Kathryn Weedon is the associate editor/community relations director for White Publishing Company.
WHAT DOES THE COMPANY PRINT?
Jacksonville Magazine is the company’s signature piece, which is supplemented each February by the Ultimate Entertainment & Menu Guide. The semi-annual First Coast Bride & Groom was added under Weedon’s watch and the Jacksonville & the Beaches Visitors Guide is printed quarterly. Jacksonville Design, an annual publication focusing on interior design, is the latest endeavor and will be moving to a semi-annual format.
WHERE DO STORY IDEAS COME FROM?
“Once a year the entire staff gets together and we have a brainstorming session. The main features are set out each month so the salespeople can inform potential advertisers. Our editor, Joe White, has just become editor/publisher. He sets the editorial calendar along with our marketing director.”
WHAT IS YOUR ROLE?
“I handle sponsorships, primarily with non-profit groups, and advertisements. I also handle the Week of the Working Parent. It’s held in July and we name the top 25 family-friendly companies. My first job was to be the liaison between Family Care Connections and Jacksonville Magazine and coordinate this event. I grew the event from a luncheon recognizing only five companies.”
GET OUT THE RED INK PEN
“I’m associate editor, too, which is what I see as my most valuable role. I do the editing for all the publications. Proofing is not something that gets seen but I enjoy that very much. Some people might think it’s tedious. I guess I’m like a frustrated English teacher; I get satisfaction from making sure things are as close to perfect as possible. It’s challenging to me to make sure all the publications go out free of errors. It irks me to see errors in print. There’s so many these days. I even see them in Time and People.”
HOW HER POSITION EVOLVED
“I got into this because of community relations and my community contacts through volunteer work I had done. It’s true that volunteer work pays. The magazine then was very thin. Distribution has grown; we reach over 60,000 readers. When I started, I wrote the fashion column three times a year and the community calendar. I started the RSVP column, which is probably where I am most visible. The first issue I had six black and white pictures. It was primarily a social column. What I’ve tried to do is make it a forum for nonprofits to get additional publicity for their fundraisers and get more people to participate.”
SHUTTER BUG
RSVP’s pictures come from Weedon’s vintage camera. She honed her photography skills by taking snapshots of her children. “I never had any photography classes. This is just a little point and shoot camera; I’ve had it for probably 20 years.”
VOLUNTEER EXTRAORDINARY
While her children were growing up, Weedon was a homemaker who spent her remaining hours volunteering for various charitable causes. Leadership positions have included affiliations with Junior League, Community Connections of Jacksonville, Wolfson Children’s Hospital Women’s Board, Leadership Jacksonville and Assumption Church Council of Catholic Women. Currently, she is on the board of Bishop Kenny High School, participates in Jacksonville Community Council, Inc. and Volunteer Jacksonville and sits on the 2002 Cowford Ball committee. She has also served as a docent at the Museum of Science & History and as a children’s liturgy teacher at Assumption Church.
HOMETOWN
“I was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, but I’ve lived here since the third grade.”
EDUCATION
She has a bachelor’s degree from Spring Hill College, a Jesuit school in Mobile, Ala. “I majored in English because I did not know exactly what I wanted to do. I felt English was a good liberal arts education. I never realized I would end up in a job like this where I was specifically using my degree.”
GLOBE TROTTER
Weedon’s academic efforts included studies at Loyola University in Rome, where she got “bit by the travel bug.” She packed her bags to work as an international flight attendant with Pan Am Airlines. Later, she served as a travel agent at Wharton-Williams Travel Agency.
GAINFULLY EMPLOYED
Other positions Weedon has held include community relations director for the short-lived Jacksonville Family magazine, director of corporate sales for the Bausch & Lomb Championships and secretary to the dean of the College of Education at the University of Florida.
PERSONAL INTERESTS
Tennis, playing bridge with her neighbors or traveling are her favorite distractions. At home, she prefers watching the movie “Gone with the Wind” or re-runs of “Seinfeld.” Asia de Cuba in New York City is her choice of dining spots.
FAMILY
She and her husband, Gerald, a local attorney, live in a 1940s Colonial Manor home near Grenada. They have three children: Lauren, a writer/associate editor for seventeen.com, and two sons in college, James and John.
WHO’S YOUR HERO AND WHY?
“The Pope because I’m Catholic. I admire the fact that even though he is in ill health, he is still traveling to countries, spreading God’s word.”
—by Monica Chamness