Meet the Team

William M. Macfadyen, founder/publisher & partner

Bill Macfadyen is the founder and publisher of Noozhawk, Santa Barbara’s freshest news and information source — and its only 24/7 professional news site. Commanding a staff of nine full-time professional journalists, four full-time sales representatives and an army of community contributors, he’s on a quest to figure out how to make online local news viable and sustainable.

He 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 moonlights as a board member of the UCSB Economic Forecast Project, the Westmont College Foundation, and the Santa Barbara Club Preservation Foundation, and is board president of the Montecito Association. He is a former board chairman of the Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce and twice served as board chairman of the Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce. He’s also a member of the Santa Barbara Council on Alcoholism & Drug Abuse’s Fighting Back Steering Committee.

He is the immediate past president of the Santa Barbara Club, has served as senior warden at All Saints By-the-Sea Episcopal Church, where he completed two separate terms as a Vestry member, and is a past board member of All Saints Parish School.

He’s also a past member of the statewide organizing committee of Common Sense California, which is now part of the Davenport Institute for Public Engagement & Civic Leadership at Pepperdine University’s School of Public Policy.

Bill was honored by the Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce as the 2024 Man of the Year at the Goleta’s Finest awards celebration. In 2008, he was named Entrepreneur of the Year by both the Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Santa Barbara Technology & Industry Association.

In 2012, he received the national Journalism Education Association’s Friend of Scholastic Journalism Award in recognition of Noozhawk’s work with The Charger Account, the student news website at Dos Pueblos High School. He and Noozhawk are founding members of the Local Independent Online News Publishers Association (LION).

He was a California Endowment Health Journalism Fellow (Class of 2011) at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, and was the architect of Prescription for Abuse, a six-month Noozhawk team project exploring the misuse and abuse of prescription medications in Santa Barbara County.

Bill and his wife, Missy, live in Montecito with their latest Alaskan malamute, Sadie. They have three grown children, all of whom have worked for Noozhawk and one of whom still does, and two grandchildren.

Reach Bill at wmacfadyen@noozhawk.com and follow him on Instagram: @bill.macfadyen.

Tom Bolton, editor in chief and partner

Award-winning journalist Tom Bolton joined Noozhawk as executive editor in 2012 after more than 20 years of guiding newsroom operations for newspapers at each end of Santa Barbara County. He was named editor in chief in 2024.

From 2003 to early 2012, he served as vice president of news for Lee Central Coast Newspapers, leading the Santa Maria Times and supervising the Lompoc Record, the Santa Ynez Valley News and other local Lee publications.

He previously served as publisher and editor of the weekly South Coast Beacon, which he helped establish, and as executive editor and managing editor of the Santa Barbara News-Press, where he spent much of his career prior to its sale by The New York Times. He also has worked for The Tribune in San Luis Obispo County and as a private consultant.

Tom has a reputation throughout the region as a tough but fair editor, whose staffs consistently generate top-notch news coverage — in print and online. He has guided scores of investigative and in-depth projects on topics as varied as homelessness, wildfires, affordable housing, youth violence, earthquake risks, and the future of agriculture. Many of these projects have won awards at the state and national level.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from UC Santa Barbara, where he was editor in chief of The Daily Nexus student newspaper. He is a past board member of the California Society of Newspaper Editors, and also has been affiliated with the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the California Chicano News Media Association and other national media organizations.

Tom and his wife, Joan, live in Goleta, and have two grown children.

Reach Tom at tbolton@noozhawk.com, follow him on Twitter: @tombol or call him at 805.456.7267.

Giana Magnoli, executive editor

Giana Magnoli has been covering Santa Barbara County news since 2009. She joined Noozhawk as a reporter and was promoted to news editor and then managing editor, a position she had held since 2015. She was promoted to executive editor in 2024.

She guides everyday newsroom coverage as well as investigations, special projects, and breaking news reporting. She also runs Noozhawk’s internship program and freelance reporting partnerships with student journalists at UC Santa Barbara.

Giana graduated from the Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo journalism program and now serves on the department’s advisory board. She worked as a reporter and editor in student media during her time at Cal Poly, including a year as managing editor of the Mustang Daily newspaper and website.

She is a graduate of The Poynter Institute’s Leadership Academy for Women in Media. During her career at Noozhawk, she has been a Poynter-Koch Media and Journalism fellow; member of the Solutions Journalism Network; and reporter and editor for Noozhawk health data reporting projects through the California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowship at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism.

