"I love stories that teach me something or that give me a new perspective on a topic. What better job than one that allows me to discover, package and share the best stories from the most trusted sources with others?"
As Ongo's chief content officer, Kevin manages the six-person team of dedicated editors nationwide responsible for putting the best content from a variety of sources in front of Ongo subscribers every day.
Kevin has spent 15 years managing content and working with editorial teams across a variety of organizations in the online world. Most recently, as executive producer at SFGate.com, the online home of the San Francisco Chronicle, he oversaw the content, product management, design and daily production of the site. Prior to this, Kevin worked in management roles at a host of online companies, such as VeriSign, NBC Internet, and Lycos. A graduate of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, Kevin has written for a variety of publications.
He's thrilled to work with a team that loves the news as much as he does and appreciates a good read for being exactly that – informative, educational, entertaining and illuminating.
"Curators are like livers -- they filter out less important stories and showcase the best content. So good curators know exactly what to play, but they also know how much emphasis to give a story."
Few call upon a richer online media background than Aileen. To Ongo, she brings experience in online journalism and production gained as a home page editor at SFGate.com, the International Producer at WashingtonPost.com, an HTML developer at The Discovery Channel online and a reporter intern at the Asbury Park Press.
Aileen brings a broad background – and news interest—to her editorial role at Ongo. Daily, when reading the news, she begins with the front page and moves to the first story in each section. As a news curator, Aileen keeps her eye out for new perspectives, to ensure interesting or offbeat stories that teach us something new about the world are featured.
"As a journalist in the digital age, curating news on Ongo is a wonderful opportunity to cull through amazing stories and guide readers to the best of what I find. Now more than ever, people need help sifting through the morass of content that's available."
David Miller's extensive journalistic background and overall passion for news make him a great asset to the Ongo editorial team. To David, a good curator is someone with an impeccable nose for news who has a sense for the audience and what moves them. Every day, David strives to put himself into the minds of his readers and asks, "What do they need and want to know today."
David is no news rookie - he hails from the San Francisco Chronicle, Wired, CNET and TechTV.com. He is passionate about high quality journalism because it is essential for people to have good information in order to make informed decisions. He believes great journalism makes us all smarter and makes our society better.
What David enjoys most about being a curator is being at the center of the media storm every day and being an advocate for people seeking the best quality information.
"Before Ongo, I always loved spotting that great story that I just had to send to friends and family. For that reason, I can't think of a better job than being able to read fun and fascinating news every day, and share it with others."
Rachel is one of Ongo's west coast editors who draws on years of journalistic experience as a reporter at The Tennessean and The Arizona Republic. She also possesses a journalism degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
Rachel calls upon her experience as a reporter to help her in curating the news at Ongo. While working at various newspapers across the country, Rachel got the biggest thrill out of reporting and writing news stories that sparked discussion or inspired change in the community. She brings this same perspective to Ongo. From the moment she begins reading the news each day, she seeks to showcase the best stories from the best sources to give Ongo subscribers the richest news experience possible. Rachel is impacted by stories with rich reporting, a unique take on the news or poignant writing – and she hopes choosing those kinds of stories for Ongo will impact readers too. Rachel is also passionate about sharing a story over social channels to see followers and subscribers engage with it.
Rachel is inspired by her curation role at Ongo, as it lets her stay up-to-date with the happenings of the day, while also letting her stumble upon—and share—surprising and intriguing pieces of news along the way.
"My goal is to leave no stone unturned. I try to feature stories with the most interesting angle, and I'm especially attracted to stories with powerful graphics. The most fun for me is when I find an unusual story, one that is really 'out there', whether it makes me laugh, cringe, or simply tells me something I never knew before."
Laurie is part of the Ongo editorial team on the East Coast that is constantly curating Ongo's popular 'Must Read' stories. Laurie is an experienced Internet researcher and editor and has been a freelance writer/researcher for Life@Home, Imagine That Marketing, paxUnited and a web news content developer for Times Union in New York.
Laurie's interest in news curation came while she was working for the website of the New York Capital Region's largest daily, where she often stumbled upon stories that she really connected with.
In Laurie's eyes, a good curator needs to be creative, have a healthy attention span and unlimited adrenalin. As an editor, she lives for the feeling she gets when she finds that story that makes her heart skip a beat.
"I've grown up around newspapers and I believe strongly in the power of watchdog journalism. A free society cannot survive without newspapers."
One of Ongo's east coast editors, Akum has an extensive journalistic background editing for newspapers such as the Daily Gazette in Schenectady and Albany's Times Union, and writing for publications including Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel and Pregnancy magazine. She has also taught writing on the high school and college level.
Akum regularly finds herself drawn into the issues, struggles and personal stories featured in Ongo's "Must Reads" section that she may never have heard otherwise. She particularly loves stories that highlight injustice, show you where your money goes, or chart the distance between what someone – a person, a company, a government – says and what they do.
"Plain vanilla coverage of events has become ubiquitous. I try to find articles that paint a fuller picture, offering context to the news of the day."
As an East Coast editor at Ongo, Jason enjoys being paid for something that he does compulsively anyway: sorting through news from a variety of sources and selecting the stories that deserve a closer read.
Before coming to Ongo, Jason worked as an editor — both online and off — for organizations such as The Associated Press, The New York Times and The Washington Post. More recently, Jason had the opportunity to live out a childhood dream by running a Pulitzer Prize-winning weekly newspaper in the New York area, The Riverdale Press.
Jason sees his job as a curator at Ongo as allowing him to dive deep into a rich stream of content and surface the finest, most compelling and unexpected stories.