Work
Thanks for your interest in my work. Click on each section to toggle expand details about my history, and contact me if you'd like to get in touch.
Employment
Project Manager for R&D (Full-time Contract) Tiny News Collective, May 2024-Present
Prior: Product Manager (Part-time Contract), Tiny News Collective, from Nov. 2023
I returned to the Tiny News Collective team to work on streamlining and redesigning financial tooling processes to support the organization's membership and fiscal sponsorship services and member organizations' revenue streams.
Chief Product Officer (Part-time Contract), 2PuntosPlatform, Nov. 2023-May 2024
I worked with a distributed remote four-person team in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Bogotá, Colombia, as well as a handful of freelancers and contractors, to define and implement 2PuntosPlatform's technical, business, and revenue strategies with our CEO & Editor-in-Chief. A couple of highlights were launching the organization's first fundraising campaign and submitting a successful grant application to create media that addresses barriers faced by Latina mothers in Philadelphia when navigating enrollment and admissions processes for Pre-K.
Prior: Editor (Freelance), from Nov. 2021
I edited articles and social media posts and reviewed project proposals on a monthly basis with 2PuntosPlatform.
Product Manager, The Baltimore Banner July 2022-November 2023
I led all Kanban ceremonies with The Banner's internal and offshore engineering teams, scoping, writing, and assigning work to developers and engineers. I managed several of the organization's software vendor relationships, working with vendors to launch features like Apple's "subscribe from the app" link in our mobile white-label app. Toward the end of my time in this role, I led the initial phases of the organization's web and app redesign project as product owner, working with internal teams, a design agency, and an offshore development team.
Prior: Jr. Product Manager, from July 2022
I managed the development-to-launch process, overseeing the roadmap and operations of the organization's mobile app, push notifications, events calendar, business webpages like Our Impact, and donation tooling. I also conducted user research, produced wireframes, and coordinated tasks with various internal, offshore, and vendor development teams.
Fellow, Resolve Philadelphia, Sept. 2021-Sept. 2022
I piloted the organization's one-year fellowship program, working on an original research project about interviewing strategies between journalists and sources who are private citizens. I conducted interviews with Resolve's collaborative newsroom partners, university researchers, and experts in social work and media law to produce qualitative deliverables from my project.
The Interview Transparency Process Factsheet
I also made a presentation with Cassie Haynes, Resolve's former co-executive director, about crossovers between Konstantin Stanislavski's method acting philosophy and community journalism that we shared at an internal staff retreat.
Community Manager, The Tiny News Collective, and Editorial Fellow, News Catalyst, Dec. 2020-June 2022
I had two roles in one during my student capacity with News Catalyst, as the organization was incubating The Tiny News Collective at this time.
At News Catalyst, I conducted an editorial workflow research project with various local, regional, and national newsrooms, surveying and interviewing them about their processes and technical tooling for getting a story from pitch to publication. Working with a consultant, we analyzed and presented the results to the participating newsrooms at the end of the project. Some of our results influenced future case studies.
At The Tiny News Collective, I supported the new entrepreneurs in the organization's first two member cohorts. I created digital collaboration spaces and workflows, like the organization's Slack workspace, wrote programming communications and materials, researched prospective funders for member newsrooms, and conducted programming retrospectives.
Features Reporting Intern, Star Tribune, Minneapolis, Minnesota, June 2021-Aug. 2021
I pitched and reported on 16 breaking news and feature stories, which were published in alternative formats across the organization's website, print newspaper and former Star Tribune Magazine. I got to collaborate across visual, print, digital, and audience teams to determine my articles' distribution and publication strategies.
Editor-in-Chief, 14th Street Magazine, Jan. 2021-May 2021
(Disclaimer: I was technically not "employed" in this role, as it was one I assumed in the Spring 2021 semester of 14th Street Magazine, an upper-level journalism course at Temple University, while I was a student there.)
I led the production of Temple University's annual student culture magazine. Managing 14 student editors in the COVID-19 era, I produced a 64-page print magazine with 3,000+ circulation and resurrected its website with Klein College of Media and Communication's developers.
14th Street Magazine Spring 2021
Editor-in-Chief, The Temple News, May 2020-May 2021
I oversaw the production of Temple University's independent student newspaper with 2,000+ print circulation and 80,000+ monthly online readers and managed a staff of 33 students. I expanded the newsroom's content verticals, overhauled its print schedule and workflow processes, and coordinated its transition to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic. I also worked with The Bullhorn News' staff to design and lead workshops on how to report and write articles for the staff of The Bullhorn, Philadelphia public high school students’ first student newspaper. In years prior to this role, I worked as the features section editor, campus beat reporter and freelance writer for the publication.
Social Media Manager/Peer Teacher, Department of Journalism, Temple University, Aug. 2020-Dec. 2020
I managed and created content for the department and PhiladelphiaNeighborhoods.com's Instagram, Facebook and Twitter accounts. I also was peer teaching assistant for Dr. Erin Coyle’s required undergraduate Writing & Reporting course, where I worked with small groups of students to edit and provide feedback on their story pitches and draft articles.
Research Interviewer, Dr. Geoffrey Moss, Department of Sociology, Temple University, May 2019-Aug. 2019
I recruited, interviewed, and documented research subjects and locations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, for Geoffrey Moss' book, Barista in the City: Subcultural Lives, Paid Employment, and the Urban Context.
Education
Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, Klein College of Media and Communication, Temple University, Summa Cum Laude
Bachelor of Arts in Economics, College of Liberal Arts, Temple University, Second Major with Distinction
Online Product Management Course, General Assembly, Pass
Web Development Fundamentals, NuCamp Coding Bootcamp, Pass
Professional Activities
I have participated in several journalism-related conferences, summits, and programs, and here are a few roles I've gotten to take.
