About Us

newshawk n. [Slang] a newspaper reporter

What’s a Noozhawk? We’re glad you asked.

So many of today’s news organizations are constrained by tradition and unable to take full advantage of rapidly evolving technologies. Or they’re just out of touch with the community they claim to serve. You, the reader, are left to fend for yourself, knowing the information you need is out there — somewhere — but not knowing exactly where to look. The choices at hand are frustrating. You settle into a routine that is unsatisfying at best. We understand; we’ve been there, too.

That’s why we’ve created Noozhawk, Santa Barbara and Goleta’s unique new community newspaper — without the paper. Our experienced, professional journalists are delivering essential local news and community information for Santa Barbara, Goleta, Montecito, Carpinteria, Summerland and the rest of Santa Barbara County’s South Coast. We’re writing about the community you recognize, and it’s at your fingertips 24/7, in a simple and organized all-electronic format.

And if you can’t make it to us, we’ll come to you — with our free daily e-Bulletin that we deliver to your inbox each day at 4:15 a.m. Your neighbors will never have to see you in your robe again.

We’re also inviting you to contribute your own news, announcements, photos, videos and more, enabling Noozhawk to provide a depth and breadth of coverage that is unmatched locally. Together, we’re developing a one-stop, go-to source for complete community news and information.

We’ve adopted as our platform one written by the late T.M. Storke, the legendary Santa Barbaran and Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper publisher. It contains seven core principles:

  1. Keep the news clean and fair.
  2. Play no favorites, and never mix business and editorial policy.
  3. Do not let the news columns reflect editorial comment.
  4. Publish the news that is public property without fear or favor of friend or foe.
  5. Accept no charity and ask no favors.
  6. Give “value received” for every dollar taken in.
  7. Make the publication profitable if possible, but above profit keep it clean, fearless and fair.

So, what’s our agenda? We don’t have one. We promise you accessibility, credibility and reliability while delivering you fair and comprehensive reporting on the community we respect and appreciate as much as you do.

We’re Noozhawk. We’ve got news for you!

William M. Macfadyen, founder, publisher and CEO

Bill Macfadyen was the co-founder and editor and publisher of the South Coast Beacon, a weekly community newspaper that made its debut in 2002, won the California Newspaper Publishers Association General Excellence Award the following year and went bust in 2005. Not having the sense to get a real job, he turned his attention to the Internet, where the overhead is lower and the optimism knows no boundaries. Bill also moonlights as a board member of the Santa Barbara Community Housing Corp., Santa Barbara Education Foundation, Santa Barbara Partners in Education and as board secretary of the Chambers of Commerce Alliance of Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. He’s also a former senior warden at All Saints By-the-Sea Episcopal Church, former board chairman of the Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce and a past member of the statewide organizing committee of Common Sense California. In 2008, Bill was named Entrepreneur of the Year by both the Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Santa Barbara Technology & Industry Association.

Reach Bill at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

John Conroy, contributing photographer

John Conroy was one of the first staff photographers for the Santa Barbara News & Review, predecessor to the Independent. He trained at Brooks Institute for two years and spent two years as an apprentice photographic assistant in Europe. He later emerged as a freelance photojournalist in California. As a contributing photographer for Noozhawk, John says, “My images really pop in an online publication, and I’m getting out into the community, meeting people and getting a real sense for what is going on in and around Santa Barbara.”

Reach John at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Lara Cooper, reporter

Lara Cooper came to Noozhawk after covering Goleta with the Valley Voice for two years. She’s been a news junkie since her early teens when she began working for the Tulsa World, her hometown newspaper in Oklahoma, typing up weather forecasts and obituaries. After earning a photojournalism degree from Western Kentucky University, Lara packed up all of her earthly possessions, her camera and her cats and moved out West to Santa Barbara. She’s a general assignment reporter and photographer.

Reach Lara at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Chris Donahue, account executive

Chris Donahue — doting dad of a toddler daughter, Ciena — is a longtime sales representative in the Santa Barbara area. Chris was a top account executive at Forester Communications and, prior to that, was the Goleta Valley Voice’s top salesman and sales manager of BlueEdge and El Mexicano.

Reach Chris at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call him at 805.616.1270

Sarah Ettman-Sterner, Green Hawk interactive producer

A member of the Society for Environmental Journalists, Sarah Ettman-Sterner provided the “voice” for Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ocean Futures Society for more than a decade. Her contributions appear on the PBS HD TV series, Jean-Michel Cousteau Ocean Adventures and the Toxic Flame Retardants Web site. Sarah’s work has appeared in Elle (the May 2009 “Blue Issue”), The Guardian and The Sunday Times in Great Britain, Paris Match, Vogue, Diver, DiveLog, National Geographic, United Airlines’ Hemispheres Inflight Magazine and Southwest Airlines Spirit magazine. As an interactive producer for Green Hawk, she focuses on current environmental trends and marine-related topics.

