It’s a bit like the end of an era – for me professionally and for Springfield Business Journal – as I’ll exit the newsroom at the close of business Oct. 9 after more than a decade as part of the editorial team.
I joined the paid SBJ staff Dec. 1, 1999, to produce the daily fax, forerunner of the present-day Daily Update e-newsletter. However, if you count the semester-long internship I completed at SBJ during my studies at Missouri State University and the roughly six months I spent as a freelance reporter prior to joining the staff, it’s safe to say I’ve been around for a while.
As I wrap up loose ends and clean out my cubicle, I can’t help but reflect on the last 13 years. There have been a few constant themes for me here at SBJ. First and foremost, I have worked with some terrific people. Some already have gone on to other professional endeavors, and some I’ll leave behind when I walk down the stairs and out the door on my last day as a staff member. These are people who taught me, made me laugh and, in many cases, pushed me to do what I do better. I am all the better for having worked with them.
I’ve also had innumerable opportunities to meet and interview professionals from all walks of business. In my early days, I dreaded upsetting people, but in the years since, my skin has thickened, and I embraced my role as a journalist, driven to report the news based on fact, and letting the readers draw what they might from that information.
Another constant has been change. Suffice it to say, the news business has endured many changes, big and small, during my time in the newsroom.
The aforementioned daily fax – perhaps best classified as an idea before its time – was halted sometime in 2000, and shortly after that, I transitioned to a role as a full-time reporter, then later to special section editor, and then, to my current role as features editor, encompassing the weekly In Focus sections and the booklets that accompany SBJ’s annual awards.
When our version of a daily news vehicle resurfaced, it did so electronically, and the SBJ Daily Update e-newsletter continues to keep readers in the business loop today. We are no longer locked into a model whereby we must step aside and let the daily news outlets break stories as they happen. We can report them with the Daily Update and via SBJ.net. Beyond that, SBJ’s mobile app in development allows subscribers to receive breaking news alerts instantaneously.
Among my other most memorable highlights of working at SBJ, I am glad to have played a part in developing the 12 People You Need to Know monthly breakfast series, now in its fifth year. Originally, Editor Eric Olson and I were brainstorming for something special we could do for SBJ’s first year-end double issue. We started talking about all of the interesting people we encounter through our news coverage, and initially, we thought maybe we could choose 10 to introduce to our readers via the year-end issue. That idea was presented to the management team, and the 12 People booklet and breakfast series was born. The 2013 class of 12 People will be announced soon, and I’m glad I had the chance to help choose one more group before I go.
In 2010, I accompanied Olson and SBJ President Dianne Elizabeth Osis to accept several awards from the Missouri Press Association. Among them, I brought home a first place award for Best Special Section. It was a memorable day, especially since my daughter was along for the trip and in the audience. She was quite impressed that among the awards, there was one with my name on it.
I’m also proud of the work I’ve done to help young journalists as they get started in the field, from coordinating SBJ’s internship program to serving on MSU’s Advisory Board for Student Publications and serving as a guest speaker at the 2011 Missouri College Media Association conference.
As I prepare to take what I’ve learned out of the newsroom to an assistant marketing leader position at BKD LLP, I know that journalism has been good to me. My hope is that I’ve left the field better than I found it.
I’m excited to take this new step in my professional journey, but without a doubt, covering local business news for the last 13 years has been my pleasure.
Springfield Business Journal Features Editor Maria Hoover can be reached at mhoover@sbj.net. She has accepted a marketing position at BKD LLP, and her last day in the SBJ newsroom is scheduled Oct. 9.
