About Alejandro A. Leal
Alejandro A. Leal
e-mail: alexo at a2lv dot com
Profile
I believe that obtaining the necessary skills to succeed in today’s media environment is an ongoing process. Every day brings new opportunities for the use of technology to help expand the way people communicate ideas – be it news stories, art, fiction, entertainment, promotional campaigns, etc. I am a strong believer in the vast opportunities that interactive communication provide today’s media outlets; my commitment is to continue to expand my skills as new technologies become available and help those looking to reach a greater audience do so.
Download my formal resume in pdf version.
Experience
Online Producer, Creative Loafing Atlanta - March 2008 - Current
Develop and produce content for publication online on the main content site as well as the editorial blogs as a means of growing audience online for the Atlanta website. This includes developing pages with aggregated content from the web, as well as original content produced by editorial staff [The Big Bob Barr Page, Atlanta Punk!]
Support editorial staff in the creation of online campaigns, which include original graphics, adapted illustrations, custom layouts for editorial presentation and content, and adaptation of open source and commercial software technology for deployment of editorial initiatives. [Best of Atlanta Polls, Best of Atlanta online promotion 1 2 3, Best of Atlanta site]
Support marketing staff in building and developing new entrance points to online marketing campaigns as well as producing pages for distribution of promotional content. [Fun and Free stuff, CL Deals, Straight Dope]
Prioritize and implement audience-growth strategies in concert with publisher and editor.
Provide the publisher with weekly web metrics reports using Google analytics.
Designed and contributed development of image gallery implementation. [Madama Butterfly gallery]
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Online Producer, Creative Loafing Media - January 2006-March 2008 (www.cln.com)
Prepare and execute production of the family of websites in the CL Media network.
Brainstorm ways to present special content ( BMF: Hip Hop’s shadowy empire, by Mara Shalhoup; this story won first place in the 2007 AltWeekly Awards for Website Content Feature, category 60k+ circulation).
Produce multimedia audio slide shows (”Atlanta’s 11 least-influential people,” “Gorilla Haven“); podcasts (CL Speaks), and image galleries as online added bonus editorial content (SideShow).
Prepare promotional and editorial pages using search engine optimization techniques.
Managed production, implementation, and publication of the editorial blogs using the Wordpress MU Content Management System.
Created original content, such as articles, lists, graphics and photographs.
Contributed writing and reporting for News/Music departments as well as contributing photographer.
- Rompan Rock
- Marshall and Barrow should say ‘Gracias’
- Thousands rally for immigrants’ rights
- Clamping down
- No Respect
- Hermandad
- Gustavo Cerati CD review.
- Papa Grows Funk CD review.
- Contributing photographer (2).
- Author page
Served as preliminary judge for CL’s Fiction Contest 2007 and 2008.
Co-hosted “Ed Loves Bacon,” Creative Loafing’s podcast on news and culture.
Editorial / News Intern, Creative Loafing Newspaper, Atlanta, GA May - December 2005 - atlanta.creativeloafing.com
Researched potential stories, reported on news happening in the Metro Atlanta area and Georgia.
- Legal but exploited? (July 2005).
Investigated the impact of Latinos in Atlanta.
- The Invisible Man (November 2005).
Contributed reporting to major cover stories.
- Losing Hanna parts part I & part II (July and August 2005).
Recipient of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies Diversity Internship Grant for the Summer of 2005.
About Creative Loafing:
CL is the parent company that publishes a chain of alternative weekly newspapers under the same name in Atlanta, Charlotte, Sarasota, and Tampa, as well as the Chicago Reader and the Washington City Paper.
Creative Loafing Atlanta is the flagship of the CL papers; founded in 1972, it currently receives around a million monthly visitors online, and has a weekly print circulation of 120,000.
Co-Founder / publisher Umpbump.com
Co-Founded an up-and-coming baseball blog, featuring commentary and opinion on the sport.
The site has generated attention in some media circles, being mentioned and linked to by The New York Times and nytimes.com, about.com, Sports Illustrated online, Startribune.com and other popular sports sites such as deadspin.com.
Designed and developed the site using the Wordpress CMS. Adapted open source plugins.
Currently, UmpBump.com has been visited by over 1.6 million people since its launch in the spring of 2006, and it generates around 32,000 pageviews a month.
Contributing writer at MLBTradeRumors.com – March 2008 – present
Monitor major newspaper’s websites, blogs, and discussion boards for trade rumors, adhering to Editor and Publisher Tim Dierke’s standards for posting. MLBTR has quickly become one of the most popular independent baseball websites out there, being featured in the Chicago Sun Times, USA Today and publicly lauded by baseball legend Peter Gammons.
MLBTradeRumors recieved close to a million visits last July 31st, 2008, during Major League Baseball’s non-waiver trade deadline.
Editor / Web director, Revista Elite Magazine, Atlanta, GA – 2002-present
Directed the editorial focus of a Spanish-language community magazine.
Directed, designed, developed and implemented the graphical layout designs of the print edition and published and developed the online edition of the magazine (www.revistaelite.com) using both Joomla! and Wordpress.
Managed the editorial and design teams.
Wrote features on a monthly basis.
Wrote a series of columns on my decision to become an American citizen (in Spanish):
- Un proceso natural
- La democracia llama
- Mi aspiración presidencial
- El privilegio cívico
- Distritos Congresionales en Georgia
- Author page.
Revista Elite Magazine recieves 2,000 unique visitors per month on its website, and has a print circulation of 10,000.
Reporter, Georgia State University Signal, Atlanta, GA – 2005 (gsusignal.com)
Feature story writer for the student newspaper at Georgia State University.
Contributing photographer.
Columnist, rampway.org, Atlanta, GA – 2005
Wrote a column on current events for rampway.org, the Georgia State University student online magazine.
Author page.
Columnist, Tiempo Libre Newspaper – 2004
Wrote on travel, culture, current affairs, fashion, music, or local events.
Spanish-language bi-weekly alternative paper (out of print).
Education
New School Universtity, New York, NY
Online MA Media Studies, concentration on Web design and production
Current, expected graduation date, 2010
Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
BA Print Journalism 12/2005
BA Spanish Literature 12/2005 (Double Major)
Skills
I have extensive knowledge in working with Content Management Systems. I have the ability to understand the architecture of the system in order to maximize its architecture to better present content online. I have worked with various open source CMS as well as commercial content management systems (Wordpress, Typepad, Joomla!, Mambo, Dispatch, Gyrobase).
Extensive knowledge of HTML and CSS. Basic understanding of PHP architecture and syntax.
Extensive knowledge of audio recording and editing software. I’ve worked with various commercial and open source audio editors and sound recorders for producing podcasts.
Extensive knowledge of graphic design programs like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Image Ready,
Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Go Live, Adobe/Macromedia Dreamweaver, and Corel Draw.
I have worked with numerous print layout software programs like Adobe InDesign and Quark Xpress, on
the Macintosh and Windows Platforms.
Extensive knowledge of the Apple Macintosh computer and the Mac OS X operating system.
I have also worked with video production software like Apple iMovie, as well as produced videos for publication online.
I am fluent, speaking and writing, in Spanish and English. Proficient in French (oral)
Awards & Accomplishments
First place in the 2007 AltWeekly Awards for Website Content Feature, category 60k+ circulation.
Association of Alternative Newsweeklies diversity grant recipient for Summer 2005.
Recipient of Georgia State University Department of Communication “George Greiff Scholarship” for 2005.
Received “Excellence in Research, Honorable Mention” from the Georgia State University Journalism History Society for “Decisive years in the movement towards repeal of prohibition, 1932-1933″.
