Behind the Busyness
Kenzie O’Keefe shares the rewards of being an editor, a publisher and a teacher.
By Josh Sanchelli
Kenzie O’Keefe can talk for days about the memorable moments in her life — the stories of how she connects with people in the community through her role as a journalist, an editor, a publisher and a teacher. O’Keefe currently runs North News, a community newspaper serving the neighborhoods of North Minneapolis, where she writes stories, reviews her staff’s work and runs the paper. She also finds time to teach journalism in local high schools.
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Q: What are your responsibilities as an editor?
A: I’m more than just the editor, I also work as the publisher, and I teach a journalism class at North High School and Henry High School.
As an editor, I assign stories to my staff, edit their work and put the final pieces together for the paper to come out. We run an issue once a month; however, it could have 20 to 40 stories in that issue for the month.
As the publisher, I manage the business side of things — going to meetings, getting ad sales, creating a budget plan for the next year and always looking ahead to where we want to be in five years.
Then as a teacher, I get to North High at about 7:45 every morning and teach a journalism class until about 9 a.m. Then I might go work on a story, back to the office to get things ready for that day. Then if it’s a Tuesday or Thursday, I will also teach a class at Henry High school from about 1:30 in the afternoon until 3 p.m.
I have a very busy schedule balancing the three, but I knew that coming into this role as it’s exactly what I was hired to be doing, especially when having a limited staff of only two writers. There are times that I am being a journalist and writing stories.
Q: What are the good and bad things about being an editor?
A: The best thing is writing meaningful stories that have a positive impact on the community. Doing that kind of work is what keeps me in this work and what keeps bringing me back to it. You get to be on the front lines in all things unfolding in the world. I’m also a very curious person, and it drives me to find stories — stories that have a different perspective than what you are used to.
What’s bad is that your time really isn’t yours. You could have a day off and breaking news happens, and if it’s something I might think is important, then I might be reporting on a Saturday. Even when I am not feeling well that day, I may have to still work and put all this time in.
I think that’s why most people end up leaving Journalism at some point; they want to have that time off.
Q: What are some memorable anecdotes in your time as an editor?
A: I feel like every day is a memorable anecdote, like right now I’m having flashes of memories and images of the work that I’ve done. What stand out the most is being able to have quiet connected moments with people.
Q: What has been the career path for you?
A: My Journalism journey began in high school. I went to St. Paul Academy, and it has a great journalism program. I worked on the school paper from freshman year until senior year. In that time, I was a reporter and then eventually became the editor.
Then I went to Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California, where I worked on the Loyolan paper. I worked there from freshman year until I graduated. I was a reporter, a photographer, photo editor, then the editor-in-chief
I was a strategist at Egg Strategy, a marketing company in Boulder, Colorado. I traveled all over the U.S. doing that.
Then I wanted to transition back to mission’s work, work that was meaningful. So, I decided to move back to the cities, back to Minneapolis, and got a job with The Brandlab. They go into high schools and teach about marketing. They want to make young people aware of the careers in marketing because it is so profitable. More focused on youth of low income and youth of color.
I worked for non-profits, was a part-time freelance writer. I have some design background, so I did some design work, worked on dating apps, worked as a substitute teacher.
Q: What advice would you give to students who are interested in becoming an editor?
A: Don’t shy away from getting into the mix of it all. Get extensive reporting. Be a person in the community. Establish a deep understanding on the people that you are going to report on. Make connections. Get story sources. Get on the ground to get connections. Build genuine connections with people.
Q: What stories, for North News, do you tend to look for?
A: I’m looking for stories that matter to North Minneapolis, so I will ask: “Are the stories relevant? Does it happen here? Will it have an impact on the community?”
Then I will ask questions like, how is this story connected to stereotypes of North Minneapolis. Are they goo or bad? Can we move away from those? We don’t choose criminal stories; we just don’t write about them. It gets done enough and for Minneapolis we don’t want negative feedback.
I am also looking for stories that uplift people on the north side — inspiring, impactful work someone might bee doing, things that matter to the community and will make a difference, which could be human interest stories.
So, when writing stories, it’s important that as individuals, we remember how impactful our imagination can be, how that can lead to people viewing things we report on in a negative way.
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For O’Keefe, balancing three jobs at once can be busy, and sometimes stressful, but it’s worth it when the result makes a difference.
