Welcome to my website!
Here, you'll find samples of my writing and newscasts I've produced. You can also find a copy of my most current resume. Send me an email and let's collaborate!
Welcome to my website!
Here, you'll find samples of my writing and newscasts I've produced. You can also find a copy of my most current resume. Send me an email and let's collaborate!
Managing Editor of Digital Content
Leads editorial coverage at NewsNation Digital, assigns and edits stories by a team of digital content producers, copy editors and digital-first reporters.
Leads NewsNation’s solutions journalism efforts with a team of four reporters and editors. Trains journalists and guides coverage as the team’s accredited solutions journalism trainer (via the Solutions Journalism Network).
Works with the video and social teams to build out dynamic, digital packages for reporting by both digital and broadcast reporters.
Creates robust digital coverage plans for big I-team projects and major reporting events like the 2022 Midterm elections, debates and results.
Independent Consultant (July 2020 to Nov. 2021)
Wrote flagship daily newsletter with a reach of nearly 14,000
Trained staff on digital storytelling strategy and interactive tools that add depth and aid reporting
Advised team on audience development strategies based on analytics
Managing Editor (Oct. 2020 to July 2020)
Storytelling and daily newsroom management:
— Helped lead a newsroom of nine from launch as number two to the Executive Editor. After spearheading a full newsroom reorganization, directly supervised three correspondents and several interns beginning in May 2020.
— Assigned and edited stories on a daily basis and coordinated coverage. Assisted correspondents on story development including story formats, finding and crowdsourcing relevant voices, and aiding with reporting.
— Guided a correspondent’s coverage on a series of stories exposing allegations of sexual misconduct in a rural school district. As part of this series, reported the story of two 18-year-old girls who started an Instagram account to expose the culture of sexual violence in their high school — a key part of Lookout’s coverage of the issue. Also led the ‘round-the-clock coverage of unseasonal wildfires in January 2021.
— Built data visualizations and editorial storytelling tools like interactive timelines, story maps, quizzes, polls and survey forms on an almost daily basis to accompany coverage.
— Created a base of storytelling formats for correspondents that are optimized for digital and mobile consumption. Also trained correspondents on engagement tools and social media best practices.
— Handled the distribution of Lookout stories across social media and news aggregation sites and sent email and text alerts, along with the other editors.
Morning Lookout newsletter:
— Authored Lookout Santa Cruz’s flagship daily newsletter — Morning Lookout — which included a roundup of top news, weather, COVID-19 updates, things to do, previews of big stories that will be covered in the day and relevant statewide and national stories.
— In six months, grew the newsletter mailing list to more than 12,000 readers in a market size of 267,000, surpassing the print circulation of the long-time daily newspaper in town. The newsletter became the single-largest converter of email subscribers to paying members by almost four times other sources.
— Built a brand as the face of Lookout Santa Cruz with a loyal audience that kept in touch and sent largely positive feedback. Consistent CTR average at 37% and OR at 9%.
Built and managed website: Built the Lookout Santa Cruz website in a month using the Graphene CMS created by the Los Angeles Times. This includes the homepage, sections, and navigation, right rail modules, story lists, embeds, and more. Handled daily site maintenance, page building, and creation of recirculation and promotional modules.
Audience Development:
— Created and executed a one-of-a-kind audience development strategy for the new digital news operation that relied on establishing and growing diversified referral sources including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, Flipboard, Newsbreak, Google News, Nextdoor, email newsletters and text alerts.
— Developed a unique “seeding” strategy by building relationships with the administrators of local social media groups on various platforms to post news relevant for those audiences, making way for thousands more site visitors who were more likely to come back.
— Built thousands-strong social media followings for Lookout’s accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
— Used tools like Second Street to build Lookout’s highly engaged users and aid email acquisition by creating quizzes, survey forms and polls as tools for storytelling.
— In six months, the strategy helped bring more than 430,000 unique visitors to the site, resulting in more than 1.1 million page views. The site had a daily average of almost 3,000 visitors and an average of more than 6,000 returning users each week.
— We also built a newsletter subscriber base exceeding 12,000, nearly 1,000 text alert subscribers and more than 1,000 paying members with a rate of almost 80% paying annually.
Traffic analysis: Conducted deep analyses of traffic to the site on a daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly basis, looking at trends in referral sources, audience funnel health and topics of interest to our audiences. Used data to inform coverage decisions, diagnoses of referred traffic and engagement strategies.
