Ashley Fenner, 31

Email Newsletter Manager, Lee Enterprises

Education: Bachelor of Science in Arts Technology, Illinois State University; Associate of Arts, Richland Community College

What advice do you have for other young professionals in the news industry?

Don’t be afraid of failure.

Some of my best accomplishments have come from a hare-brained idea that I wasn’t sure would pan out and be successful. Even when those ideas haven’t produced great results, I’ve learned something important that has helped me to move on to other projects that have been successful.

To what current digital trends should our industry pay close attention?

Personalization. People have grown accustomed to — and expect — platforms that deliver content targeted to their interests. Because of this, our audience is no longer as willing to respond to one-size-fits-all messaging. They want to be spoken to directly and believe that we are listening. That means finding a way to make all of our communications — emails, push notifications, SMS messages and even our websites and apps — tailored to each audience member’s specific topics of interest.

Another trend that isn’t necessarily new but has been ramping up over the past few years — which I believe the news industry could dive into more — is short-form videos. Nearly every social media platform offers short-form videos. They are a significant force in how Gen Z consumes media, which is the audience we must target.