Mike Hess Email & Phone Number

Rockville Centre, NY, US

St. Louis, MO, US

St. Louis, MO, US

• Find interesting, human and coverage-worthy approaches to storytelling for clients, including: Websites, pitches, thought leadership, speeches, videos, new business proposals, narratives and messaging.Client work.
• Editorial and narrative lead for Trillium Brewing Company work, leading content creation and overall earned messaging and storymining for craft brewery.
• Story lead for Iowa Economic Development Agency, overseeing content and storylines across tourism and consumer campaigns.
• Lead writer for industry-leading CRM client, creating tech-focused features and bylines spanning internal profiles, customer stories and product releases.
• Narrative and story lead for AT&T 5G, leading storytelling and overall direction for executive keynote speeches, campaigns and use cases.

New York, NY, US

• Lead and manage team of 9 digital content strategists who provide editorial operations including longform editorial, video executions, podcast and multimedia creation, executive visibility campaigns and new business.
• Editor in Chief for content and editorial for clients, including: IBM, General Motors, Mars, Sonos and Nielsen, running all editorial and digital day-to-day, owned and sponsored content, cross-channel syndication.
• Content lead for Royal Caribbean crisis and corporate reputation work during COVID-19 pandemic.
• Develop executive thought leadership content strategies for C-Suite executives at brands like Nespresso and Novartis.
• Executive Producer and visual storytelling lead for IBM video productions.
• Manage website builds for several client launches and relaunches including content creation, editorial oversight, CMS customization, freelance and talent management, calendar planning and brand voice guidelines. RECENT.

New York, NY, US

• Lead digital content and editorial strategy, operations and executions across several digital accounts as well as content strategy lead for new business pitches. Client work includes:
• Editor in Chief of editorial sites for Unilever, Electrolux, Sonos, Ribera y Rueda Wines, running all editorial and digital day‐to-­day, owned and sponsored content, cross‐channel syndication strategy and distribution.
• Manage website and intranet builds for several client launches and relaunches including content creation, editorial oversight, CMS customization, freelance and talent management, calendar planning and brand voice.
• Develop new business pitches by driving digital content strategy, concepts, governance, tone and style playbooks and syndication tactics.
• Drive content strategy, storymining operations and execution on employee-based content for recruiting purposes and employee value propositions.
• January 2017: Led editorial efforts for Nielsen's "Nielsen Next" (Honorable Mention for Best Corporate Branding at PRWeek U.S. Awards) employee profiles and original video shoots, conducting on-camera and pre-shoot.

Writer of food and various feature articles for various publications, including: Medium, Modern Farmer, TrueSlant.com, Inked Magazine, CNN.com, Portfolio Magazine, Times Union newspaper, CityUnlisted.com.

Studio City, California, US

• Ran daily operations for various web properties in the CBS portfolio, including Rachael Ray, StartsWithYou.com and consulting for Entertainment Tonight and other CBS-run websites on everything from editorial, product.
• Led video concept creation for original series to be taken to market across several lifestyle verticals, including food, health, tech, travel.
• Completed full relaunch of RachaelRayShow.com in September 2013, including CMS migration and major visual and functionality overhaul, leading to 20% increase in page depth in just 2 months.

• Oversaw news content and programming for BravoTV.com's The Dish news blog,conceptualizing and creating exclusive features and franchises to increaseaudience while expanding inventory for sales and sponsorship.
• Led new initiative of digital audience development, initiating partnerships withexternal outlets for traffic exchanges, exclusive content opportunities and otheravenues of expanding BravoTV.com’s scale by working.
• Conceptualized and execute content for sold packages and content features.
• Assisted with ongoing redesign of website, giving feedback on product, social mediaintegration, design, structure and functionality.

Los Angeles, CA, US

• Oversaw all aspects of Celebuzz.com and the Celebuzz talent site network's daily and long-term operations, resulting in more than 700 percent traffic increase since Summer of 2010
• Relaunched site in February 2011 while working in tandem with product team to build proper site tone, enhancement capabilities and CMS functionality; Increased site engagement by nearly 40 percent over first two months.
• Manage bicoastal staff of 18 producers, editors and photo editors
• Oversaw talent sites within Celebuzz network, including personal blogs for Kim Kardashian and the Kardashian family
• Created and launched original video franchises including 100 Days of Hunger Games, Kissing Connection and Breaking Down Breaking Dawn, overseeing all aspects of production, promotion and packaging
• Initiated and continue to drive daily programming strategy, including original news reporting, video integration and creation and feature creation

New York, NY, US

• Launched AOL’s largest entertainment news property in 2008, creating the editorial voice and direction for the site which peaked at 17 million unique viewers and 900 million pageviews – among the top 3 entertainment.
• Developed original content for site, including celebrity interviews in both text and video, event coverage and in-house video and photo features
• Conceived and launched daily video podcast, Girls on Pop
• Managed 6 editors directly while leading daily meetings for staff of 10 while managing freelance schedules, budgets and driving the site’s intern program
• Created and expanded relationships with external TV, print and Web publications
• Initiated social media accounts and strategy for the site

• Web News Editor, Producer for NewsChannel 4’s WNBC.com
• Real-time coverage of breaking local and national news
• Built interactive news packages online, including curation and selection of video content to accompany news stories

New York, US

Producer controlling all aspects of FoxNews.com. Coverage of breaking news; headline and caption writing; feature writing; page maintenance; copy editing freelance material and wire stories; overall quality assurance.

Web site, contributing to all directions of site development, music critique, writer management, content and marketing concepts.

Editor in control over aspects of AOL Local's Boston and Providence Web sites.