THE UNEXPECTED ADVENTURE
Life sure has a funny way of taking unexpected detours, doesn’t it?
The truth is, it started in second grade. My mom was a reporter at the local newspaper, which required early press mornings twice a week. Back in those days, you could generally find me asleep under my mom’s desk in the wee hours of the morning.
Around sun up, I would head back to the inserting room and chat with the press employees.
As I got older, I put myself to work learning how to insert ads into the newspapers and make “happy stacks” (thanks, Rosa), retyping printed materials and organizing the office.
At age 16, I became a bona fide employee of The Port Lavaca Wave. I finally had the opportunity to get paid for the things I tasked myself with doing for free for the eight years prior. I began writing on occasion, inserting regularly, managing the website and learning to cover breaking news in the form of accidents, fires and other unexpected events. Despite all of that, I was not interested in a long-term career in community news. So, when I graduated high school, I went off to college in pursuit of a photography degree, which I ultimately obtained from Texas State University in 2014.
If I’m being honest, my trek “back” to the world of newspapers started four months before graduation, when I accepted a job at the Texas Press Association in Austin.
It didn’t take long for me to realize that the daily Kyle to Austin commute was not for me. Although remote work was not the “norm” back then, I was lucky when the opportunity to work for The Port Lavaca Wave remotely from Kyle was presented to me. I was still in denial that this was the career field for me, but it was just intriguing enough that I took the job.
After many twists and turns, my mom (who was then the publisher of the paper) founded her own media company helping newspapers across the state in 2018. She and I left the paper amicably to pursue that venture.
But, remember how I talked about those life detours? Hold on, because here it comes… In December 2020, my mom was asked to fill in as publisher for “a few weeks” while the owners searched for someone for the position that had become vacant. Nine months into the arrangement, our company purchased the paper.
You might think that was the end of the detour. I think we did, too. So, when the owner of the Hays Free Press and News-Dispatch jokingly mentioned selling the company to us, we laughed out loud … but the seed was planted.
The part that comes next, you may already know about. For those that don’t, we became owners of Barton Publications on Jan. 1, 2022. Longtime production manager David White became publisher and I started the process of familiarizing myself with the ins and outs of the business.
When David decided in April to pursue other opportunities, we were again faced with decisions to be made.
I guess you could say that’s when the denial ended. In a conversation about our new steps, I heard myself ask, “What if I became the publisher?”
As I write this, we are coming up on a year since I took over the role. And what a year it has been.
We have been through more than our fair share of change. While I often surprise myself with knowledge I didn’t realize I had, the learning curve has been steep. It involves early mornings, late nights and long days in between. It pushes me to have confidence in my decisions but be willing to admit when I am wrong.
I am certain I have made decisions that made people smile and others that made people mad. While I won’t promise the latter won’t happen in the future, I can confidently commit to fair, unbiased and transparent coverage of the issues that are important to the local community.
As a leader, it is important to me to hold my team to the same standard.
As a member of the community, it is important to be in tune with fellow community members. For that reason, I have an open door policy. Not only do I look forward to getting to know people, I welcome constructive criticism.
To the people who I have had the pleasure of meeting over the past year, thank you. Each of you have played an integral role in my growth.
To those I have yet to meet, I look forward to the occasion.
I guess it’s true what they say: unexpected adventure makes for a better story.
Kontnier is the publisher of the Hays Free Press and News-Dispatch. She can be reached at [email protected].
