I grew up in Hanover, N.H., and lived in New York and Colorado before moving to Massachusetts in 2006. I have a master's degree in print journalism from Boston University, and a bachelor's degree in speech communication from Syracuse University. I've been a journalist for more than eight years, working as a reporter or editor for newspapers and magazines. I was Lexington Patch editor from May 2010 to April 2011, and am now an associate regional editor. 

Danielle Masterson graduated from Boston University's broadcast journalism program in 1999, then joined the Stoneham Sun as a full-time reporter. After five years with the Sun, as both reporter and editor, she left journalism to teach elementary school. Danielle obtained her master's degree from the University of Massachusetts – Boston while teaching in Malden. She also taught sixth grade in Marblehead, before deciding to jump back into community journalism with Patch. 

Roberto has spent the last 10 years working as a writer and editor. A lifelong Revere resident, he graduated from Clark Univeristy with a degree in Philosophy.

Email: amanda.kersey@patch.com

Amanda Kersey has been a reporter and photographer for Somerville Patch and other nearby town sites since January, 2011. She began producing news from the communities in October of that year. 

She graduated from New York University last January with a B.A. in Spanish literature and journalism. Kersey covered campus and city news as a staff writer for NYU’s student-run daily newspaper, The Washington Square News. She also interned at The L Magazine, a small magazine in Brooklyn.

Her last internship before entering the workforce was at Gotham Gazette, a politics and public policy Web site based in Manhattan. At the Gazette, Kersey covered a Brooklyn state Assembly election and reported on New York’s initiatives to make locally grown food available to all New Yorkers.

Besides writing for Patch, Kersey spends her time cooking, shopping at the Somerville Winter Farmers’ Market and reading at the Cambridge Public Library. 

Karla joined Patch in mid-2010 as a Boston-area regional editor, making the leap into hyperlocal news after  years of focus on the national and international news fronts at The Christian Science Monitor, CNN and CNN International -- doing online news since 1998. She has lived in a neighborhood she loves, Jamaica Plain, for a total of 18 years, with a stint in lovely Atlanta sandwiched in the middle. Beyond the news, she is, among other things, a (fair-weather) biker, a rabid Celtic music fan and an unabashed church nerd.

Chris has worked as a reporter for South End News, Dover-Sherborn Press, Allston-Brighton TAB and Bay Windows. His work has appeared in Chicago's Inside and Inside Lincoln Park newspapers, at bostonherald.com and at artandculture.com. He also worked at ABC News as a production associate for 20/20, Primetime Live and 20/20 Downtown and as a desk assistant for Good Morning America and Morning News.

Jarret Bencks has been in journalism since 2008, previously working as a reporter for The Eagle-Tribune, covering mainly southern New Hampshire. He received a degree in Journalism from the University of New Hampshire in 2008.

Cate is the editor of Back Bay Patch, and has worked as a reporter at newspapers in Vermont, Western Mass and most recently covering Beverly for the Salem News. She graduated from Saint Michael's College with a degree in journalism and minor in Spanish, and lives in South Boston.

Kim has worked as a journalist for daily and weekly papers both in the U.S. and abroad.  She started as a local editor at The Recorder in Greenfield, Mass., then went on to work as a staff writer at the Daily Hampshire Gazette, in Northampton, and at The Prague Post, in the Czech Republic.  She returned to editing at Czech Business Weekly.  Her work has appeared in The Boston Globe, New Statesman, and The Patriot Ledger and The New York Times.  She has worked as a freelancer for the Associated Press for several years.  Kim lives in Jamaica Plain. Read her full bio here.

Chris was born in Goshen, NY but moved to Hampton, NH – his adopted hometown – when he was nine. Ever since, he's taken the whole New England thing wicked friggin serious, khed.

He graduated from Clark University with a degree in international relations and a minor in philosophy, which prepared him for the real world. He has been masquerading as a journalist ever since, writing for newspapers in both Southern California and New Hampshire.

Matt Casey started writing his first book in early elementary school. Unfortunately, he got stuck on drawing the cover, but he has since managed to publish hundreds of stories and articles.

After graduating with two bachelor's degrees, Casey took a reporting job with the Contoocook Valley Villager in Hillsboro, N.H., and then another at the Evening Sun in Hanover, Penn., before returning to his native Massachusetts as an assistant editor with an industry publishing company called BevNET.

Kerri Dale lives in the greater Boston area with her husband and two children. After being a stay at home mom for 16 years she is very excited to be a part of Patch. She enjoys spending time with her family, boating and jetskiing.

Mark Ouellette has spent the past several years reporting for daily and weekly newspapers (and their respective websites) in New Hampshire, including The Milford Cabinet, Merrimack Journal, Hollis/Brookline Journal, Bedford Journal, The Telegraph of Nashua and the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News. He also served as the founder, co-owner, managing editor and web editor of the former New Hampshire news website, NHReporter.com.

