John-Henry Perera Email & Phone Number

Houston, Texas, United States

Assigning, editing and writing stories about food and the Texas Gulf Coast• Mentored and developed the talent of new reporters and freelancers. Helped the team identify tentpole stories that generated repeat visitors and assisted freelancers with story generation.• Create an editorial calendar that prioritized enterprise reporting and repeat feature franchises while also ensuring quick-hit production day to day to satisfy Google SEO requirements.• Oversaw the creation of a new reporting beat: the Texas Gulf Coast. Encouraged team to develop sources in key areas that attracted readership, including fishing, the cruise industry, and climate change.• Achieved double to triple digit year-over-year traffic growth for the team and steadily grew newsletter readership.

Houston, Texas, United States

Reported on Houston's food scene with a focus on trending stories and rising up-and-comers.• Was among the most-read authors multiple times during my tenure, including January 2023 (#5) and April 2023 (#1). In five months in 2022, had multiple pieces in the top 10 most-read of that year alone• Wrote exclusives and a few scoops during my tenure, including a curious case of food-poisoning at a Houston restaurant during Final Four and a profile of Trump Burger in Bellville, Texas.• Did restaurant walkthrough videos to accompany profiles I had written. Almost all of them were among the most-watched videos on Instagram during my tenure.

Houston, Texas Area

Oversaw the Houston's Chronicle's social media pages, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.• Developed and executed promotional planning for some of the Chronicle’s biggest investigations.Collaborated with reporters and editors to identify the big hooks in their stories that would attract new readers.• Built a partnership with Twitter’s news curation team and helped put the Chronicle’s work in front of new audiences.• Spearheaded a standardized template for social cards on Instagram in collaboration with the Chronicle's graphic design department

Houston, Texas, United States

Held multiple roles during this period, including general assignments reporter, homepage producer and video lead.• Drove traffic to Chron.com with careful headline experimentation, photo selection and working with reporters to identify stories of the day that would bring traffic.• Created new beats that would regularly drive audience to the website, including TV news team coverage, Houston history, crime trends, and urbanism.• Spearheaded the video initiative on Chron.com and other free sites, recording and publishing video for the website, Hearst sister sites and other publications around the country.• Took the lead on WordPress blog sites that focused on buzzy, trending news on the Internet, including the 2014 Sochi Olympics and other hot events around the world.• Fostered collaboration with the Houston Chronicle newsroom, helping drive free traffic to the subscription website.

Houston, Texas Area

Reported, consulted and produced coverage and social media plans for the hospital’s internal communications.• Recorded and edited TV quality productions that furthered the mission of the hospital, including the Heart of MD Anderson series and one music video.• Shared the inspirational stories of former MD Anderson Cancer Center patients and survivors in print publications and on social media platforms.• Collaborated with MD Anderson’s satellite locations to spread awareness of newer cancer treatment procedures and suburb operations.

Houston, Texas Area

Wrote and published stories on MyFoxHouston.com, including transferring live broadcasts to the website.• Spearheaded a reporting beat that covered Houston’s videogame and geek scene. Recorded interviews on a camcorder and edited TV news-length stories for the website.