John Bkila Email & Phone Number

Canada

Oakville, Ontario, Canada

Burlington, Ontario, Canada

Develop & implement communications & content strategies for the Mayor of Burlington, Ontario: Marianne Meed Ward. Oversee multiple channels across social media, the web & digital newsletters (content, engagement & distribution), thought leadership, external communications & mainstream media relations & bookings.• Produce on average 40-50 web posts monthly & multiple daily social media posts.• Engaging new content approach to drive growth 300% in digital audience within first year.• Improve Mayoral content/communications by 34% (City of Burlington 2021 Community Survey).• Drive web traffic up to 50K daily views through timely & accurate pandemic content.• Produce content that consistently attracts media / PR interest.• Mentor interns, manage their workflow, provide direction & constructive feedback.

Mississauga

Satirical, social commentary on what's making headlines in the news — where 'Nothing is off the hook'.

Burlington, Ontario

Oversee four digital properties at InsideHalton.com, while curating weekly/monthly digital reports for each. Cover breaking news for online/print platforms. Report on City Council & provincial/federal politics.• Work collaboratively with a team to maintain an average of 1 million monthly page-views to website & increase Twitter & Facebook followers to more than 12K & 11K, respectively.• Website achieves 55,613 page-views over a single weekend while working as sole weekend editor.

Burlington, Ont.

Curate content & develop layout for two weekly print editions & website. Lead, manage & coach copy staff to create engaging content & maximize efficiency in the newsroom.• Work collaboratively with a team to maintain the website at top 10 most-read company-wide & achieve milestone of 1.4 million page-visits in a single month.• Recognition for exceptional writing via awards from Halton Regional Police Service, Local Media Association, Ontario Community Newspaper Association & Metroland Media.

Burlington, Ont.

Projects & Accomplishments:• Composed captivating daily content and periodic original columns for both print and online while regularly attending/reporting on city council and committee meetings.• Performed a wide variety of difficult and complex tasks, which involved independent judgment and required accuracy and speed under tight deadlines for the newspaper.• Achieved award from the Ontario Community Newspaper Association for exceptional writing.

Toronto, Ont.

Projects & Accomplishments:• Attended press events to determine products to be featured in the magazine both in print and online.• Demonstrated flair for web writing to captivate readers’ attention and drive traffic to digital platform.

Mississauga, Ont.

Attended events and wrote stories for use in online and print platforms for all sections of the publication whenever contacted by the assignment editor.

Mississauga, Ont.

Generated stories daily for both print and online on arts, health, politics, crime, sports and business. Shot video for daily news webcasts.Projects & Accomplishments: • Covered the 2008 Canadian Federal Election, which saw a relative Liberal newcomer, Bonnie Crombie, replace a long-time Conservative Member of Parliament for the riding of Mississauga-Streetsville.• Assigned to attend and cover high-profile events as a result of being bilingual in English and Arabic, including the memorial and viewing services for Canadian Soldier Trooper Marc Diab, and an Israel-Palestine rally led by two controversial Muslim clerics from Jerusalem who spoke in Mississauga.

Etobicoke, Ont.

• Organize and lead weekly story meetings with reporters• Attend weekly editorial meetings to determine content of section• Enforce deadlines with reporters• Determine the content and layout of the news and in-focus sections of the newspaper• Make adjustments to photos accompanying stories using Photoshop• Assist reporters and other section editors• Vet copy

Etobicoke, Ont.

• Organize and lead editorial meetings• Enforce deadlines• Help determine the content and layout of the magazine• Assist writers and section editors• Vet copy• Write article for the magazine• Conduct interviews and capture accompanying photos for the piece

Etobicoke, Ont.

• Enforce deadlines• Vet copy• Help determine the content of the magazine• Assist writers• Write article for the magazine• Conduct interviews and capture accompanying photos for the piece

Nearing the end of my internship for The Mississauga News I was assigned to cover the Mississauga-Streetsville headquarters for Liberal-MP elect Bonnie Crombie, in the 2008 Canadian Federal Election.

• Initiate story ideas and write weekly stories• Cover meetings• Conduct interviews and capture accompanying photos

Digital Strategy & Communications Management Certificate, Digital Communications And Social Media, 92%

Develop strategies for success in the rapidly changing digital and social media landscape, while integrating a strategic approach.

Course Certificate, Indigenous Canada, 92%

Indigenous Canada is a 12-lesson Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) from the Faculty of Native Studies that explores Indigenous histories.

Post-Graduate Honours Diploma, Journalism - Print And Broadcast

Activities and Societies: Senior Editor/News Editor, Humber Et Cetera (Winter 2009) Managing Editor, SWEAT Magazine (Fall 2008) Copy.

Specialized Honours Bachelor Of Arts, Political Science

Activities and Societies: Writer for local college campus paper, The Lexicon (2005-2006) Contributing Writer for campus-wide publication.