Sarah Bennett is a professional journalist, editor, designer and publisher who experimented in the field for nearly two decades before entering education and advising student media.
She brings with her to the classroom extensive experience in both print and digital media as an innovation-focused daily reporter, newsroom manager, weekly columnist, freelance producer, multiplatform consultant and community-centered journalism leader.
In addition to covering news, music, food, art and hidden cultural communities for a variety of hyperlocal, regional and national publications, Sarah was the longtime design director of L.A. Record, a founding editor of Beer Paper L.A. a food editor of L.A. Weekly and managing editor of the inaugural issue of theLAnd Magazine. For two years, she hosted and edited a popular weekly food podcast, Suppertime in the LBC and has self-published dozens of personal zine titles under her own small press, Cerebellum Studios.
Sarah began her career at Santa Ana College, writing and editing for the award-winning el Don student newspaper and started freelancing for her local alternative weekly while still a student. After transferring to the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication, she earned a BA in Communications and an MA in Specialized Journalism with an emphasis on arts and music criticism, all while editing local media and maintaining bylines in the L.A. Times, Los Angeles Magazine, CNN, Paper Magazine, NBC News, Thrillist, L.A. Weekly, OC Weekly, Culture Magazine and more.
After graduation, she became the executive editor of the Long Beach Post, where she implemented new digital strategies that turned the former political blog into one of the city's most respected online news outlets. She has since consulted with a handful of newsrooms to help them develop news products with audience engagement and growth in mind.
When she's not teaching full-time at Santa Ana College, Sarah remains active in building local opportunities for media experimentation and self-publishing. She co-founded PLACE LB --a volunteer-run community print studio, zine hub + DIY media lab --and is on the board of Long Beach Public Media, which manages low-power FM station KLBP. She is a co-founder of the Long Beach Zine Fest and believes everyone should exercise their right to a free press in a free society.
