About Ryan Jerz

I’m 33 years old and a 2007 graduate of the Reynolds School of Journalism’s Interactive Environmental Journalism Masters Program at the University of Nevada, Reno. The program focused on innovation as a tool to get citizens to participate in the public process through journalism. Not to get too heady, but the key, as we found, was in the way stories and issues are framed.

I am married to Christy and we have two kids, The Boy and The Girl. We’ve been in Reno for the past 14 years and have built pretty good lives here. We have friends we love and we like the area. We take part in community events, care about schools, love downtown, and love the Wolf Pack.

I’ve had a presence on the Web since 1999 in various ways. My current site is mrjerz.org, a blog I use to practice writing for an audience, occasional journalism, general malcontentedness, and testing out new things. I’m also working on a local lifestyle site about Reno that I hope to turn into the definitive information destination for the area. If you know something, contribute.

Finally, as I write this, I am a week away from beginning my new career. I’ll be a writer for the Nevada Commission on Tourism. My duties will consist of writing copy for the website, writing copy for brochures and other materials, and maintaining a blog about the state with the purpose of making people want to come here. I think it’s about perfect. I love writing, I love Nevada, and the way marketing is moving fits right in with my skill set. I’ll be shooting video, collecting audio, shooting stills, and putting all of it online to show the world what Nevada has to offer them. This site will be well-informed about what I’m doing there, and I hope that I can hear suggestions for cool places to promote from all of you.