Summary Amanda Scurlock is a hard-working individual with expertise in print writing. She can edit video and audio to make multimedia news stories. Feature and data writing are a few of the different types of stories she has experience doing.
WORK EXPERIENCE
Sports Editor, The Los Angeles Sentinel Newspaper March 21, 2022-present
Edit web and print versions of the sports section. Pitch story ideas to the managing editor. Assign sporting events to five reporters and photographers. Communicate with professional sports franchises and college athletic programs for interview and game credential requests.
Sports Writer, The Los Angeles Sentinel Newspaper June 1, 2015-March 21, 2022
Upload videos and articles to a WordPress website. Cover high school, college and professional sporting events. Proofread sports stories and edit the layout of the Sports section. Was a season credential holder for the L.A. Lakers and Sparks. Cover philanthropy events of pro athletes, the Los Angeles Lakers, Clippers and Rams. Experience with writing local, entertainment, and sports stories. Create video and take photos via DSLR and iPhone. Edit videos via Adobe Premiere Pro. Report on events by using social media. Schedule social meda posts via Hootsuite.Assign sporting events to eight reporters and photographers. Develop relationships with coaches from local high schools.
Social Media Curator, GotChaDigi March 2018- February 2020
Manage the Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts of three different clients via Sprout Social. Post articles and other materials that relate to the target audience and issues of the client. Brainstorm and critique projects created by boss or employees
Web Producer, Neon Tommy, USC January 2015-May 2015
Created articles by aggregating information from various news stories. Organized published articles on the site’s webpages. Promoted articles on Facebook and Twitter. Experience with SEO.
Reporter, Annenberg News, USC August 2014-December 2014
Reported for Neon Tommy, Intersections: South LA, Annenberg Radio News and Annenberg TV News. Created multimedia news pieces on a same-day deadline. Edited videos to make news packages. Took photographs that pertain to news story. Wrote scripts for audio and video news pieces. Submitted multimedia news stories using Drupal and Trello. Published articles on the web with HTML. Created 15-minute documentary. Experience with AP Style.
Editor-In-Chief, Onyx Express, UC Berkeley September 2010-May 2012
Handled the overall editing responsibilities for the magazine. Managed a staff of 12 college students. Published a 24-32 page magazine every semester. Implemented deadlines for staff members. Networked and built relationships with other campus publications. Took photos for magazine layouts.
VOLUNTEER WORK
Student Manager, Food From the Hood 2004-2008
Budgetary Manager, Black Recruitment and Retention Center 2009-2010
AWARDS
National Newspaper Publishers Association Award July 2019- 1st place for Best Sports Section
Los Angeles Press Club Award, June 2013- 1st place for Print Writing in the Student Journalism division “Ghosts of Snyder Field”
SKILLS
-Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Outlook and Publisher
-Experience with Adobe Audition, Premiere Pro, Photoshop and Dreamweaver
-Experience with operating a DSLR and Sony NX5
-Proficiency in social media, including Tumblr, Google Drive, Sprout Social and Hootsuite
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Arts in English, University of California, Berkeley Graduation date: May 2012
Masters of Science in Journalism, University of Southern California Graduation Date: May 2015
Bio
Amanda Scurlock is an award-winning journalist who has been working with the Los Angeles Sentinel Newspaper for the past four years. She was born and raised in Los Angeles, attending the gifted magnet programs at 74th st Elementary School, Audubon Middle School and Crenshaw High School.
Upon attending Crenshaw, Amanda joined the Crenshaw Elite Choir and travelled with them to Japan, China, Korea, France, Spain, and Tunisia. She also worked with Food From the Hood, a student run business that sold salad dressing. Academically, she excelled in her honors and AP classes, graduating from Crenshaw with a 3.83 GPA in 2008. Her efforts granted her acceptance to the University of California, Berkeley.
At Berkeley, Amanda was a board member of the Black Recruitment and Retention Center, a student group that provided resources to Berkeley students and high school students throughout California. She also got involved with the campus publication Onyx Express, a magazine dedicated to the issues of African Americans. She was editor-in-chief of Onyx Express for two years.
In 2012, Amanda graduated with a B.A. in English from UC Berkeley. Unsure about her career path, she took a journalism class at Los Angeles City College. Soon she became a writer for the school newspaper, the Collegian. She wrote stories about the history of the intercollegiate program which was discontinued at the campus. Amanda won two awards for two articles that she wrote.
In 2014, Amanda was accepted into the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism where she learned about multimedia storytelling, Documentary filmmaking, web content management and photography. She graduated with a M.S. in Journalism that next year.
Resources at USC Annenberg led Amanda to starting an internship with the L.A. Sentinel that following summer. After expressing her interest in sports writing, she was assigned to cover numerous philanthropy efforts done by franchises and players. She also covered countless sporting events on the professional, college, and high school level.
In 2017, Amanda relaunched the Sentinel’s Student Athlete of the Week column. Through the column, she was able to highlight the multifaceted student athletes who lived in the Los Angeles area. The National Newspaper Association (NNPA), the governing body for Black newspapers in America, awarded the L.A. Sentinel the Best Sports Section award in 2019 because of her efforts.
In 2021, her documentary “The History of Food From the Hood” was selected to be featured in the BHERC’s Sistas Are Doin’ it for Themselves Short Film Showcase.
In the future, Amanda wants to work in the communications department for one of the many professional sports franchises in Los Angeles.