Reach Giana at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com.

Sheridan Taphorn, director of sales & marketing

Sheridan Taphorn joined the Noozhawk team in 2018 after graduating from UC Santa Barbara with a degree in communications. She began her career at Noozhawk as a News Reporting Intern and later transitioned into the role of Online Advertising Consultant, where she pursued her passion for marketing, sales, and community partnerships.

In 2021, Sheridan was promoted to Sales Manager, and in 2025, she advanced to Director of Sales and Marketing, where she leads Noozhawk’s advertising strategy, client partnerships, and revenue growth initiatives.

In addition to her role at Noozhawk, Sheridan became an Ambassador for the Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce in 2020 and served on the Advisory Board for PATH Santa Barbara from 2020 to 2025. She is also actively involved in volunteering with local nonprofits and community organizations throughout Santa Barbara.

Originally from the Midwest, Sheridan enjoys exploring all the beautiful scenery Santa Barbara has to offer, spending time with her French bulldog, Koko, and giving back to the community she calls home.

Reach Sheridan at staphorn@noozhawk.com or call her at 805.456.7197.

Janene Scully, North County editor

Janene Scully joined the Noozhawk team in 2014 after working for the Santa Maria Times and its affiliated newspapers in northern Santa Barbara County for 23 years.

Most recently she served as associate editor of the Times and managing editor of the Lompoc Record and Santa Ynez Valley News.

An award-winning journalist, she grew up in San Luis Obispo County and earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Fresno State University.

Reach Janene at jscully@noozhawk.com.

Evelyn Spence, South County editor

Evelyn Spence joined Noozhawk in 2026 as the publication’s South County editor.

She got her start as a journalist at UC Santa Barbara in 2017, working for the student-run, weekly print publication the Daily Nexus on the news desk. She closed out her career there as the newspaper’s managing editor. She also spent the summer of 2019 as an intern with the Santa Barbara Independent, and freelanced for both Noozhawk and Carpinteria-based Coastal View News in 2020.

She graduated in 2021 with a degree in English literature and a minor in professional writing, journalism emphasis.

She joined Coastal View News as the newspaper’s assistant editor in early 2021. Between 2022 and 2026, she served as the newspaper’s managing editor. While in Carpinteria, she also worked as a freelance writer for Carpinteria Magazine and a copy editor for Lum Art Magazine.

In her free time, she loves exploring Santa Barbara’s nature with her dog, Violet.

Reach Evelyn at espence@noozhawk.com.

Diego Sandoval, sports editor

Diego Sandoval joined the Noozhawk team in 2023 after graduating from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.

During his time at Cal Poly, he spent two years as a sports reporter for Mustang News, the school’s student-run newspaper, and two years as the sports editor.

In the summers of 2021 and 2022, he freelanced for the sports section of Noozhawk. Diego is a fifth-generation Santa Barbara native, graduating from San Marcos High School in 2019.

Reach Diego at dsandoval@noozhawk.com.

Rebecca Caraway, staff writer

Rebecca Caraway joined the Noozhawk team in 2023 after graduating from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.

During her time at Cal Poly she worked on features and opinion columns and spent a year as the opinion editor for Mustang News, Cal Poly’s student-run news source. She also spent a year as a public records and investigative intern for the Daily Dot.

She grew up in Corona before moving to the Central Coast in 2019.

Reach Rebecca at rcaraway@noozhawk.com.

Daniel Green, staff writer

Daniel Green joined the Noozhawk team in 2024 after graduating from the University of Southern California with a master’s degree in Specialized Journalism. Before that he graduated with his bachelor’s from California State University, Long Beach.

He discovered his interest in journalism at Cerritos College, where he served on the school newspaper, Talon Marks. After graduating, Daniel worked as the production manager for the Signal Tribune in Signal Hill, California, and as an intern for the Los Angeles Business Journal.

Daniel’s family has lived in the Los Angeles area for four generations. He was born in Connecticut but moved to California as an infant.

Reach Daniel at dgreen@noozhawk.com.

Pricila Flores, staff writer

Pricila Flores joined Noozhawk in 2025 through the California Local News Fellowship at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.

She graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 2024 with a degree in Language, Culture and Society and a Professional Writing minor. During Flores’ time on campus, she served as editor in chief of the student-run and independent newspaper, the Daily Nexus, co-news director of the campus’ television station, UCSB TV, and founded the Spanish section of the Daily Nexus, La Vista.