Email: sara.jacobi@patch.com
Phone: 781-850-6741
Hometown: Attleboro, MA
Birthday: October 3rd
Bio A life-long Massachusetts resident, Sara grew up in Attleboro, attended school in Boston and now lives in Wakefield. Sara earned her bachelor's degree from Boston University, where she majored in Journalism and minored in International Relations. While a student at BU, Sara had the opportunity to intern for the Boston Metro and the Boston Globe, and she also began to freelance for the Allston-Brighton Tab, where she covered police and fire news. After graduation, Sara worked for two years as the sole staff writer of the property-casualty insurance publication, The Standard. Sara continued to freelance for the Allston-Brighton Tab until the summer of 2010, when she was hired as the editor of  the Wakefield Patch. In her free time, Sara plays Ultimate (Frisbee) for a nationally competitive women's club team, Brute Squad, which finished third in the entire country this past season. Ask her about it!

Sue is a professional photographer and six-year Lexington resident.  She specializes in commercial photography, product photography and events, and has clients across New England and around the country. She was born and educated in England; and emigrated to the United States in 1996. She and husband, John, have two children in Lexington schools.  Sue is a member of the National Press Photographers Association.

Michele has been in the news business since 1999. In the past decade she's done everything from writing real estate features, to covering government meetings to handling events and announcements for several newspaper publications in the Boston area.

Dan  recently moved to Massachusetts with his wife and son last fall after spending the first 27 years of his life in New York. While living in the Empire State he wrote for The (Westchester) Journal News, primarily covering the local high school sports scene. Dan began his writing career after graduating from Manhattan College working for two weekly newspapers - The Riverdale Review/Bronx Press and The Riverdale Press.

Stephen Walsh is a life long resident of Brookline and the son of a retired Brookline Firefighter. His mother still works for the Brookline Public Schools after serving over four decades. Stephen got hooked on photography at about age 13, when his parents gave him a Pentax K1000 35-millimeter camera after he graduated from the Dexter School in Brookline. Stephen graduated from St. Sebastian's CDS in Needham in 1984 and, although he has worked in many fields, photojournalism has always been his passion. Today he makes it his full-time profession.

Stephen has been published in the TAB newspapers, Firehouse Magazine, the Boston Herald and many websites. He is also a Senior Correspondent/Photographer for 1st Responder Newspaper covering Eastern Massachusetts. He currently serves as the photographer for the Brookline Fire Fighters Association Local 950 and has been recognized 12 times for his work in spot news by an international photojournalism group.

Richard Hosford got his first news job as a writer in 2007 for the weekly newspaper, The Auburn News, published by Stonebridge Press, a news company out of Southbridge, Mass. The job was general assignment reporting of Auburn, Mass, and Rich covered issues including town politics, the happenings at the local schools, charity events and breaking news.

After working for a bit over a year, Rich decided to go back to school to get a better understanding of his chosen field. He entered into a Masters program at Northeastern University in Journalism and Public Policy Analysis, which is finished in the summer of 2009.

After graduating he went back to Stonebridge Press and worked for a time at the company's Villager Newspapers in Northeastern Connecticut. He then moved to Stonebridge Press's flagship daily paper, the Southbridge Evening News, before coming onboard with Patch.

Rich is excited to be working for Burlington Patch!

A 2007 graduate of Springfield College, Matt Schooley took over as the local editor for Wilmington Patch at the beginning of 2011. Prior to starting with Patch, Matt was an award-winning staff writer at Neighborhood News, Inc., based in Manchester, New Hampshire. At Neighborhood News, Matt covered board meetings, high school sports and anything that was interesting in the community. With Patch, Matt looks forward to providing in-depth coverage of breaking news, features and sports. He is also excited to meet the people of Wilmington and show them why Patch is their home for everything local.

Franklin Tucker has been a Belmontonian for the past 17 years. He's spent the last two decades as an editor and has won five New England regional journalism awards. Franklin is looking forward to using his experience and background to have a positive impact on the people of and institutions in Belmont as the Belmont Patch editor.

Charlie has worked in newspapers for the past 14 years, first in California and since 2001 in Massachusetts. He has made his home in Watertown since 2003. Charlie enjoys watching all kinds of sports, loves to travel and enjoys cooking. He earned his bachelor's degree in geology at the University of Michigan and got a master's degree in journalism at Indiana University.

A native New Englander, Aubry has always been intrigued by the region's history, gritty character and small-town culture. Aubry discovered her passion for community reporting in the summer of 2006 during an internship at the Atlantic News, a family-owned weekly that was based in Hampton, N.H. Following graduation, she wrote for Seacoast Media Group. Her work has appeared in the Rockingham News, Hampton Union, Portsmouth Herald and the Exeter News-Letter.

John got hooked on journalism as a Lexington High School junior covering Middlesex League sports for various local weeklies. He matriculated at Colby College in Maine where he studied English, ran track and cross country and wrote about White Mules athletics. After graduation, he became a staff writer at a Vermont daily and developed a passion for feature writing, especially profiles.

