Meet the Hearken Consulting Team
We’re hiring at Hearken! We’re looking for a rad journalist and community engager to be the fourth member of our consulting team. Do you think you might be that person? If so, you can find the job description and application over at our website. But first, read on to learn more about the folks who currently make up our lovely and dynamic team.
Name: Ellen Mayer
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
I came to work for Hearken because: I worked with Jenn (our founder) at Curious City and I really caught the local news bug. I became passionate about bolstering support for local news while, at the same time, making newsrooms more responsive and connected to their communities. I got real lucky when Hearken came along, because it’s the perfect outlet to put that passion into practice. Plus I think it’s amazing that my job lets me propel structural and cultural change — not just in one newsroom but in 70+!
The best part of my week is: Geeking out over the incredible ways that our newsrooms are bolstering civic engagement and making their political coverage more accessible. Audiences (myself included!) have such a hunger right now for clear and non-wonky information about our political process, and I’m really proud of our partners who are using Hearken to meet that need. (P.S. Have you listened to Civics 101 yet?)
Favorite audience question: If Illinois has no budget, where do our tax dollars go? This question cuts deep for me as a Chicago-resident, and it led to a really important story. It was an angle on our budget crisis that no one else had thought to explore. I think that’s proof of how important it is to get questions from folks who don’t think like journalists.
Only-At-Hearken: When Julia (our queen of birthdays and baking) made an incredible birthday cake for Jenn, that was somehow both politically topical and public radio-themed. Also when Summer used the Hearken account to conduct a song-of-summer poll on Twitter.
Name: Julia Haslanger
Hometown: Madison, Wis.
I came to work for Hearken because: I had recently wrapped up graduate school, where I’d studied “social journalism” at CUNY. We learned about Hearken from our professors, who spoke highly of Jenn and the approach the company was taking. As part of my graduate school work, I interviewed dozens of people who did audience engagement work in newsroom, and found that a) they are awesome, nice people and b) they could really use some support. After graduating, I went to work in a large newsroom on their audience engagement team, and while that was a lot of fun, I couldn’t stop thinking about how there were dozens, probably hundreds, of people trying to do audience engagement in newsrooms but they just didn’t have the training, tools and support they needed to do their jobs the way they wanted to. When Hearken announced it was hiring, I knew it was where I should be.
The best part of my week is: Hearing from newsrooms about how their audiences are responding to the journalism they produced because of Hearken. Sometimes that’s data (I love diving into Google Analytics and pulling out highlights and lessons), sometimes that’s anecdotes, sometimes its social media posts.
Favorite audience question: It changes week to week, but right now I’m still smiling about “What dinosaurs used to roam the Bay Area?” A 5-year-old listener of KQED asked the question of its Bay Curious series, and the resulting story is charming — and informative.
Only-at-Hearken: On the way back to Chicago after a company retreat last fall, we all stopped at a corn maze. Once we finished that and had lunch, we popped into an antique mall next to the restaurant. I now believe antique shopping is the best way to get to know who your co-workers are outside of work. (Ellen and Anna both got stylish jackets, although I was rooting for Ellen to get the Santa’s Elf outfit she tried on.)
Name: Summer Fields
Hometown: Richton Park, IL (South suburbs of Chicago!)
I came to work for Hearken because: I met Ellen my senior year of college at University of Chicago. (Thanks to Twitter and mutual podcasting friends, she had reached out to me for coffee.) I was teaching other undergrads how to produce audio stories, and was also in the midst of writing my undergrad sociology thesis about homogeneity and race in public media. I interviewed dozens of people of color working in radio and podcasting to see what they thought about the discourse of “diversifying” the industry. I focused on how public media organizations could align with their stated mission: to serve the whole public. I was developing a deeper passion for democratizing how stories are told.
I’d been a long-time fan of Curious City and Jenn. (Fun fact, she and I did a panel together at the University of Chicago. Jenn talked about her advice for folks starting out in the field, and I was fascinated by her winding trajectory. I wanted to be a rogue like her.) When a Spring internship opened up at Hearken, I jumped at the opportunity to work with Ellen and Jenn. I stayed on after the internship, learning more each day about this beautiful, engaging, and diverse role.
The best part of my week is: Talking with my more experienced newsroom partners about new Hearken ideas and projects they want to try out, from public-powered live events to library partnerships to expanding their use across the newsroom. I’m always invigorated talking to engagement-minded folks face to face and having an exchange of energy. I also enjoy rounding up every Hearken story our partners make, twice a month here. It’s everything we strive for, coming to fruition with each passing day!
Favorite audience question: As a sociolinguistics fan, I love all of the local accent/local slang deep dives from lots of our partners. Vermont Public Radio kicked off their Hearken series Brave Little State with a historical look at the state’s accent. WBEZ’s Curious City did a piece on our “unmistakeable and lovable” Chicago accent where they crowdsourced an accent library. And I love KQED’s Bay Curious story about the origins of hella.
Honorable mention: Check out how absurd Blood Marys are in Milwaukee with WUWM. They can come topped with brisket and mini hamburgers and shrimp, and they are chased with beer.
Only-at-Hearken: One of the questions on the Hearken internship application was to share something on the internet that I’d been thinking about that week. I included a Shiba Inu dancing to Africa by Toto. I love Shibas, and this is such a pure piece of media. I could have been a nerd and put some gripping This American Life episode or a piece from the New York Times, but I wanted to keep it real with Hearken and had a feeling I could. The Shiba immediately became a meme between Corey, our CTO, and me. Then, last summer, Jenn commissioned a gif of our whole team each illustrated as the animal that represents us. We have a very animal-based culture at the company.
Think you want to join our team? Find the full job description and application on our website.
Want to learn how to better engage the public? Download our free engagement checklist guide.