She previously interned in the San Francisco Bay Area with Telemundo 48, The Press Democrat and their Spanish sister-paper, La Prensa in Sonoma County.

Flores grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area before moving to Santa Barbara.

Reach Pricila at pflores@noozhawk.com.

Jack Dindia, staff writer

Jack Dindia joined the Noozhawk team in 2026 after graduating from UC Santa Barbara with a bachelor’s degree in communication and sociology with a journalism minor.

During his time at UCSB, he was the lead news editor for the Daily Nexus, the school’s student-run newspaper. He was also a literary intern for the Seymour Publishing Agency, as well as a campus tour guide.

He grew up in the Yosemite area before moving to the Central Coast.

Reach Jack at jdindia@noozhawk.com.

Claudia Delgado, sales & marketing manager

Claudia Delgado joined Noozhawk in 2025 with nearly four decades of media and advertising experience on the Central Coast, including leadership roles with the Santa Ynez Valley News, Santa Maria Times, and Lompoc Record.

She has a strong background in helping local businesses grow through creative marketing solutions and community partnerships, and she’s excited to bring that expertise to Noozhawk.

A longtime Lompoc resident, Claudia lives with husband Ralph, and has two adult daughters, Gabriella and Ana.

Reach Claudia at cdelgado@noozhawk.com or call her at 805.456.7213.

Justin Souza, digital sales executive

Justin Souza was born and raised in Santa Barbara and joined the Noozhawk team in June 2025 as a Sales and Marketing Assistant. He quickly grew in that role and is now a Digital Sales Executive.

He graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a degree in marketing.

In his free time, Justin enjoys hiking, working out, surfing, and mixing music.

Reach Justin at jsouza@noozhawk.com or call him at 805.456.7268.

Jasmin Frausto, sales and marketing associate

Jasmin Frausto became a part of the Noozhawk team in 2024, starting as a Sales and Marketing Assistant, and was promoted to Sales and Marketing Associate in 2026. She studied at Cal Poly, Pomona, where she obtained a degree in business administration and marketing.

Jasmin was born and raised in Santa Barbara, and in her free time she loves to stay active, travel to new places, and to cook new recipes.

Reach Jasmin at jfrausto@noozhawk.com or call her at 805.456.7196‬.

Marcia Heller, associate editor

Marcia Heller is a copy editor, occasional columnist, and editor of all things labeled “news releases.”

A graduate of Southern Illinois University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in communications, Marcia has a long career in community journalism.

She has worked as a reporter for Paddock Publications weekly papers in Chicago’s northern suburbs; served on the copy desk for the Miami Herald’s Neighbors Sections in South Florida; was a copy editor at the Santa Barbara News-Press; and did everything from gathering and writing news stories to sweeping the floors at the Summit County Journal in Breckenridge, Colorado.

Claiming “retirement is overrated,” in 2016 she rejoined the workforce after a few years of leisure to be part of the Noozhawk team.

Marcia and her husband P.J., a photojournalist, have two daughters and three grandchildren, who all live in Boulder, Colorado.

Reach Marcia at mheller@noozhawk.com.

Michelle Nelson, associate editor

Michelle Nelson has been with Noozhawk since its earliest days, joining the team in 2008 and serving as managing editor until 2015.

She previously was a copy editor and digital editor for The Register-Guard in Eugene, Oregon.

She graduated from the University of Oregon with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in political science.

She also holds a master’s degree in teaching from Pacific University.

Michelle and her husband, Pete, have two grown sons.

Reach Michelle at mnelson@noozhawk.com.

Karin Hill, associate editor

Karin Hill has been a freelance writer and part-time editor for Noozhawk since 2023. Originally from San Jose, she graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with a degree in journalism in 2002. While there, she served as news editor, opinion editor and copy editor for the campus newspaper, Mustang Daily, and as a copy editor for The Tribune. She went on to be a reporter for the Times-Press-Recorder in Arroyo Grande, covering city governments in southern San Luis Obispo County.

After a move to Arkansas, she spent several years at The Jonesboro Sun, earning the Arkansas Press Association’s Outstanding Young Journalist award in 2010. She also served as a journalism instructor at Arkansas State University.

Most recently, Karin was the editor of a newspaper in Fountain, Colorado.

Currently, in addition to her Noozhawk duties, the mom of four is an avid photographer and can be found out in nature searching for wildlife or at the soccer field photographing her kids’ games.