Shannon Kelley Email Address

Columnist

Santa Barbara Independent deliver fresh online news, arts, and entertainment coverage all day, every day.

As a writer, editor, and author who has spent some time in PR, I've left no stone of the publishing landscape unturned. In nearly a decade on staff at the Santa Barbara Independent, my responsibilities included planning special issues and regular weekly content; managing staff and freelancers; representing the publication at community and industry events; assigning, packaging, and editing stories for both print and online; and writing columns, features, essays, in-depth, reported pieces, and briefs. I'm interested in the big picture as well as the details: I directed a major section redesign (delivered ahead of deadline) and have rarely met a piece I was too busy to line-edit. In 2011, my first book Undecided (Seal Press) was published; in it, I explore feminism's unfinished work and what living in a half-changed world means for women today. Writing about these themes has allowed me to develop a solid online presence, and led to speaking engagements across the country. I am currently at work on a second book, about women and age.Earlier in my career, I worked in corporate PR, designing and executing successful national outreach campaigns for start-ups. No matter the day job, I consistently made time for freelance writing in the areas of women's issues, health, travel, food, and culture. An essay I contributed to the 2009 anthology Submerged, about driving across the country to work with Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. A reporting trip to Africa in 2012 was a personal career highlight, and ignited my passion for gender equality in terms of education and opportunity, particularly in the developing world. When I'm not working, I'm most likely reading, running, cooking, eating, or plotting my next trip (or my next meal) -- generally with NPR on in the background.