The Towne Post Network is pleased to welcome Devon Dean as our new Director of Digital Services. A veteran former local journalist with several major awards to her name, Devon comes to us after more than a decade as a digital marketing writer and strategist with a focus on SEO and storytelling.
Devon has a degree in journalism from Bradley University and worked at radio stations in South Bend, Indiana, Peoria, Illinois (twice), Ottawa, Illinois, and New Orleans, Louisiana, before moving to Indianapolis two decades ago. Devon was awarded a regional Edward R. Murrow Award and the Louisiana Associated Press “Best Sports Report” award at WWL-AM in New Orleans in 2003 and the Indiana Associated Press “Reporter of the Year” award in 2007 while at WIBC Radio. She also served as an Assignment Manager at WXIN-TV and has been published previously in the Towne Post, Indianapolis Monthly, and Nuvo Newsweekly.
Devon was born and raised in Elkhart, Indiana. She currently lives on the northwest side of Indianapolis with her husband Michael and three lab mixes, Callie, Boone, and Shy. In her spare time, Devon trains Brazilian jiu jitsu at Chris Howe BJJ in Zionsville at the rank of purple belt, fosters for Love of Labs Indiana, and enjoys running, music, and watching sports.
Okay, now you have the basics about me, let me add some color. I am the one writing this after all.
Most of the info you read above happened before I turned 30. My radio career ended rather unceremoniously at 33 and I landed in the ecommerce copywriting and digital marketing space in early 2012. This was at the same time Indianapolis hosted its first (and only) Super Bowl. We need to get on that train again. I’ve spent some time in marketing and PR agencies, learned quite a bit about what works, what doesn’t, and made some absolutely stellar friends.
I played roller derby on and off for a decade before switching to jiu jitsu full-time in 2017. I am one of a handful of women, one of the smallest adults, and one of the older people at my gym.
Every morning, I wake up and ask a critical question: “Am I sore from combat sports or sleeping weird?” Honestly, it could go either way.
I love football. When I lived in New Orleans, I was a part of the New Orleans Saints Radio Network for two seasons. Each week, when the Saints would work in the community, I’d produce, write, and record a two-minute feature that would air each week on all the stations in the network from the Texas coast to the Florida panhandle.
Follow that up with a certain Purdue graduate making hell freeze over by bringing the Lombardi trophy to the Saints in 2010 and I am now a #whodat for life. For context, my husband also graduated from Purdue and was around during “The House That Drew Brees Built.”
I am an unapologetic nerd. I saw “Episode IV: A New Hope” at age two, before “The Empire Strikes Back” dropped. I have a large collection of “Star Wars” plush, including an old school set of Ewoks rescued from my parents’ house after my Dad passed away in 2016 and a Wampa Ice Monster rug my husband gave me as a gift.
I also love the MCU and one of my all-time favorite movies is the first “Avengers.”
My Mom was a singer and piano player. While tone deaf, my Dad just loved music and claimed to be the first person in Northern Indiana to have heard of a then-unknown band called The Rolling Stones. They both loved Bob Dylan.
I grew up with music constantly playing in my house. As a result, I love music and have a savant-level ability to guess songs within three seconds. I’m hoping one of the producers from “Beat Shazam” sees this. My passion for music was a large reason I pursued broadcasting initially, although the universe and my boss at WCBU, the NPR affiliate in Peoria/my student worker job, had other ideas. Feel free to ask me what I am listening to on any given day because it’s like the weather in the Midwest – it’ll change as the day rolls on.
Okay, that’s enough prattling on about myself for the moment.
I am looking for your story ideas – hit me up at info@townepost.com. We have some very exciting projects in the works, so keep your eyes peeled and ears open for updates on the Towne Post website.
