Other newsrooms are contracting, but the universe of Streetsblog is expanding.
On Monday, the seven-person Streetsblog newsroom added a seventh: New Engagement Editor Emily Lipstein.
Lipstein (pictured above) will be in charge of day-to-day operations of our multiple local and national social media accounts (follow NYC and USA on X, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn), hanging out on Reddit, plus producing new video content on TikTok and YouTube.
And that's both for StreetsblogNYC and StreetsblogUSA!
Lipstein has been devising social media strategies for news organizations for the past 10 years. Most recently, she was the social editor covering tech and science news at VICE's Motherboard, where she co-hosted a weekly podcast and Twitch show, and produced TikToks that occasionally made people in Utah very upset.
"I think it's great that I'll get to ride my bike around the city on company time," said Lipstein, when asked what excites her most about this new role. "I got new bullhorn handlebars and SPD pedals for my commuter bike so crossing the Manhattan Bridge will be slightly less nightmarish on a six-speed from the 1980s."
Lipstein said she's hoping to use the viral power of social media to get more New Yorkers engaged in the fight to make our city safer.
"I'm hoping that can be done best through fun videos and slick editing, but if doing a goofy dance gets someone to care about keeping Berry Street car-free, then I guess that's my contribution to the cause."
Originally and begrudgingly from Long Island, Lipstein spent her teenage years painfully aware of LIRR's Port Washington Branch schedule. After a brief four-year stint in Chicago's Hyde Park — where she decided against becoming an urban ecologist — she moved back to New York. Lipstein now lives in Brooklyn with her roommate, their two cats, and her two bikes. When she's not on the bike, she enjoys watching YouTube videos about themed entertainment and religious schisms.
Given Lipstein's title, we're hoping Streetsblog readers — both on our local site and, of course, on our national site, StreetsblogUSA — engage with her as a two-way street. She can be reached at emily@streetsblog.org or through our comments section, which she will be mining daily for your tips, suggestions, critiques and reasonable discourse.
Lipstein joins a booming staff that now includes:
- Gersh Kuntzman, editor in chief
- David Meyer, deputy editor, Streetsblog NYC
- Kea Wilson, senior editor, Streetsblog USA
- Dave Colon, senior reporter, Streetsblog NYC
- Jesse Coburn, investigative reporter, Streetsblog NYC
- Kevin Duggan, reporter, Streetsblog NYC
- Sophia Lebowitz, reporter, Streetsblog NYC
Not to mention a hardy band of freelance reporters, plus our colleague Clarence Eckerson Jr. making his United Nations-award-winning videos for Streetfilms.
And don't forget the Streetsblog summer intern Class of 2024: CUNY Journalism students Ibrahim Hersi and Jackie Zamora (pictured):
So if you go into a Street War, make sure you have the right army with you — Streetsblog.
