Lizzie Schiffman Tufano, 34

Vice President of Revenue, Block Club Chicago Education: Bachelor of Science in Journalism, Northwestern University, Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications

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

Like so many of you, I was drawn to reporting by a strong desire to learn something new daily. Working early in my career in a small and scrappy newsroom with an “all-hands-on-deck” survival ethos and later, at a larger, more established legacy institution with a substantial support staff of non-journalists revealed the wealth of knowledge I had access to from my colleagues and adjacent teams. I’d encourage young journalists to be open-minded about opportunities that don’t carry a byline. Bringing a nuanced understanding of the problems newsrooms face into collaborations with the people best positioned to solve them can substantially impact the work and the industry as a whole.

What is your approach to creating a sustainable business model for local media companies?

My overarching philosophy in every role I’ve held working in journalism has been to listen more than I speak. That has informed my business development strategies more than any ideas I could have generated in a vacuum. If you’re doing local news the right way, your community and audience are your most important stakeholders, and they’ve suffered from the erosion of our industry as much as we have. They know what they want and need and will fiercely support a sincere and tenacious effort to deliver it.

As much as I love developing innovative products and services that surpass expectations, I’ve found equal value in restoring the once-critical functions of a local newspaper that we’ve collectively overlooked amid the rapid evolution of our media landscape. Those “small” stories and services that don’t interest the national news market are often the most meaningful to your readers. Deepening that relationship will pay more long-term dividends than any momentary viral success.