University of Mississippi journalism graduate creates publication on Gulf Coast Seaside Social News

A journalism graduate from the University of Mississippi has started an online publication on the Mississippi Gulf Coast that features its people and culture.

Amanda B. Compton-Ortiz, who moved from Memphis to Mississippi with her family at the age of 12, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of Mississippi in 2002. Today, she is the Founder / editor of Seaside Social News, a positive online news source she created as a tribute to the Mississippi Gulf Coast where she now resides.

She was previously the editor of the Long Beach Breeze in Long Beach, where she lives with her husband and two German Shepherds.

While his career in journalism has offered incredible opportunities over the years, from flying with Air Force pilots to exclusive interviews with influential leaders in his home country and across the world, Compton -Ortiz said she relishes the connections she makes the most in the communities she serves. The founding of Seaside Social News was its ‘pay it forward’ style coupled with its mission to promote positivity.

“By combining the professions of photography and storytelling, we will bring the best of the Gulf Coast to our readers,” she said. “We hope you will feel a sense of community as you venture through our stories of the bustling life of the coast.”

Seaside Social News debuted on July 31, 2019.

“Sometimes in the world of reporting and publishing we get bogged down in the drudgery of the daily news,” she said, “but Seaside Social News allows us to explore the fun and colorful side of news. region.

“In each online edition, we will feature interesting people and places in our communities. We will chat with musicians, entrepreneurs, city and county leaders and others. We will spotlight local businesses and organizations. We’ll also be taking tons of photos of people attending area parties and special meetings and events to help illustrate the best of who and what makes our beloved towns special with photos featuring our neighbors. , friends, colleagues and who knows, maybe even you.

Compton-Ortiz was recently recognized as one of Gulf Coast Woman Magazine’s “100 Successful Women in 2020”. She said she was also selected by the local American Cancer Society as the 2021 Shuck Cancer Gulf Coast Laureate. As one of 17 Mississippi Gulf Coast professionals tasked with raising funds to fight cancer, her work benefited a Mississippi Community Transportation Grants program that provides grants to health systems. premises to help transport patients to treatment facilities.

She said her career as a journalist was shaped in the early 2000s by UM professors such as the late Stuart Bullion and Samir A. Husni, aka “M. Magazine”, among others founder and director of Innovation Magazine. Center.

“My journalism career began as a student reporter and photographer at Ole Miss’s The Daily Mississippian., ” she said. “I have had the opportunity to work with some incredibly talented people and a special series of reputable publications across the state, many of which have been major hits in print media and have successfully passed into the era of Internet.

Some include The Democrat in Senatobia, his first reporting work as a summer intern; and the DeSoto Times-Tribune in Nesbit, where she worked in the mid-2000s as a reporter and photographer under the newspaper’s former name, DeSoto County Tribune, with then-editor Layne Bruce, who is now the executive director of the Mississippi Press Association.

“Having had the opportunity to study inside the university’s historic Farley Hall which is home to the School of Journalism and New Media and to earn a degree in the newspaper industry at a time when print publications were booming and where the practice of ethical journalism was at the forefront to now manage my own online publication in today’s rapidly changing digital world endowed me with a set of unique skills, ”Compton-Ortiz said.“ I feel I have a lot more to bring to my profession, as well as a more comprehensive approach as I strive to meet the needs of our readers and to do posting something that I and my team of writers and photographers can be proud of. “

During her time as a journalism student at UM, Compton-Ortiz said she was nominated for Who’s Who among colleges and universities in 2001. And in 2002, she said she was was ranked second in the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications Student Magazine Competition in the Individual Magazine Start-Up Category out of 224 universities competing in the United States and Canada for Reach, an 86-page, personally designed women’s magazine.

She was a member of the University’s Professional Journalists Society (Sigma Delta Chi). That same year, she said she received a journalism scholarship from the late Terry Keeter, a UM graduate and longtime political reporter for The Commercial Appeal.

In October 2016, she moved from Holly Springs to Long Beach.

“Although I have always been aware of the horrible storm and its devastation in the area, seeing the remains for myself, in person, I planted a seed; one that has continued to take root deep in my heart, ”she said. “A seed that I discovered and that I share with many others here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. One who continues to grow through connections with people who are truly proud of their community by supporting small businesses, participating in service projects, school and municipal activities, churches and charities, by volunteering, keeping their parks, beaches and neighborhoods clean, and so much more. “

Compton-Ortiz said seeing this daily is proof that she is where she should be.

“I feel honored to be part of such a strong network of places and people who will not leave when the seas get rough or when the going gets tough,” she said. “They will rise up, they will recover, they will rebuild and they will prosper.

“It is this strength in the community that makes me excited for another day in life on the Mississippi coast and proud to have continued my work as a journalist. I am proud to join the multitude of others who live, work and share the possibilities of the future. Like-minded people who have the courage to weather the storm, not once, but twice.

“I’m referring here to Hurricane Camille which made landfall in August 1969. And I have no doubt they would do it hundreds of times if that was the right thing to do. Thank you, Coastal Mississippi, for teaching me the meaning of true love for the community. Can’t wait to return it.

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