Meet Sonia Waraich
Hello, my name is Sonia Waraich, and I’m a new copy editor with The Blade.
I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, but have worked at newspapers across California, as well as a couple in New Mexico and North Carolina.
I’ve primarily worked as a reporter, covering everything from arts and entertainment to cops and crime. Most recently I was running a local newspaper in my hometown.
I’m excited to be starting at The Blade and looking forward to meeting everyone.
Meet Felicia Mason
Greetings to all!
I’m Felicia Mason and the new night city editor at The Blade. Happy to be here.
I grew up in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, where my family lived after moving from Cleveland. My undergraduate degree is in mass media arts from Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) in Virginia, and my graduate degree from Ohio State is in black studies with an emphasis on community development.
If you don’t count having a paper route, working part-time as an ad inserter at a community paper, and being on the high school newspaper staff, my first journalism job was as a reporter at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. I started there as an intern and later covered municipal government, schools, and police. The bulk of my time was with the Daily Press in Newport News, Va. Most recently, I was at the Houston Chronicle as an assistant metro editor and utility editor.
I’ve been a lot of things throughout my career: copy editor, editorial writer, night metro editor, police and courts editor, features editor, columnist, intern coordinator, reader editor (typically called ombudsman), and staff development editor (aka recruiter/trainer). I even wrote a serial novel for a newspaper. This leads me to the other life: I’m a novelist with about two dozen titles published by St. Martin’s Press, Kensington Publishing, and Harlequin. One book was adapted and made into a TV film. These days, I’m working on crime fiction. I like to write, scrapbook, and travel in my free time.
Learning new things is a passion of mine, so I’m looking forward to getting to know Toledo and everyone at The Blade.
Meet Kelly Doyle
Kelly is from Toledo and is a journalism student at Bowling Green State University.
During her academic career at BGSU, she has worked as a news content intern and reporter for the student-led media news outlet BG Falcon Media.
She is particularly interested in history, politics, and pop culture.
Kelly grew up receiving The Blade on her front doorstep every morning, and she hopes to continue the legacy of that tradition by honoring this incredible opportunity in her writing.
Meet Rebecca Particka
Rebecca, who has joined The Blade as a photography intern, is from Ubly, located in the Thumb of Michigan.
She graduated from Central Michigan University in December 2023 with a degree in photojournalism and minors in information technology, multimedia design, and visual merchandising.
During her time as a student, Rebecca participated in Grand Central Magazine, CMU’s student life style magazine. She served as editor-in-chief for two semesters. She was also the art director for CMU’s student-run record label, Moore Media Records. Rebecca helped design album art and photograph the organization’s concerts.
Rebecca recently interned for MLive/The Grand Rapids Press and is looking forward in continuing her journey in visual storytelling with The Blade.
Meet Venetria Wyatt
My name is Venetria Wyatt. I was born in San Angelo, TX but was raised in Oak Cliff, TX and moved around a lot when I hit the sixth grade. I attended multiple schools but got my diploma from Central High School in San Angelo.
I wanted to be a lawyer before the birth of my daughter but now I want to have more control over spending time with her, so I decided to go back to school for Business and Marketing. Hopefully one day be CEO of my own company. I have worked in Customer Service for 4 years and I just love helping people.
I also write screenplays, and love to write mystery in my free time. At home, I have a daughter and a yellow Labrador. Both my entire world!
Meet Bridget Munoz
My name is Bridget Munoz, and I’m one of the newest additions to The Blade’s advertising sales team! I live in Port Clinton with my husband, stepdaughter, and our two dogs. During my free time, I love spending time with my family, hanging at the beach, watching a good documentary, and cuddling up with my dogs, Finn and Nala. I’m excited to be part of the team!
Meet Drew Thomas
My name is Drew Thomas, newest Media Sales Manager at The Blade, and I’m incredibly excited to work with everyone! I grew up here in Toledo, in an old Victorian house in the Old West End, and I’m a long-time advocate for any and all things Toledo! In my free time, you can find me cycling on the University Trail bike path, walking many of our local area metroparks, catching a Hens or Walleye game, or playing league volleyball at Forest View on Sunday nights. Looking forward to working with you and helping support Toledo-area businesses!
Welcome back, Latoya
Top 10 biggest style mistakes
News Editor Alicia Gruver will be providing regular Style Snapshots for us so we can better adhere to our style. To get things started, we are pointing out what we’re calling the Top 10 biggest style mistakes.
1) We use the Oxford comma. (Ex. red, white, and blue.)
2) We say news conference, not press conference.
3) When we refer to days within the week, we use the day, not the date.
4) Protesters and advisers are spelled with an “e” and not an “o” at the end.
5) There is a comma between months and years (Ex. January, 2022).
6) Use periods when abbreviating legislative bills. (Ex. H.B. 51.)
7) Jr. and Sr. get commas around them. (Ex. Martin Luther King, Jr.,…)
8) We use single quotes in cutlines.
9) Numbers are used with percentages, and we spell out the word “percent.” (Ex. 1 percent.)
10) Health care is two words and is hyphenated if used as a modifier to another word (Ex. health-care workers.)