Resume
Benjamin Sumner’s Resume
Employment
Gunaxin Media LLC – Gunaxin.com
Staff writer, Jan. 2009-present
- Humor/pop culture/music writer for a ‘guys’ site that registers about 1,000,000 unique users a month
- Articles I’ve written have been referenced by Entertainment Weekly, Sports Illustrated, AOL TV and USA Today. They’re also frequently on the front page of Digg.com.
- Served as Gadgets Section Editor, focusing on developing content on computers, electronics, vehicles, games and toys.
- Produce and edit videos
- Interview celebrities and athletes, and participate in podcast discussions
- Expert on WordPress Blog Tool and Publishing Platform, and Search Engine Optimization
Fansided.com Sports Blog Network – CapitalsOutsider.com
Senior staff writer and editor, March 2009-present
- With press box and locker room access, I write about the Washington Capitals of the NHL. Articles I’ve written have been referenced by washingtonpost.com, team owner and former AOL executive Ted Leonsis, and many other sites.
National 4-H Council
Content Migration Contractor June 2010-Sept. 2010
- Helped migrate content and develop the new 4-H website
Orbitz
Production Editor Nov. 2005-Jan. 2010
- Managed categorization taxonomy
- Managed inbound and outbound syndication feeds
- Implemented Search Engine Optimization strategies to increase page views
- Editorial contact for CMS implementation and content cleanup/conversion strategies
- Wrote travel articles about Ethiopia, Senegal, Hawaii, and Israel
Washington Post-Newsweek Interactive – washingtonpost.com
Editorial and Site Tools Specialist, Editorial Operations Jan. 2004-Oct. 2005
- Helped set editorial requirements for site’s content management system
- Brainstormed and developed tools using Access 2000, Visual Basic and SQL
- Implemented and set requirements for Teragram search functionality, categorization and taxonomies
- Managed content for syndication
- Home page news producer – Saturdays
Producer Jan. 2001-Dec. 2003
- Edited and distributed daily News E-mail
- Automated dynamic pages using Oracle 8i SQL queries
- Maintained key words list for site search function
- Wireless technologies – helped put The Post on Sprint PCS and AvantGo
- “Detective” for site-wide problems – tracked them down and alerted the proper departments
- Home page news producer – Saturdays
Sports Producer Oct. 1998-Dec. 2000 (returned in 2007 to help out prior to the death of my former boss, Bill Grant)
- Collect and rank articles, make links, write kickers, teasers, captions, blurbs and headlines, input pictures and graphics, and make sections presentable under deadline
- HTML, XML and JavaScript coding – construct special pages and templates
- Converted sports site from HTML pages to the company’s dynamic publishing system Feb.-May 2000
- Occasionally interviewed and wrote articles about the Washington Redskins and Washington Capitals
On-Site Sourcing Aug. 2000-Nov. 2000
- Part-time coder. Input data from legal documents into search engines, provide quality care
Cable News 21 Intern from college, Summer 1997
- Wrote scripts for a half-hour news cast
- Assisted reporters and producers with news gathering
- Edited tape for news broadcast, including SOTs and VO-SOTs
The Diamondback, the University of Maryland student newspaper
- Commentary page weekly columnist, Summer 1996
- Commentary page biweekly columnist, Spring 1997
- Articles covered a wide-range of topics, especially social, political and economic issues.
WMUC radio 650 AM, 88.1 FM.
- Intern from high school, Fall 1993 to Spring 1994
- DJ from Fall 1993 to Spring 1996
- Public affairs engineer and producer, Fall 1993-1995
- Public affairs talk show host, Spring 1995-Summer 1996. Weekly 1/2 hour talk show included debates, interviews, discussions and solo commentary
- News department, Spring 1997
Paint Branch literary magazine
- Business editor, 1993-1994. Financed the magazine by convincing local businesses to advertise in the award-winning publication
Model Home Interiors
- Warehouse and clearance center worker, June 1994-Feb. 2000
Volunteer Work
- Restore a Child
- Montgomery County Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Advocate for the best interests of abused and neglected children March 2003-May 2005
- Kibbutz Kfar Hanassi Volunteer kibbutz worker and Ulpan student, Summer 1998
- Volunteered with children at Page Elementary and Duckworth, 1993-1994. Helped and encouraged students to succeed in school.
Education
University of Maryland at College Park
Majored in Broadcast Journalism and minored in English. Graduated May 1998. Some classes I have taken:
- Television news production. Shot, edited, wrote and produced news packages
- Radio news production
- Writing for the mass media, instructed by Jody Brannon, also my former supervisor at washingtonpost.com
- Editing for the mass media, instructed by Mike Dorsher, a former coworker and my reference at washingtonpost.com
- 12 credits of Hebrew (Also spent two months in Israel)
- 12 credits of fiction writing (wrote a novel titled “Tormentcaches”)
- Screenwriting (wrote a screenplay titled “The Reliever”)
- Attended Robert McKee’s Story Seminar.
Skills
- HTML
- WordPress Blog Tool and Publishing Platform
- Adobe Photoshop
- iMovie (Mac movie software)
- Microsoft Access and other MS products
- SQL
- Custom taxonomy logic
- Database Management
Activities
- Silver Spring Martial Arts Club, 1994-present
- Roller and Ice Hockey, 1996-1997, 2001-present
- D.C. Kickball 2008
Hobbies
- Wrote a novel titled “Tormentcaches,” which is about a group of campers stranded on an island with a savage tribe. Wrote a screenplay titled “The Reliever,” which is about a young man and a group of vigilantes who set out to prevent murders
- My short stories are available online.
References available upon request.