Reach Sarah at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Sonia Fernandez, contributing writer

Before becoming a reporter, Sonia Fernandez was a comic book store manager, an EMT, a medical assistant and an administrator for a weight-loss clinic. She joined the Goleta Valley Voice in 2003 as an intern and ended up as its staff writer. Along the way she’s lost her fear of bees, gone to band camp and developed a fascination with parasite ecology. Armed with her trusty reporter’s notebook, a tape recorder and her camera, Sonia is a contributing writer to Noozhawk.

Reach Sonia at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Jenn Kennedy, contributing writer and photojournalist

Jenn Kennedy is a writer and photographer who recently relocated to Santa Barbara from Los Angeles. A Pepperdine grad, she worked in public relations for six years before jumping to the media side. She contributes profiles, lifestyle and travel content to a range of publications, including Jane, LA Confidential, Las Vegas Home & Design, Las Vegas, Sierra, SheWired.com, Female FYI and Fit Yoga. She has shot ad campaigns and projects for corporations such as Citibank, Maytag, MTV, Yahoo!, Safeway and Women’s Entertainment Network. She is a new member of the Santa Barbara Art Association and plans to get involved in the local art community. Her photos can be viewed at www.kennedypix.com.

Reach Jenn at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Rob Kuznia, contributing writer

Noozhawk’s very first reporter, Rob Kuznia was a mainstay of our daily news coverage, particularly in the areas of education and mental-health services. He recently went to work as a staff writer at Hispanic Business magazine but will continue with Noozhawk as a contributing writer, particularly in the areas of education and mental-health services. Rob was among the journalists who participated in the 2007 online news project, the Santa Barbara Newsroom, and previously spent three years as the education beat writer for the Santa Barbara News-Press. Although his first post-college jobs included being a janitor in Minnesota and delivering pizzas in North Dakota, Rob got his start in newspapers as the city hall reporter at The News-Review in Roseburg, Ore., and later worked as an education and city hall reporter for The Argus in Fremont. He graduated from the University of Minnesota’s journalism program in 1999 and has won two awards, for feature writing and spot news coverage, in the Bay Area and in Oregon.

Reach Rob at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Giana Magnoli, reporter

Giana Magnoli came to Noozhawk right after graduating from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with a journalism degree. After working at the Mustang Daily for three years and interning at the Pacific Coast Business Times, she decided to jump aboard the enterprising online news train and moved down to Santa Barbara. She’s a general assignment reporter and photographer who wishes more work could be done outside.

Reach Giana at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Jeff Moehlis, contributing writer

Jeff Moehlis is an associate professor of mechanical engineering at UCSB, and a self-proclaimed music fanatic who started writing concert reviews and previews for Noozhawk in the summer of 2008. He enjoys most genres of music, but his favorites are psychedelic rock, progressive rock, Krautrock and Old School punk rock. His Web site, music-illuminati.com, covers music in the Santa Barbara area and beyond, and includes extensive interviews with musicians and recommendations for upcoming local concerts.

Reach Jeff at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Michelle Nelson, managing editor

Michelle Nelson joined the Noozhawk nest in April 2008. She previously worked as a copy editor for The Register-Guard newspaper in Eugene, Ore., a position she held for more than 10 years. Always up for an adventure, Michelle loves hitting the open road and exploring new places. She’s also an avid sports fan who enjoys a margarita — or two — on game days. Michelle and her husband, Pete, have two wonderful sons, Garrhett and Blake.

Reach Michelle at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Edgar Oliveira, Web services director

Edgar Oliveira is a Web designer by trade but a drummer at heart. He’s played in jazz bands, rock bands and Latin bands in his hometown of Minneapolis. One day, he and his wife, Isabel, decided to move to Santa Barbara. He sold his drums, she packed their cat, Sue Ellen, in the car and they drove West. Edgar bought a surfboard, Isabel got a tan and neither of them has ever looked back.

Reach Edgar at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Ben Preston, reporter

Before coming on board with Noozhawk, Ben Preston was a staff reporter for the Santa Barbara Independent for nearly three years, and for two years was the environmental editor for DEEP magazine. He is a regular contributor to Miller-McCune.com and the Pacific Coast Business Times, and has had work published in Terrain Magazine, The Surfer’s Path, Heeb Magazine, Petersen’s 4Wheel & Off-Road Magazine, the Las Vegas Weekly and the Santa Maria Sun. Ben graduated from Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Va., with a degree in history.

Reach Ben at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Paul Yarbrough, columnist

Paul Yarbrough is reprising his popular sports-themed column Time Out for Noozhawk. Paul began his journalism career at the Santa Barbara News-Press, where he worked in the sports and news departments for 25 years, rising to a position of deputy managing editor. As sports editor in the mid-1980s, he began writing a weekly column for the paper, Time Out. In 1996, he moved to Eugene, Ore., where he was assistant news editor at The Register-Guard until he left in June 2009. Additionally, Paul spent 2½ seasons as the radio Voice of The (UCSB) Gauchos in men’s basketball.

Reach Paul at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Weather: Fair 50.0º


© Malamute Ventures LLC 2007-2010 | ISSN No. 1947-6086

Web Design & Development by PixelFive