked with investment professionals and executives on communications

• Project management of publications from concept to print production

• Expert writing and editing skills made me the go-to in-house editor

• Ran e-newsletter and print newsletter utilizing journalism skills of research, conceptualizing, writing and editing all copy

San Diego Unified School District: Communications and website teams at nation’s 7th largest school district. (2009 to 2011)

• Media and communications duties included pitching media coverage, running special events, proactive media, crisis communications, writing press releases, posting social media messaging including Facebook, blog and Twitter feeds

• Demonstrated experience developing written content for the web by currently creating unique websites for schools and departments in the seventh-largest school district in the nation

• Proven experience in web-content best practices, page design and construction knowledgeable regarding best web content practices, web page design and construction.

• Created more than 75 websites for district schools and departments, writing and editing original copy, plus web design and photography

• Responsible for independently exercise judgment for style consistency and grammatical accuracy on entire district site

• Train district staff in best practices and public relations techniques including writing content for web and social media

• Worked with team developing concepts and content for website UI and messaging, eye-catching landing pages and powerful and concise educational articles

• Providing strategic communications for new websites for schools and district departments, on a website that draws more than 1 million visits per month

• Skilled at translating technical jargon and complex concepts into clear and snappy content.

• Diplomacy skills used daily to work smoothly with diverse constituents from preschoolers to parents to faculty to policy makers

• Assisted in making presentations and training district staff on media, website production and writing and editing effectively demonstrating understanding of web production and process

• Edited all content to ensure it adhered to legal guidelines and published style

Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego: Marketing communications coordinator at California’s largest pediatric hospital (2008 to 2009).

• Revamped and upgraded internal newsletter writing journalistic-quality content and providing photography in a package that successfully gained internal connection with staff. (Publication both in print and online) Newsletter won awards from regional healthcare organizations.

• Created journalistic-quality articles for internal and external publications, marketing collateral and websites.

• Experienced in linking communications to business results (fundraising).

• Proven innovation and creativity in projects included creating new multi-media internal communications program I called CNN, the Cafeteria News Network, a video scrapbook of fun employee events featuring photos I took. A popular and effective (and cost-free) method for employee engagement.

• Innovations included bringing web-based communication for the first time to internal communication, videotaping CEO Q-and-A speeches to employees and posting on the web so personnel on all shifts could hear internal news straight from the source.

• Wrote high-quality content for hospital magazines, along with marketing, recruitment and publicity materials.

• Translated complex concepts and jargon into easy-to-grasp language to enhance customer experience.

• Performed speechwriter duties for executives and medical personnel.

• Maintained discretion with confidential medical privacy information and experienced working in biohazardous environments

• Proven ability to establish priorities, meet frequently changing deadlines, and produce scrupulously accurate technically complex content under deadline pressure.

• Maintained highest level of professional standards in communications verbal and written, exercising strong command of grammar, spelling, syntax and punctuation. Served as the go-to proofreader for team.

San Diego Union-Tribune: News reporter (1985-2007) for Pulitzer Prize winning 350,000-circulation metro daily.

Duties: As a reporter, every day was a treasure hunt for information. Every day I researched, dug for documents, analyzed data and fearlessly knocked on doors looking for answers. Flexibility was paramount as I sorted out fact from fiction, deciphered complex business and public policy issues, sifted through stacks of information and then wrote a compelling, succinct report that informed readers and entertained them enough to keep them reading. That was the treasure.

• Major stories: Mass suicide of Heaven’s Gate religious cult; covered case of the only CHP officer ever convicted of murder on duty; in-depth reporting on NASA space program; immigration issues at one of the world’s busiest borders; profile on every suicide off the Coronado Bridge and data analysis of death trends led to better safety procedures on bridge; won national award for story on teenage boy delivering a baby while working drive-through window at a local Taco Bell.

• Technical Skills: Filed stories both to print and on-line editions and contributed to the Union-Tribune blog. Proficient on PC and Mac. Excellent research skills used for every one of the thousands of news and feature stories written over last 30 years. Proven ability to sort through complex information and synthesize the essence, then translate key information into plain English to engage target audiences. For every story I had to become an instant expert on ever-changing topics, gaining an enormous general knowledge base to draw from. Proven ability to research and write compelling content to reach target audience on any subject. Experienced working on flexible schedule. Proven ability to learn fast and beat deadline and the competition every time.

• People skills: Highly refined interpersonal skills developed after years of dealing with people from all kinds of backgrounds and situations. Successfully interviewed thousands of people from preschoolers to presidents, with proven ability to mix well with people at every level. Proven ability and experience interviewing researchers and academic leaders, faculty and administrators at universities nationwide while covering higher education beat for the media. Gifted at persuading people to trust me with their triumphs and tragedies.

Stockton Record: 55,000-circulation metro daily in California’s Central Valley (1984 to 1985).

As a general assignment reporter on a small staff, covered broad range of stories: deadly Delta floods, development squeezing out family farms, the rise and fall of one of the nation’s highest flying S&Ls, workers dying of lung disease at local asbestos-pipe plant; abused lab dogs turned feral. Demonstrated ability to work on tight deadlines, digging through financial records, covering fast-moving events and doing it with flair and accuracy.

Professional-Level Marketing and Management:

President, Rolling Hills School Foundation (2006-2008) Ran the most successful elementary non-profit in San Diego’s Poway Unified School District (35,000 students). We restored music, art and gym lost to budget cuts. Increased volunteerism, forged ties to area business and elevated community awareness of educational issues. Success showed in student test scores ranking among highest in the district and region.

Freelance Writing and Communications:

- Author of juvenile biographies on: Sarah Palin, Vera Wang, Isaac Mizrahi, Golda Meir, Benazir Bhutto, Margaret Thatcher and Ellen Sirleaf Johnson (Morgan Reynolds Publishing).

- Co-author Badge of Betrayal, mass-market true crime published by Avon 1991. About the first and only California Highway Patrolman convicted of on-duty murder.

- Freelance writing has appeared in San Diego Magazine, New York Times, Sacramento Bee, San Francisco Chronicle, Mademoiselle, Ms. and Drive magazines.

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