Andrew Jeromski is a freelance writer based in Boston, Massachusetts. He has been covering sports at all levels from high school to professional since 2001. His work has appeared in numerous publications such as Sports Illustrated, Yahoo! Sports and a variety of local newspapers.

Nadine Wandzilak has practiced community journalism for about a dozen years, in Reading, Stoneham, Middleton and Melrose. She has covered those communities top to bottom, from meetings to features to obituaries, writing about civic issues and other things that residents tell her are important to them. That could be a proposed change in a municipal policy, for example, and residents' reactions, or a feature about an interesting resident or group, someone celebrating a milestone anniversary or someone doing something "ordinary" with a unique twist.

Wandzilak graduated from Boston University's then-named School of Public Communication with a bachelor of science degree in journalism. 



Jonathan Pickering is a 27-year-old freelance writer living in Medford, MA. Jon was born and raised in Winchester and attended Emerson College where he got his BFA in writing, literature in publishing in 2007. Jon is excited about being able to cover his home town and expand his writing career. Jon has come to enjoy cats. For more on Jon, along with more of his writing, please visit his blog.

Chris Chirichiello is a journalist for the Reading, Stoneham and Winchester Patch websites. He is a 2010 graduate of Stonehill College, where he studied business management and journalism. 

Rick Spencer has been involved in local journalism since the 1980's working as a sportwriter and columnist for the Lowell Sun, the Salem Evening News and the Boston Globe.

Raquelle was born in Natick, Massachusetts and has lived in Milford, Arlington and Boston. She works for a children's book publisher and has her Bachelor's degree in English from Northeastern University, as well as her Master's in publishing from Emerson College. She spends her free time cooking, going out to restaurants, reading, watching movies and blogging. She's lived in Massachusetts all her life and currently lives in Woburn with her fiancee.

I am Peabody-born but Methuen-bred. I started as an intern at the Eagle-Tribune during my junior year at Methuen High. From there I moved on to the Narragansett Times in southern Rhode Island where I have worked during both of my school years at the University of Rhode Island. I also freelance for the Union-Leader and intern at Comcast Sports New England.

Patrick is a local photographer. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts Lowell as a design major with a concentration in photography. His hometown is Andover where he attended Doherty Middle School and Andover High School. Patrick has worked as a photographer for local weddings, events, and portraits.

Phil Meyer is Professor Emeritus in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and was inducted into the North Carolina Hall of Fame in Journalism in the spring of 2008.  He joined the Journalism School in 1981 and served as Knight Chair in Journalism Professor from 1993-2008.  Prior to joining the school, he held a number of reporter and research positions at various media outlets. 

He has won numerous awards including the 2005 Sigma Delta Chi Distinguished Service Award for Research About Journalism (with Scott Maier). He was named a Fellow of Society of Professional Journalists in 2005. In 2004, the Newspaper Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication gave him its Professional Freedom and Responsibility Award. And in 2000 he received the American Association for Public Opinion Research Award for Exceptionally Distinguished Achievement.

Meyer is the author of several books including The Vanishing Newspaper:  Saving Journalism in the Information Age and Precision Journalism:  A Reporter’s Introduction to Social Science Methods.  Journalism Quarterly in 2000 listed this book as one of the 35 significant books of the 20th century in journalism and mass communication; and the American Association for Public Opinion Research, observing its 50th anniversary in 1996, listed it as one of 50 significant books on public opinion research.

He received his B.S. in technical journalism from Kansas State University and his M.A. in political science from the University of North Carolina.

Jeff Jarvis is the associate professor and director of the interactive journalism program at the City University of New York’s new Graduate School of Journalism.  He also blogs about media and news at Buzzmachine.com; is consulting editor of Daylife; writes a media column for the Guardian, and consults for media companies.

Prior to his current responsibilities, Jarvis held positions including president and creative director of Advance.net; creator and founding editor of Entertainment Weekly; Sunday editor and associated publisher of the New York Daily News; TV critic for TV Guide and People; a columnist for the San Francisco Examiner; assistant city editor and reporter for the Chicago Tribune and reporter for Chicago Today.

Jarvis is the author of What Would Google Do?

Steven Berlin Johnson is a pioneer in the web world, as a co-founder of FEED, Plastic.com, and Outside.in, which was acquired by Patch in March of 2011. He also co-created Findings.com, which launched in late 2011. Steven was the 2009 Hearst New Media Professional-in-Residence at The Journalism School at Columbia University, and served for several years as a Distinguished Writer in Residence at NYU’s Journalism School. He is a bestselling author of seven books, and won acclaim and a Newhouse School Mirror Award for his 2010 Time Magazine cover story, "How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live." 

Speaking of Steven's editorial prowess, check out this video based on Steven's book, Where Good Ideas Come From, which was named one of the best books of 2010 by The Economist.