Make room for the story that can’t wait.

A two-sided business: a creative agency serving brand partners on one side, a newsroom on the other. Brands came to reach latino audiences credibly; the newsroom was the reason they could. Protocols existed but weren't findable or usable. The team had stopped initiating. The CEO was also chief creative — nothing published without her approval, in a company producing multiple pieces a day.

A two-stage editorial review gate, so drafts reached the CEO only at final instead of in progress. Weekly one-to-ones with nearly everyone — small team, full coverage — with support tailored per person rather than a blanket round of applause. Redeployment over recruitment: I assessed the team and moved people into the right seats before adding any. I made the protocols the team had already written findable and usable, so people could answer their own questions instead of tagging the CEO on every small thing.

On the commercial side, I owned advertiser delivery as account manager — weekly client contact, coordination across creative and data, accountability for on-time shipment. I ran vendor contracts end to end: rate, terms, draft, approval, close, legal review.

The content buffer went from hours ahead to five days ahead, which meant the newsroom could drop everything and chase news instead of being perpetually on deadline. It never hit the one-to-two-week target.

The CEO could step back. When she needed to, the team cut scope, made a plan, and executed it without her.

The writers' room was the CEO's system — I was liaison and ran onboarding into it, but I didn't build it. She opened and closed the advertiser deals; I managed and delivered them.

As of September 2026: the buffer never reached target, and the reason was upstream of operations. Culture problems don't get fixed by better process.