Derrick: Mainstreet adds 5 to team

Recently Gainesville resident Megan V. Winslow walked by a rack of newspapers and something caught her eye. She noticed that most of them had the same national stories on the front page.

A short time later, she saw one was different. It had local stories on the front page.

“I thought, ‘Look, a publication that prioritizes local news,’” Megan recalls thinking about her first encounter with Mainstreet Daily News.

Megan graduated magna cum laude from UF’s College of Journalism and Communications (CJC) in 2006. She spent the last 15 years working as a reporter and photographer at local newspapers in Florida and California before returning to Gainesville this year.

You can find her latest handiwork on the front page centerpiece of our Aug. 24 paper. You can also peruse the incredible photos she has captured around the world on her website, meganwinslow.com.

Megan is just one of five staff additions we have made in recent weeks. This month we welcomed Taryn Ashby to the team as a full-time reporter covering, among other things, education. Taryn is a graduate of Villanova University, where she studied journalism and education—and where she was a Big East champion javelin thrower.

This week we also welcome our very first intern, Lily Martin. Lily is a current CJC student at UF who has already had three Mainstreet bylines this year. She is eager to learn about a variety of aspects of our business, from editorial to advertising.

Speaking of advertising, this week we’re growing our sales staff by two. Gainesville resident Tammy Lane brings decades of experience to our team as a full-time account executive serving local clients.

Tammy’s presence on our team is a testament to the power of advertising. We ran just one small ad for a salesperson, and Tammy immediately responded.

Diane Kortus, who helped us launch this print edition, is re-joining our team as head of national accounts and will work closely with Tammy. Diane is the former owner and publisher of The Laker/Lutz News, which the Florida Press Association named the state’s best weekly paper in 2021.

None of this would be possible without the faithful support of our readers. While other outlets are shrinking or closing altogether, Mainstreet is setting traffic records and growing our staff.

Thank you for your support of our mission. Because good local journalism matters!