The popular workshop hosted by SPJGA returns Sept. 12 to Taco Mac in Atlanta.

Do you have questions about becoming a freelance journalist?  Have you been recently laid off from your journalism job?  Do you want a new direction with your journalism career?  Consider joining SPJ Georgia Professional Chapter for an informative and intriguing workshop, “Operation: Freelance,” Part II on Sept. 12, 2015, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Taco Mac in Atlanta (at Lindbergh). The event will host a panel of successful freelance journalists and editors who hire freelance journalists.  The topics will range from how to start a freelance business, how to pitch ideas to editors, what editors are looking for in a freelancer and what wages to expect.

This workshop will be a great time to ask those difficult questions about approaching an editor for the first time or maybe finding a particular niche market to explore. Either way, Operation: Freelance will provide the beginner or seasoned journalists the options available in this growing journalism market.

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See our panelists:

Susanna Capelouto is an independent reporter, producer and editor living in Atlanta.  Her clients include WABE radio, CNN Digital and the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Before joining the independent ranks Susanna was an editor for CNN Radio and a news director at Georgia Public Broadcasting. She’s produced and edited award winning radio features and podcasts and has reported for NPR, Marketplace, The Takeaway, Voice of America, German Public Radio and others. In her career Susanna has won numerous awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Georgia Bar Association, the Associated Press and the Georgia Broadcasters Association.

 

 

George Chidi is a former staff writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Rocky Mount Telegram and the International Data Group News Service, who has covered technology, business, crime and politics. He began his career as an enlisted Army photojournalist, and has been published in Inc. Magazine, Creative Loafing, Computerworld, CNN.com and elsewhere. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, holds an MBA from Georgia Tech, and is president and director of research for the competitive intelligence consultancy Neon Flag.

 

 

 

Carolyn Cunningham graduated from University of Georgia with a degree in Journalism and has been a freelance writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution since 2009. Since 1995, she has been a freelance writer and editor for GO TELL Ministries. She also was employed as a journalist for eight years in the metro Atlanta area, covering U.S. Congressional races, the Georgia General Assembly and county commission and board of education meetings. Then for four years, she was the copy editor of In Touch, a Christian magazine with global distribution. She also has edited many books and brochures primarily for Christian authors and ministries.

 

 

Joe Earle has more than 30 years of experience as an editor and writer with daily newspapers, including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He is the managing editor for Reporter Newspapers.

 

 

 

 

Collin Kelley has been the editor of Atlanta INtown for more than a decade and a working journalist and editor for 30 years. He is also an award-winning poet and novelist, while his freelance work has appeared in newspapers, magazines and literary journals around the world. His 2003 debut poetry collection, Better To Travel, has just been reissued by Poetry Atlanta Press and his third novel, Leaving Paris, will be published by Sibling Rivalry Press in 2016.

 

 

 

Andy Miller has been a health care journalist for the past 22 years, and is the CEO and editor of Georgia Health News. From 1992 to mid-2009, he covered health care for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He won numerous awards for his newspaper reporting on hospitals, health insurers, state government, and Georgia’s mental hospitals. Miller has been an Association of Health Care Journalists member for 13 years and serves as the Atlanta chapter’s president. He is a past AHCJ board member. He was a Kaiser Family Foundation health journalism fellow in 2001-2002. He freelanced health care stories for several organizations, including WebMD, AOL, Kaiser Health News, and AARP Bulletin. In November 2010 he launched Georgia Health News, a nonprofit health news organization (www.GeorgiaHealthNews.com).

Miller graduated from Duke University in 1973 and received a master’s in education from Duke in 1979. He was a social studies teacher and basketball coach in a school system in North Carolina before switching careers to journalism. Miller is married and lives in Atlanta with his wife and children.

 

 

John Ruch has more than 20 years of experience as a reporter and editor at community and alternative newspapers. His freelance work has appeared in such publications as the Boston Globe, Creative Loafing Atlanta, Details, Marie Claire and Paste Magazine. He also has extensive experiencing in hiring and managing freelancers. He is currently the associate editor at Reporter Newspapers in Sandy Springs, and is working on freelance pieces for such outlets as The Guardian US.

 

 

 

Nicki Salcedo is a graduate of Stanford University with a degree in English and Creative Writing. She is a member of Romance Writers of America© and a Past President of Georgia Romance Writers. Nicki is a two-time recipient of the Maggie Award of Excellence and a Golden Heart© Finalist. All Beautiful Things is her debut novel. She writes a weekly column called Intersections for Decaturish.com. An Intersections book containing a selection of these columns is now available. She is also a contributor to Urban Lux Magazine, an urban living and luxury lifestyle magazine. Nicki interviews well-known style and cultural personalities in each issues. She was a contributing columnist to Patch.com when it launched in Atlanta. She wrote a weekly column call Adventures in Parenting for two years, because somehow having four kids makes you parenting expert. She lives in Atlanta with her family and a cat. By day she is a Strategic Account Executive for a national healthcare company. Nicki thinks everyone should write and loves connecting with readers.

 

Dan Whisenhunt hails from Alabama and moved to the Atlanta area in 2011. In 2012, he founded Decaturish.com, a news website covering Decatur, Avondale Estates, Kirkwood and the surrounding Metro area. Decaturish won the Creative Loafing reader’s choice award for “Best Blog” and “Best Blogger” in 2014. Dan graduated from the University of Alabama, and has been in the journalism business for 10 years, including four years at The Anniston Star in Anniston, Ala. He has a wife, Katrina, and a 5-month-old son, JP.

 

 

 

Jemille Williams styles herself as Jemille Omnimedia because she has crafted words for every medium – print, online, and spoken. She has written for radio, stage, and screen, and has worked on both sides of the microphone, stage, and set. She has published, ghosted, and edited books, and between assignments is making slow progress on her Great American Novel about her favorite French ancestor. Her favorite gig was being selected by Ford Motor Company and Microsoft Live to provide content for their 50 Coolest Things to Do in Atlanta website for the Ford Edge. She has toiled in the Black Ops of freelancing – creating reading comprehension passages for the standardized test industry. She has reviewed concerts for Appen News Media and was their travel columnist, but now has switched her allegiance to Atlanta INtown. The bulk of her writing is for her favorite wellness spa, where her breezy and innovative marketing has contributed to keeping it afloat for 10 years – even as nine have closed around them. Her “Almost Famous” moment was being the first journalist to interview Stephen Colbert.

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