Cary, NC – BlueLena is pleased to announce that Ashley Woods Branch has joined as Vice President of Growth and Publisher Success. As a member of our leadership team, Ashley will lead the growth of our publishing community, support client and industry success by developing and leading strategic initiatives that advance long-term sustainability, and grow association and platform partnerships that benefit our client community. She begins in the role on Monday, June 3rd.
Most recently, Ashley has served as Executive Director for the Fund for Equity in Local News (FELN), where she partnered with the Google News Initiative to support over 240 publishers through Transformation Tech. The program provides a digital curriculum, coaching and grant-funding to accelerate digital transformation for English and Spanish-language community publishers.
With over two decades of industry experience as a journalism founder, leader, executive and consultant, Ashley has been at the forefront of driving growth and success for hundreds of news organizations, large and small. In 2017, she founded Detour Detroit, one of the first local newsletter startups, which served as a model and inspiration for many other successful newsroom launches across the United States. Ashley was awarded a visiting Nieman fellowship at Harvard University, a Marshall Memorial Fellowship, and numerous awards for local journalism and innovation.
Daniel Williams, CEO and co-founder: “We are thrilled to welcome Ashley to our leadership team. She brings an entrepreneurial spirit, energy and inspiration, years of hands-on experience as a founder and operator, and a proven track record for helping hundreds of publishers learn, grow and succeed at every stage along their journey to sustainability. In just four years, BlueLena has assisted nearly three hundred independent news organizations with technology, strategy consulting and professionally managed services. But there is much more work to be done, and I’m delighted that Ashley will be part of this wonderful, talented team to help confront the many challenges and exciting opportunities ahead.”
Ashley is passionate about supporting news founders. She currently serves as a LION Publishers Sustainability Audit analyst and coaches Press Forward applicants through a partnership with The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. She’s also served as a coach and advisor for numerous programs designed to equip founders with the business and strategic skills they need to achieve sustainability. A highly respected thought leader, she is a frequent convener, speaker and moderator at industry conferences.
Ashley attended Wayne State University and lives outside of Detroit with her husband and three children.
About BlueLena:
BlueLena was founded by an experienced team of publishers, journalists and newsmedia marketing executives to create a sustainable future for independent local media. We do so by deploying world class technology, and delivering the expertise and professional services to build and support subscription, membership and donation models for long-term success.
In the short time since our founding in early 2020, we have quickly grown to support leading community-based media brands coast-to-coast across the United States and Canada, including in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, San Francisco, Detroit, St Louis, Boston, Indianapolis, Denver, Tamp, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Charlotte, Little Rock, Washington, D.C., and many other markets.
Our 200+ member publishing consortium represents a diverse mix of non-profit and for profit newsrooms, pure digital and print plus digital publications, as well as established and new media brands. Our clients represent membership with Local Media Association (LMA), LION Publishers (LION), the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN), the Black Press Association (NNPA), the National Association of Hispanic Press (NAHP) and the Association of Alternative Newsmedia (AAN).
We facilitate the sharing of best practices through a weekly newsletter, a community Slack channel and monthly Zoom meetings where we spotlight success stories from across the BlueLena publisher consortium.
BlueLena is founder-funded and backed by investment from Automattic (owner of Newspack), Local Media Association and Old Town Media, a New York-based firm that has supported the American Journalism Project, The Colorado Sun, Block Club Chicago and Chalkbeat, among other successful media-related projects.