Anastasia

About me:

I have a background in journalism and producing/packaging online and print content for both teens and a broader consumer audience. You can view my portfolio at Word Geek.

I began my career working in youth media at Teen Voices, a Boston-based non-profit magazine written by and for teen women. It was there that I realized both the power of young people's writing and the ongoing struggle it is to keep a non-profit organization going.

I left to go back to school where I earned a master's degree in journalism with a concentration in new media at Northwestern University.

After graduation I headed to New York where I was an editorial Web producer for several Internet companies during the height of the dot com bubble including About.com and Oxygen Media. At Oxygen, I launched the Web counterpart to the Trackers (Oxygen's now defunct teen television show) TV segment called the POV-J Network (Point of View Journalist). I recruited teens from across the country who produced Web and TV stories from their "point of view" for the network.

I left New York in 2000 to work for Kibu, another now defunct start-up dot.com for teen girls that was located in Silicon Valley. After the bubble began to burst in April of 2000 and Kibu closed its doors in September 2000, I went to work for Netscape Communications where I led the creation of feature programming including seasonal and holiday packages and later ran the TV and Movies channels for all of AOL's Web Properties. I then went on to help launch KeepMedia, a paid content service founded by Louis Borders (Borders Books, WebVan). Most recently, my job was managing viewer created content online at Current TV, an independent media company led by former Vice President Al Gore and entrepreneur Joel Hyatt.

I started Ypulse because I missed working in teen media and of all the ideas I constantly have for new teen-centric non-profits or companies, starting a blog seemed like the easiest thing to start (little did I know how much time and dedication would be required!). Since May of 2004, Ypulse has been updated five days a week and grown a dedicated and loyal readership. It has helped me to grow as a writer as well as allowing me to realize my vision of creating a space where non-profit youth media and commercial teen media could connect in a positive way. Most of all, it is a great outlet for my ongoing case of arrested development and obsession with pop culture. I'm just finished a book called "Totally Wired" about teens and technology for St. Martin's Press due out March 20, 2007.