Community forums: Helped organize, build audiences and prep panelists for numerous Lookout events focused on community betterment and solutions-based journalism. The topic of these events ranged from COVID-19 to politics and civil rights. Hosted multiple community forums including one titled A year later: After the latest racial reckoning in our country, has anything really changed? which delved into the stories of people of color and civil rights leaders.
Senior Digital Editor (Feb. 2020 to Oct. 2020)
Created a daily digital strategy to cover the big stories of the day including the pandemic, elections, protests, etc.
Changed the way digital news is covered at the station, moving away from quick headlines and focusing on depth in coverage
Pitched and assigned stories to digital producers/ TV reporters
Created long-term coverage plans for major team coverage including hurricanes, civil unrest, major funerals including George Floyd, Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal, etc.
Wrote in-depth stories that go beyond the headlines of the day, especially ones that affect the diverse population of Houston
Worked with analysts to provide context and understanding during the pandemic and elections
Analyzed data and built interactive tools and elements to give digital stories more depth and context
PROJECT: With reporting fellowship from South Asian Journalists Association, published a 12-part series on how U.S. immigration laws specifically affect highly-skilled Indian women in this country — Living in Limbo
Digital Producer/ Enterprise Reporter, KPRC-TV (Sept. 2019 to Feb. 2020)
Reported on breaking news and general assignment stories for digital
Pitched stories that go beyond headlines and reported on angles that aren’t covered in the daily news cycle
Created interactive elements to tell digital stories in a better way for the audience
Digital Producer, KXAN-TV
Reported breaking news and general assignment stories for web
Pitched and reported in-depth projects along with building interactive elements
Monitored analytics and social trends to maximize audience engagement and user traffic
Trained other producers on analytics, news gathering and social strategy
PROJECT: Mapped out nearly 400 Texas schools and districts with high vaccine exemptions
Digital Distribution Producer, Houston Chronicle
Curated homepages for the free and premium sites, selected photos, wrote SEO headlines for audience engagement, promoted stories in optimum positions on the site
Assigned stories, edited and assisted with breaking news coverage
Experimented with social platforms to create new funnels for loyal audiences (ex: Reddit, Flipboard)
Digital Reporter (2 years)
Worked daily to break news including plane crashes, crime and investigative pieces, natural disasters, politics
Co-wrote and copy-edited stories in collaboration with TV reporters
Helped build a strong social media presence for the top news websites in the state
Television News Producer (1.5 years)
Produced newscasts ranging from 30 minutes to two hours long
Lead producer for the 2-hour long KTUU Morning Edition and conducted an overhaul of the format of show to make it content-driven and fast-paced with a focus on hard news
Raised ratings of the Morning Edition in the younger demographic
Bachelor of Mass Media, University of Mumbai (2012)
Accredited Solutions Journalism Trainer (2021)
2021 Edward R. Murrow Award for Continuing Coverage of George Floyd protests, funeral (team coverage at KPRC-TV)
2019 Recipient of the South Asian Journalists Association Reporting Fellowship
2019 Local Media Association award for Best Digital Audience and Engagement Strategy (First Place)
2019 Local Media Association Award for Best New Digital Initiative (Third Place)
2019 Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Social Media
2018 Pulitzer prize for Breaking News Coverage (Finalists)
2017 TAPME Award for Best Online Live Coverage (First Place)
2016 Alaska Press Club Award for Best Use of Social Media (First Place)
2016 Alaska Press Club Award for Best Media Website (Second Place)
2015 APTRA Award for Best Use of Social Media (First Place)
2015 Alaska Press Club Award for Best Layout (Second Place)
CMSs: Graphene, Arc, Lakana, WCM, Clickability, WordPress, Squarespace
Digital storytelling tools: Infogram, Knightlab, Social News Desk, Buffer, Latakoo, Newscycle, Subtext, Second Street, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro, BeFunky, Osmosys, Anvato, WildMoka
Analytics: Google Analytics, Chartbeat, Parse.ly, Adobe Omniture, BlueLena, Pico
TV News Production: iNews, ENPS, Axis Graphics, Grass Valley Stratus/ Edius, Audacity, MediaCentral
Languages: English, Hindi, Marathi, Konkani
Work Authorization: U.S. citizen
Former name: Tulsi Patil
