Melissa Stevens Email & Phone Number

Australia

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

I use my experience in content and leadership to drive the editorial strategy of the Sunday masthead of The Sydney Morning Herald, delivering agenda-setting stories to engage readers. A typical edition involves commissioning stories ranging from politics to pop culture, liaising with design and photographic teams to bring the stories to life visually and then conducting the strategic planning for digital and print audience delivery. Other key tasks include liaising with distribution and sales and acting as a brand ambassador for the masthead at external events.My core competencies include content strategy, distribution, and analytics, as well as stakeholder management, team leadership, and project coordination. I am passionate about creating and commissioning content that informs, entertains, and inspires our readers, while maintaining a high standard of journalistic excellence and integrity.

Hong Kong Sar

The Post achieved a record number of monthly active users during my tenure. As digital editor, I led the content distribution strategy across web, app, newsletters and social platforms to maximise connection with the Post’s global audience. I provided daily briefings to the senior leadership team using audience data to provide strategic advice on content strategy. I worked with stakeholders across the business in marketing, audience growth and product on multiple audience acquisition and retention projects including newsletters, social media and SEO.A highlight of my experience was being part of the Post’s executive team which led the transition of the masthead’s free website to a digital subscription model.I was the editorial lead for the SCMP’s 5050 project which aimed to increase representation and participation of women in the newsroom, as sources and as readers.I also acted as a conference moderator for SCMP Women of our Time and SCMP China conferences.

Hong Kong

In this role, I managed a team of homepage editors who operated on a 24-hour, 7 day a week roster in Hong Kong and New York. I was responsible for maintaining high standards of digital execution of content for the Post’s global audience and was a key liaison point across the newsroom for digital content planning. I also had the opportunity to be part of the launch team of the Post’s Lunar newsletter, which was created as a female audience acquisition project, with a mission to elevate women’s voices in Asia.

Hong Kong

Expat Living is an expat lifestyle magazine which is headquartered in Singapore with teams in Hong Kong and the Philippines. I joined Expat Living Hong Kong as its digital editor before my role expanded to include editing its Hong Kong magazine as well as managing its regional website.I was responsible for commissioning and editing content for the key content pillars of health and beauty, dining, interiors and education, as well as building and editing a monthly newsletter.There was a strong commercial element to the role which meant I would meet with clients and work with sales and marketing to create consumer and content marketing campaigns. I built strong relationships with key clients in the education and hospitality sectors and regularly represented the magazine at client events and as a conference moderator.

Hong Kong

As the Features Editor of the South China Morning Post I commissioned writers to create longform articles across topics on Hong Kong politics, economy, environment and social affairs. I also had the opportunity during my tenure to launch a new weekend liftout, City Weekend, which focused on Hong Kong urban stories.

Sydney

I joined Australia's leading news website in a maternity leave cover position before relocating overseas. During my time I managed the homepage team's curation of the website across news and lifestyle topics.

The Manly Daily

As editor of News Corporation's flagship community newspaper, I was responsible for driving the content strategy of The Manly Daily and providing editorial leadership to a team of reporters and photographers to meet daily deadlines. During my time at The Manly Daily I launched the paper's digital and social media presence.I also worked closely with the sales and marketing team on content marketing initiatives to support the brand's revenue goals and represented the brand at commercial and community events.

The Daily And Sunday Telegraphs

After taking parental leave I returned to work in a role as deputy managing editor for News Corporation's NSW mastheads. In this role I was part of the team which provided personnel support to the 450 staff across the company's operations. I took part in recruiting new staff and having oversight of editorial budgets.

Mx Newspaper

News Corporation's mX title was aimed at young professionals aged 21 to 39 years. As editor, I was responsible for leading a team of young journalists to deliver on the vision for this cult brand which had built a highly engaged and loyal readership who responded to its distinctive tone. During my tenure we built a social media presence and launched a reader app.The title was unashamedly commercial and I worked closely with sales and marketing on delivering innovative client campaigns.

Sydney

The Daily Telegraph's Features Department delivered lifestyle content across the key pillars of film, music, television, real estate, property and motoring. As Features Editor, I led a team of 50 reporters, sub-editors, artists and photographers with the responsibility of managing content delivery for multiple deadlines.

The Daily Telegraph

As Deputy Features Editor I acted as a news editor and chief of staff for the team of journalists working across the lifestyle content pillars. I identified news angles within lifestyle stories, commissioned stories and acted as the liaison between the features and news departments for the delivery of content. I also led the creation of the weekly news review section.

The Daily Telegraph

As an Assistant Editor of the Sydney metropolitan daily, The Daily Telegraph, I was part of the team which led the creation and editing of content for publication.

Bachelor'S Degree, Arts, Entertainment, And Media Management, Hon

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