Meet Jay Davis
Jay Davis is a new Media Campaign Strategist and will spend time as a Sales Representative for our Advertising team.
Jay Davis
Jay was born and raised in the Toledo area (a former Bowsher Rebel, Byrnedale Bulldog, and Glendale Gator). She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Communications from The University of Akron, with a focus in Radio and TV Broadcasting, and a minor in Sports Marketing.
Before joining the Blade, Jay worked as a Multimedia Journalist at Channel 13ABC Action News, a Marketing Coordinator at Midwest Tape, as well as a Project & Social Media Manager at ESPN.
Jay is a huge sports fan and also a former 4-sport + D1 Collegiate athlete. In her free time, she is usually focusing on her small business as a Sports Videographer/Photographer or yelling at her sports teams.
Meet Alex Bracken
Hello! I’m Alex Bracken, and I’m The Blade’s new general assignment reporter.
Alex Bracken
I’m originally from Fort Wayne, and graduated from Ball State University with a degree in Journalism Graphics in 2023, where I was the visual editor for the student-run newspaper and the art director for the magazine. I pivoted to reporting after moving to Peru, Ind., where I worked as the editor of a small newspaper for a year and half. I reported on everything, literally, from government meetings to festivals to enterprise reporting.
Outside of work, I enjoy going to concerts, playing tennis, going thrifting, and eating at restaurants, and would love recommendations on places to try and things to do in and around Toledo. My favorite part about being a journalist (so far) is how quickly you become immersed in a place, and I’m excited to learn more about Toledo through reporting.
Meet Addison Foreman
Addison Foreman
My name is Addison Foreman and I just joined staff as a copy editor.
I grew up near Sandusky, Ohio and graduated from Kent State University with a degree in journalism this past December.
In my free time, I love to read, crochet, and play video games. I also have a little gray cat named Goose.
I am very excited to be joining the team at The Blade and I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone!
Meet Manhattan Ethington Prien
Manhattan Ethington Prien
Manhattan Ethington Prien is the new Digital & Social Media Producer in the Marketing department. She will be helping with events and creating content for social media, specifically for Explore 419.
Manhattan grew up here in Toledo. She graduated with an English degree from Brigham Young University – Hawaii. During her time there, she worked as a social media editor, print editor and editor-in-chief at the Ke Alaka’i, the campus news center.
Although Manhattan misses the warm Hawaii weather, she is excited to return to Toledo to work for The Blade and support her husband as he goes to graduate school at the University of Toledo.
In her free time, Manhattan loves to travel, play games with family and friends, read, watch movies, dance with her husband and paint. Reach out to her if you have any good book, movie or travel recommendations, she would love to hear them!
Meet Jakyla Brandenburg
Jakyla Brandenburg is an accounting clerk in the finance department. She grew up in Dayton, Ohio. She spent 3 years at the University of Findlay receiving a bachelor’s degree in business administration. During Jakyla’s free time, she often enjoys reading, crafting, and running.
Meet Christina Alfaro
Christina Alfaro
My name is Christina Alfaro, and I am the newest member of The Blade’s Classifieds team. As a Toledo native, I am excited to be part of a company that is so involved in the local community. My free time can usually be spent with my husband at our children’s sporting events, or trying out a new tasty treat.
Christina Alfaro is a classified clerk in the advertising department.
Meet Felicia Mason
Greetings to all!
I’m Felicia Mason and the new night city editor at The Blade. Happy to be here.
Felicia Mason
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.
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.)
