Lisa Bertagnoli

What do you do? I am a full-time freelance writer, living and working in Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood. I currently write lifestyle features and cover nonprofits for Crain’s Chicago Business as well as contribute to AARP Bulletin, CreditCards.com, and write for a number of custom publishers. I also wrote a book, Scarlett Rules: When Life Gives … Continued

Gary Belis

Gary Belis, BJ ’77, proudly showcases a letter from Donald Trump on his kitchen wall. After he wrote a review of Trump’s first book in 1988 for Fortune magazine, describing Trump as “the finest example we have of materialism, ambition, and self-love among the baby boomers,” Trump let him know that he thought it was … Continued

Valon Beasley

What do you do? As an entrepreneur, I increase revenue for and exposure of businesses by building their brands. As an educator, I’ve taught junior high and high school students English and Journalism while leading professional development workshops and coordinating events. How did you get your job? After earning a masters in English Education from … Continued

Terry Bauman

What do you do? I retired as a stockbroker in 2002. Prior to earning an MBA, I worked in corporate communications and marketing communications for a life insurance company for 11 years. How did you get your job? I got my job by networking through a professional organization of business communications professionals. What made you … Continued

Jenn Ballard

What do you do? I am the education reporter for The Sentinel-Record in Hot Springs, Ark. How did you get your job? I found it on journalismjobs.com before I had finished my journalism degree. What is the best professional lesson you learned at the J-School? I don’t think the journalism school teaches you how to … Continued

Jesse Baker

It was a love of storytelling that first brought Jesse Baker to the Missouri School of Journalism. And, by any account, she had plenty of stories to tell. From living in Hawaii, backpacking through Europe, sleeping for a night on the streets in Brussels, spending time in Lithuania, traveling up and down the Pacific coast … Continued

Gail F. Baker

Life on the Leading Edge: The Story of Dean Gail F. Baker, PhD ’91 Gail F. Baker, PhD ’91, APR, Fellow PRSA (Public Relations Society of America), calls it the highlight of her career thus far. She began the 2006-07 academic year as the newly appointed dean of the one-year-old College of Communication, Fine Arts … Continued

Meredith Artley

Senior vice president and editor-in-chief of CNN Digital Worldwide Meredith Artley, BJ ’95, has nothing but fond memories of Missouri. “I am proud to be Missourian,” says Artley. “I love the university and the state and what they stand for.” Having grown up in what she describes as a “tight-knit, very social neighborhood” in North … Continued

Howard Alexander

What do you do? For the past five years I have been running a speakers’ bureau for a three-hospital medical center in Scottsdale, Ariz. I arrange for medical experts to discuss health and wellness topics with local civic groups. You might say I’m the “casting director” for the hospital system. How did you get your … Continued