Stories About Nora Hertel
Local journalism is hard work. Help us carry the load
Through my first decade in the field, Nora Hertel could see that local audiences did not feel well served as the media grew more polarized, nationalized and negative. So, she left in 2021 and launched her own news organization, Project Optimist.
The highs and lows of launching multiple products in a news startup
Project Optimist launched with a single product and now works on multiple fronts.
How being a solopreneur has forced me to reckon with my limitations
Learning to set boundaries while I launch a news organization — amid a pandemic — is as important as learning to market and fundraise.
Founding The Optimist
Solution-focused journalism and community conversations for rural Minnesotans.
RJI announces funding for three of this year’s Tiny News Collective founding newsrooms
In partnership with the Tiny News Collective, which supports the development of collaborative community newsrooms, The Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) at the Missouri School of Journalism today announced the three startup news organizations it is supporting through a total of $300,000 in funding over two years.