You may notice a new byline in the Chilkat Valley News this year. Ceri Godinez will replace Jenna Kunze as the weekly paper’s full-time reporter.

Friends and family wanted Godinez to take over the Skagway News when they heard she would begin a career in journalism in Alaska. That’s after the biweekly made national headlines when owner and publisher Larry Persily announced he would give it away to the right candidate.

“‘Why aren’t you buying the paper for zero dollars and going down to work there?'” Godinez laughed, imitating a typical remark.

“And I was like, ‘I don’t know the first thing about running a paper!'”

But Persily was involved in her first steps as a journalist. He’s the University of Alaska Anchorage Atwood Chair of Journalism, and he recommended Godinez to Chilkat Valley News publisher Kyle Clayton.

Clayton says that he didn’t even need to post the job. Persily’s recommendation and a strong interview with Godinez sealed the deal.

Godinez majored in Film and Media Studies at Yale, so it wasn’t until she enrolled in Persily’s class that she took the first steps to becoming a full time reporter. She is originally from Los Angeles, and an avid rock climber. After college, Godinez lived out of her car and climbed daily.

“It was pretty great, although I think it’s nice to have a purpose beyond rock climbing. I think that’s when I realized I couldn’t do the dirtbag lifestyle and have that be… for me it wasn’t particularly fulfilling,” she said.

So Godinez took a job as a legislative aide for Representative Matt Claman. She lived and worked in Anchorage and Juneau for a couple of years before taking the job in Haines.

“I’ve always had this idea in the back of my mind that I wanted to get paid to write. And I started taking a class at the University of Anchorage in journalism,” said Godinez.

“When you work as a legislative aide you write things for your boss and you want to sounds like your boss and I want to write my own things and sound like myself.”

Chilkat Valley News hired Godinez in November, and she arrived in Haines on Friday, January 10th. Publisher Kyle Clayton says it’s going well. Her first local stories will appear in this week’s paper.