#MediaMonday – Steven Totten
Steven Totten, Phoenix Business Journal
If you read the Phoenix Business Journal regularly, then you’ve probably noticed a new name attached to several stories – Steven Totten.
A fellow ASU graduate, he headlines this week’s #MediaMonday profile, our weekly columns dedicated to telling the stories of the media rather than just pitching to the media. Think of it as your first “networking” opportunity of the week!
So, Steven, time to share!
What do you want to tell the blogosphere about yourself today?
I joined the Phoenix Business Journal in 2015, and have a wide range of beats:
- Retail
- Restaurants
- Hospitality
- Tourism
- Aviation
- Nonprofits
- Small business
As for pitching me, numbers are always a good thing – data and statistics are always encouraged, as well as opportunities for exclusives.
Also, I prefer email as the first point of contact for pitches, like most of us in the media today. And, if you are planning to blind copy me on a news release or mass pitch though – please re-think it. I really do pay attention to who actually tries to connect a story with my beat or personalizes the message to me rather than just sends data at-will. I am also up for meeting in person if we will most likely work together often – if I have met you in person and we have established a relationship, I’m more likely to remember your pitches.
Beyond writing on business in Arizona, I was/am a long-time contributor and columnist for Sounds and Colours. While I do not write as often for them anymore, my focuses were pretty unique as I wrote articles relevant to South American culture, reviewed albums released by South American musicians and even ran a column about Peruvian cultural icons. I actually served as editor for a book the outlet published called The Sounds & Colours Guide to Peru as well. As you can tell, I’m personally and professionally very invested in Latino/Latin-American culture and communities. Before joining the Phoenix Business Journal, I also wrote for the Arizona Republic for several months.
Outside of the office, I am an Arizona native and very passionate about Phoenix’s growth as a city. I grew up in North Scottsdale and graduated from Desert Mountain High School. I earned my bachelor’s degree in English from ASU and master’s degree in Mass Communications from ASU’s famed Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Between my undergraduate and master’s degrees, however, I taught English in Peru and was a Spanish-language preschool teacher for Head Start here in Phoenix.
Also after I earned my graduate degree, I had the chance to stay on at ASU on contract, serving as the managing digital producer of “America’s Weed Rush,” an investigation of marijuana legalization in America through the Carnegie-Knight News21 program. This is a national multimedia investigative reporting project produced by the nation’s top journalism students and graduates each year. I also served as the managing digital producer of the Cronkite Borderlands Initiative, which was part of a Cronkite program wherein students report on border and immigration issues in the United States and other countries.
In my spare time, I am a hard core comic book fan. More specifically, I’m an old-school X-Men fan, but currently enjoying a lot of Image Comics’ releases, especially a series called Saga.
Please feel free to reach out with great stories via email stotten@bizjournals.com or on twitter here.
