Staff Q&As: Meet multiplatform journalist Ashley May
To help you get to know our newsroom staff a bit better, a series of question-and-answer posts with each journalist will run on Mondays. This morning, meet multiplatform journalist Ashley May. She’s only been with us a few months, but you’ve likely seen her blog posts on Twenty & Change and Smart magazine, or read her articles in FlipSide.
Name: Ashley May
Lives in: New Freedom
Hometown: New Freedom
Position at the YDR: Multiplatform journalist
Years with the YDR: Less than one year
Graduated from: Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY
With a degree in: Journalism; minors in photography and religious studies
Email: amay@ydr.com or writeashleymay@gmail.com
Twitter: @visitashley
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/visitashley
Whatever you’d like to tell us about yourself: In 2010, I sailed around the world and studied in Spain, Morocco, Ghana, South Africa, Mauritius, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, India, China, Japan and Hawaii.
1. What made you want to become a journalist? I love meeting people from different walks of life to learn their stories. I can be a health expert one day who scrubs in with doctors, and the next I’m meeting farmers to talk about how construction affects crops. It’s a career with variety.
2. How do you see journalism changing? The definition of “journalism” changes daily. Now, journalism includes social media conversations, photo/text/audio/video stories, blogs, magazines and newspapers — any or all of these now make up modern news organizations.
3. What do you like most about your job? The least? I like having the freedom to go off the beaten path of “news” in the features department. I dislike when my computer is too slow to handle the creativity.
4. It’s 9:30 a.m. on a day off. What are you doing? I’d like to say I’m at the gym, but most likely I’m shooting photos for a personal photography project.
5. What’s been your favorite project or story recently? Why? I used Google Voice as a voice mailbox for readers to call in and record their favorite Valentine’s Day memories for the Smart blog. I really enjoyed creating an audio post that was easy for users to use — plus, the caller stories were so interesting, ranging from young love to aged relationships.
6. The drink that’s on your desk right now is: Snapple Green Tea
7. Your favorite journalism-related blog you read or Twitter feed you follow: Dane Cook’s Twitter feed probably isn’t considered journalism… I like the Washington Post and Time’s Twitter feed.
8. What’s your favorite movie? Book? Movie: Up. Book: Behind the Blue-Star Banner.
9. What’s your favorite place in York County? Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream on South Queen Street.
10. What’s one piece of newsroom jargon that had to be explained to you? Harris. Who is that guy anyway?! [Editor’s note: That would be our pagination system. Don’t worry — Ashley has since figured it out!]
Last week, we ran a Q&A with sports editor Chris Otto. To read all of the staff Q&A interviews we’ve done so far, click on the “Staff Q&As” under “About us” at the top of the homepage.