Judge, Student Innovation Competition 2024, Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at University of Missouri, Mar. 2024
I was invited to judge a competition of student groups from U.S. colleges designing new news media products.
2024 RJI Student Innovation Competition now accepting entries
Community Ambassador, Local Independent Online News Publishers, Aug. 2023-Nov. 2023
This was a short-term project in which, as a part of my capacity with 2PuntosPlatform, I identified news organizations in Project Oasis, a collaboration between UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, LION Publishers, Douglas K. Smith, and the Google News Initiative.
Meet LION’s Fall 2023 Community Ambassadors
Community Panel Member, News Product Alliance Summit Apr. 2023
I was asked to review and provide feedback on session proposals for the summit's final programming selection.
Mentee, News Product Alliance Mentor Network, Oct. 2022-Apr. 2023
I applied and was selected as a mentee for the inaugural NPA mentorship program. I participated in monthly sessions with my mentor throughout 2023.
NPA Mentor Network program kicks off serving 150 mentees
ERP Student Program Fellow, RIAS Berlin Commission, Berlin, Germany June-July 2022
I participated in the ERP fellowship, initially scheduled for 2020, but was postponed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. My cohort visited news organizations and history and politics institutions in Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, and Leipzig to learn about American and German news media and political relations spanning from the Cold War to the present.
Panelist Culture Shift: Changing the ways residents and reporters interact, 2022
I was invited to speak at a public livestreamed online summit hosted by Philadelphia’s NPR station, WHYY, called the Neighbors and Newsrooms Summit. I spoke about my fellowship work with Resolve Philly and about ways for journalists to build relationships with community members.
2022 WHYY Neighbors and Newsrooms Summit
Facilitator, Early Career and Student Meetup, News Product Alliance Summit Mar. 2022
I was asked to co-lead a synchronous discussion for news technology professionals at the international online summit.
Media Appearances
Online News Association Student Newsroom. "News Product Thinkers Develop New Career Pathways." Aug. 2023
University of Vermont Community News Network. "Philadelphia Neighborhoods." Feb. 2023
Temple University, Klein College of Media and Communication. "Klein Student Media Wins Four of Nine College Categories in National Publishing Awards." News, Nov. 2022
Interviewee, Personalized News Communication and Media Trust in the Modern Era
Forthcoming book in 2024 from Dr. Kirsten A. Johnson, Ph.D., Palgrave Macmillan, to be featured in chapters 1-3, and 5. I was contacted and interviewed for the publication in Sept. 2022.
Temple University, Klein College of Media and Communication. "Temple News and Philadelphia Neighborhoods Win 19 Keystone Student Media Awards." News, Mar. 2022
Temple University, Klein College of Media and Communication. "Klein's Partnership with Resolve's Broke in Philly Lays Foundations for Collaborative Work." News July 2021
Temple University Shorthand Stories. "Saving the News." Aug. 2021
The Temple News,. "Editors-in-Chief Guide The Temple News’ Reporting on COVID-19.", Sept. 2021
Corporation for Public Broadcasting. "Mapping Assets Community Might Not Know It Has." CPB Ombudsman, Mar. 2021
Temple University, Klein College of Media and Communication. "Resolve Philly and the Journalism Department Bring Student Reporters Together for Their Very Own." News, May 2020
Other Involvement
Artist, "Westie Days" In Rescue Party: A Graphic Anthology of COVID Lockdown, edited by Gabe Fowler. Penguin Random House, June 2024.
I will be a featured comic artist for my comic titled "Westie Days," a 9-panel I illustrated in May 2020 about my childhood dog expressing hopes for life after the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown.
Free Agent, Intramural Floor Hockey, Temple University Campus Recreation 2022
Member, Dean's Student Advisory Council, Klein College of Media and Communication, 2018-2022
Volunteer, Temple COVID-19 Task Force, College of Science and Technology, Temple University 2020
I helped build face masks for essential workers in the college’s labs at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Actor, Writer, and Playwright in Residence, Insomnia Theater, Temple University 2018-2020
I acted, wrote scripts, and guided groups of writers to produce shows for the 24-hour student theatre club.
Member and National Leadership Chair, Temple United Students Against Sweatshops Local 100, 2018-2020
Published Works
Here are a few highlights of the pieces I've written. Here's where you can see a full list of my publications.
OpenNews SOURCE. "Product Manager Diary: Learning to Work with Vendors and Development Teams outside of Your Organization." Madison Karas, Sept. 2023
Resolve Philadelphia. "A Tipsheet on Interviewing Private Citizens." Madison Karas, Nov. 2022.
Resolve Philadelphia. “Can Student Journalists and Local Media Collaborations Work Together? Here’s What We Learned.” Amelia Winger, Gene Sonn, Madison Karas, Jan. 2022.
Philadelphia Neighborhoods. "Southwest: A Day at John Bartram High School's Football Homecoming." Madison Karas, Dec. 2021.
Star Tribune. “Front-line Workers in Minnesota Assess How Far They've Come Since the Early Days of COVID-19." Madison Karas, Aug. 2021.
Star Tribune. "At Minneapolis' First-Ever Native Prom, Indigenous Youth Celebrate Their Culture." Madison Karas, June 2021.
WHYY. "Home Care Industry Strained by Pandemic." Madison Karas, Feb. 2021.
The Temple News. "The Victim Impact Statement at Ari Goldstein's Sentencing." Madison Karas, Valerie Dowret, and Amelia Winger, Feb. 2021.
The Philadelphia Inquirer. "Temple student: George Floyd’s death in my hometown brings back memories of my classmate" Madison Karas, 29 May 2020.
The Temple News. "Remembering Angeline Henry, 106, a 1935 Temple alumna" Madison Karas, Nov. 2019.