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Wednesday, October 10, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
The people behind The Nugget ...
Lisa May knew she had
some big shoes to fill when
she took her new position at
The Nugget. For 18 years,
Teresa Mahnken had been
the first person folks saw as
they came into the newspaper
office, and she managed the
office with a sure and steady
hand. The public and the staff
alike loved her.
May stepped into the role
two-and-half-months ago,
and has already made it her
own.
She manages classified
advertising, coordinates
the inserts that go into the
paper each week, handles
subscriptions and the events
and announcement sections
of the newspaper. She also
acts as a kind of traffic con-
troller, guiding those who
interact with the paper to the
right person to help them.
She also does some design
work to back up the two staff
designers.
The opportunity to work
at The Nugget arose at a
moment of transition for
May, as her twins were
just getting set to leave for
college.
“Jess (Draper) told me
about it and it was perfect
timing,” May said. “I was
looking for a full-time job.”
Finding engaging work in
her hometown was a boon.
“I didn’t even look for a
job in Sisters because I didn’t
think I’d find a job that would
be a good match,” she said.
But after interviewing
with The Nugget staff, she
knew it would, in fact, be a
good match.
Draper said she thought of
May for the job because of
her “diverse qualifications,
amazing attention to detail —
and patience.” Draper, who
manages production, said
that May has “far exceeded”
her expectations.
May and her family
moved to Central Oregon
from Portland in 2002. They
initially wanted to live in
Sisters, but instead found a
house in Tumalo. The schools
here pulled them toward the
west.
“By 2005, it was ‘this is
where are kids are going to
school whether we live there
or not,’” she recalled.
After four years as inter-
district transfers, the family
moved to Sisters in 2009. In
all, four May children went
through Sisters schools.
School and church connected
May with the Sisters commu-
nity — and she’s found that
working at The Nugget has
Lisa May
provided a whole new set of
connections.
“There’s a whole segment
of Sisters that I’ve never
met, that I read about in The
Nugget and now I meet them
on a weekly basis,” she said.
May was a weekly reader
of The Nugget, even when
she lived in Tumalo, and like
many parents, enjoyed see-
ing her kids make the paper
for their grades or in a feature
story. Freelancer Kit Tosello
did a profile on one of her
daughters.
“That was a big deal,” she
said. “We cut it out for the
scrapbook.”
Now that she’s involved
on a daily basis, she has a
new appreciation for the role
of the paper, and she enjoys
being part of it.
“I never really thought
about how important The
Nugget is to the people in the
community,” she said. “It’s
a connecting thing for the
community.”
She appreciates the sym-
biotic relationship created by
a free, ad-supported paper:
the businesses that adver-
tise make the paper possible,
and the readers, in turn sup-
port the businesses with their
trade.
“I guess I never thought
PHOTO BY JESS DRAPER
Lisa May has stepped into a critical post at The Nugget —and made it her
own, with skill, attention to detail and a welcoming smile.
about who’s paying for this
free Nugget we get every
week,” she said.
The work is challeng-
ing, especially on Monday’s
deadline, when everything
happens at once.
“You never get bored,”
she said. “You don’t have a
chance to get bored, because
you have to move on to the
next thing.”
In just two-and-a-half-
months, May has taken a
complex and critical job and
put her own stamp on it, fill-
ing a challenging role and
adding her own skills and
capabilities to the mix.
“I thought it was going to
be very difficult — almost
impossible — to find the right
person for that position,” said
editor Jim Cornelius. “Turns
out, Jess had the right person
right there in the wings, and
the timing was just right for
her to take it on. Not only is
she a quick learner and she’s
really good at everything she
does, she’s a great fit with the
rest of the crew. We got very,
very lucky to be able to bring
Lisa on board.”
THANK YOU to all our readers who have let us know
how much they enjoy reading The Nugget.
We are honored by your appreciation and support!
The Nugget
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PHOTO BY GARY MILLER