Education
University of Florida, College of Journalism and Communications Gainesville, FL
May 2024
Bachelor of Science in Journalism, Magazine and Feature Writing Specialization
Experience
Business Insider
Editorial Partnerships Fellow
(Feb. 2025 – Present)
Writes 4–6 stories weekly, traffic-optimized and tailored to syndication platforms (MSN, AOL, Yahoo, Apple News) across verticals like politics, travel, economy, food, health, entertainment, and news. Builds each story in the CMS using engaging visual formats and updates relevant archive stories on deadline for maximized team performance.
Uses Marfeel, Looker, and MSN dashboards to monitor performance, and Google Trends keyword research to guide coverage for maximized engagement and SEO, contributing over 30M pageviews across platforms on 80+ stories.
Produces original lifestyle-focused reporting on politics and economics by interviewing experts in different fields to show real-world impacts of breaking news, such as how tariffs would impact the prices of staple breakfast items.
The Daily Dot
General Assignment Intern
(June 2023 – Sept. 2023)
Wrote 1-2 stories weekly, reporting on internet culture, viral content, and social media trends by analyzing rising trends and interviewing relevant content creators.
Developed a trusted roster of sources in the content creation beat, fact-checked sources’ accounts and testimonials, and contextualized viral content for a broader audience by researching rising social media trends and their origins.
Formatted stories in CMS with SEO-optimized headlines and meta descriptions using targeted phrases.
The Independent Florida Alligator
Engagement Managing Editor
(April 2023 – Aug. 2023)
Managed a team of 40 reporters, editors, photographers, and social media strategists to coordinate daily digital and weekly print coverage of news, culture, and sports for the nation’s largest student-run newspapers, with a readership of over 60,000 residents and students in Gainesville, Florida, and surrounding rural communities.
Handled payroll and hiring for all eight desks and ensured diversity and fairness in the newsroom.
Oversaw multiplatform strategy across the newspaper’s four distinct brands on Instagram, X, and Facebook (71K followers total) by leading a 3-person team, tracking engagement metrics, and adapting content to audience trends.
Arts and Culture Editor and Spanish Co-Editor
(Dec. 2022 – April 2023)
Led a team of 6 arts and culture writers by researching and assigning stories and communicating during the reporting process
Used Mailchimp to write and publish the desk’s weekly arts & culture newsletter (~1K subscribers), including a weekly curated playlist with seasonal copy and design.
Co-led and edited an additional desk with a team of 2 Spanish writers covering the local Hispanic community.
Flamingo Magazine
Editorial Intern
(Jan. 2023 – April 2023)
Wrote online and print stories about Florida-based lifestyle with a travel angle, including print sections covering real estate and new businesses.
Researched trending events and wrote state-relevant lifestyle briefs for the magazine’s weekly newsletter.
WUFT (NPR affiliate local station)
Reporter
(Aug. 2022 – Jan. 2023)
Pitched, reported and wrote news stories relevant to readers in North Central Florida covering development, elections, health and public safety and created accompanying multimedia elements (video, audio, photo, data).
Spanish Media Intern
(Jan. 2021 – May 2021)
Pitched, scripted, anchored, produced, edited and published weekly 90-second video news segments using AP ENPS software, professional camera equipment and Adobe Premiere Pro.
Wrote VOs and VOSOTs and worked on TV packages.
Pitched and wrote weekly radio readers in Spanish.
GHQ FM
Editorial Staff Member
(Jan. 2021 – Dec. 2021)
Pitched and wrote music-related stories for the station’s website.
Trained to go on the air producing, recording and editing music breaks, news briefs and special announcements for four hours a week in a professional recording studio using Adobe Audition
Sunstroke Magazine
Music and Culture Writer
(April 2021 – Nov. 2023)
Pitches and writes stories related to music and culture such as album reviews, culture examinations, personal essays and other related articles.
Works with a team of editors and writers to develop ideas and contribute to ongoing series.
The Luna Collective
Music Writer
(May 2022 – Aug. 2023)
Wrote artist features, conducted interviews with up-and-coming and independent musicians and collaborated with PR representatives to set up artist coverage.
Rowdy Magazine
Print Writer
(May 2022 – April 2023)
Pitched and wrote culture-oriented essays for the bi-yearly print editions of the magazine.
Awards
Society of Professional Journalists, 2023
Region 3 Mark of Excellence Award Finalist in Arts/Entertainment/Fashion Journalism
Columbia Scholastic Press Association, 2020
Gold Circle Award in the Personality Profile category
Skills
AP Style | Social Media Management and Content Creation | SEO strategy | Email Newsletters management | CMS Management | Content analytics | Trendspotting using market watchers.
Google Trends | Mailchimp | Hootsuite | Adobe Creative Cloud: Photoshop, Audition, Premiere Pro.
Bilingual English-Spanish
Kristine Villarroel 