Hi Reminder readers, Assistant Managing Editor Payton North here. You might recognize my byline from the articles I contribute to the East Longmeadow Reminder, or my occasional article in the Chicopee Herald, Agawam/West Springfield Reminder and Original Pennysaver.

Or, you may remember my semi-controversial column in December that revolved around Christmas music and the feelings of joy that I associate with the tunes, along with my burning desire to celebrate the holiday season from Nov. 1 through December.

Most recently, you may have seen my welcome column to our special section in the Feb. 13 editions of our free weeklies, known as the Community Outlook.

Or, you may not recognize my name or myself at all – that’s fine. Truth be told, I don’t love “the limelight” or being someone who is necessarily recognizable – hence, my foray into print journalism rather than broadcast journalism.

With that being said, my bosses over here at Reminder Publishing – General Manager Fran Smith and Managing Editor G. Michael Dobbs – asked if I would consider publishing my own editorials on a more regular basis. Before any of you get concerned on the wellbeing of Mike, don’t worry – he isn’t going anywhere. He’s alive and well (though he may disagree with the “well” part at times). The two Reminder Publishing overlords are simply looking to add in a younger voice to our opinion columns. And, well, to make me more “known” to readers.

To be frank – I’m not sure how I feel about that. Any time I go to events or to lunch with Mike he’s constantly recognized by members of the public.  People will walk right up to him and say “I read your column every week,” or “I see you at events all the time,” etc. They’re usually pretty positive about it when they see him – most people prefer to leave their negative comments to anonymous emails or letters.

I suppose I like to live my life with a slight amount of anonymity myself. Though I should have picked a different career path if that was what I truly wanted.

I thought I would start my first of regular columns by telling you all a bit about myself. I figure that there should be some sort of baseline for readers to understand who I am and my background before I start offering my opinions up to everyone.

I began my college career in 2013 at Holyoke Community College (HCC). When I was a senior in high school, my parents insisted that I go to a community college to earn my associates degree first, prior to transferring to a four-year school. Their reasoning was I would be taking mostly general education courses that I would take at any college, for a fraction of the price. They were right. I’m eternally grateful. I graduated from HCC in 2015 with an Associate in Arts and Science with a focus on Communication. Thanks, Mom and Dad.

I then moved on to Springfield’s Western New England University (WNEU), where in 2017, I earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication-Journalism with a minor in Philosophy.

I started working for Reminder Publishing as a freelancer while I was completing my senior year at WNEU, and I was lucky to transition into the position of Assistant Editor and primary reporter for the East Longmeadow Reminder two days after I graduated.

Seven months after I began full-time at The Reminder, Chris Maza announced that he was going to be leaving his position as Assistant Managing Editor of our publications to move onto working in academia. I distinctly remember Mike sitting me down and explaining that he likes to promote from within if possible, and he felt that I had the writing chops and organizational skills to fill Chris’s shoes. Again, I am eternally grateful.  

From then on, it’s been a bit of a wild ride. Advance Publications/The Republican purchased this company in the summer of 2018, which led to a breath of new life in the office. With that purchase came Fran Smith, who has a strong love for both community news and creating a community within our office.

From July of 2018 on, we’ve experienced significant growth. When I began writing for Reminder Publishing in 2017 we had a total circulation of about 24,000. Today? We’re at 104,000. That type of growth simply doesn’t happen in the newspaper industry anymore – but it’s happening here. Last summer, in July of 2019, we purchased The Westfield News Group, and with that we gained numerous publications, added new members to our Reminder family, and former members of our Reminder family came back to us.

At some point, I decided my life wasn’t hectic enough and I applied for a public relations masters program at WNEU. Heck – if single parents (or parents in general) can go back to school later in life while working full-time, having families to take care of and relationships to maintain could do it, I knew I could pull through. I did push through – but wow, it was hard. I give anyone who goes back to school later in life an exorbitant amount of credit.

Anyway – I completed my master’s degree in December, graduating summa cum laude. A lot of people ask why I decided to pursue a public relations degree instead of journalism. There are a multitude of reasons, but one of them is how it has assisted me in my current position at The Reminder. I learned a lot about “the other side,” being public relations managers who send reporters press releases about their events. It provided a lot of perspective. I also spent a significant amount of time focusing on social media, building an online presence and growing an audience of younger people, which is something that Reminder Publishing will be focusing on as we move forward.

In summary: yes, I am young. I’m turning 25 this summer.

Yes, I am young to have this job title and position. I’m fortunate to have bosses who see potential in me and don’t discount me for my age or lack of prior experience to this job.

Yes, I am a little hesitant to be writing a column as a young person to a – primarily – middle aged and aging audience. I’ve found in the past that I have been discounted for my age, and occasionally my gender and appearance. I’m not trying to get political on you all – it’s simply the truth. I also wonder if people from older generations necessarily care about what a 24 year old woman thinks, as frequently, I hear the snide “those millennial’s!” comments when referencing the generation that I am (borderline) apart of. Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that this goes both ways, I hear people around my age say “okay, boomer” all too often in an attempt to be funny and discount the older generations thoughts.

I usually ride the line between being a 24-year old and a 64-year old. I love going out with my friends or boyfriend for an occasional night out. I also love coming home to my family, having an early dinner, hopping in my pajamas and going to bed at 8 p.m. - 9 p.m. if I’m feeling spicy. While I relate to my young friends, I also relate to and respect the heck out of my baby boomer parents and both sets of my silent generation grandparents, which is part of the reason why I enjoy spending time with them so much.

I guess what I’m trying to say here is – my bosses have been kind enough to give me a soap box to stand on, and I hope you all will be kind enough to do the same. I’m sure we won’t always agree, this is an opinion column after all, but I look forward to hearing from readers regardless of that fact. I think agreeing to disagree is something that we could all practice a little more of in this day and age. We all have much to learn from one another, no matter what age we are.