Verizon Media appoints Carly Williams and Alicia Vrajlal to editor positions on HuffPost
Huffpost parent company Verizon Media has started investing in HuffPost’s Australian presence again, with the appointment of two new editors – Carly Williams and Alicia Vrajlal.
Williams has been named senior editor for HuffPost Australia, while Vrajlal is taking up the position of editor.
Carly Williams (L) and Alicia Vrajlal (R) are joining the team at HuffPost Australia
In the senior editor position, Williams will lead the Australian editorial operations for the platform and oversee the local team. She will report to global managing editor James Martin in London, while both she and Vrajlal are posted in Verizon’s Sydney office.
Both Williams and Vrajlal are moving across from other positions inside the Verizon Media business. Williams joins from branded content arm Ryot Studio where she worked on campaigns for Amex, Flight Centre, 20th Century Fox and Kim Crawford Wine.
Williams has over ten years experience as a journalist, working with outlets including Pacific Magazines, Australian Associated Press, Southern Cross Austereo and Yahoo Lifestyle.
Vrajlal joins from Yahoo Lifestyle where she was entertainment editor. She also worked at Daily Mail Australia as senior showbusiness reporter and contributing writing for Mail Online India. She’s also the founder of diversity blog Draw Your Box.
Louise Roug, HuffPost global executive editor said Williams was the perfect choice for the role considering her experience in both editorial and commercial.
“We’re thrilled to have Carly onboard as senior editor of HuffPost Australia. Her background and experience within both the editorial and commercial side of the business made her a great fit for a people-first brand like HuffPost.
“She has a great story to tell, and through her professional life she’s proved to be someone who can connect with audiences and brands in a real and impactful way.”
Of her appointment, Williams said, “I am excited to be a part of a progressive news platform like HuffPost. I look forward to recording and sharing the compelling stories of diverse and often unheard Australians as well as bringing a local lens to global issues.”
HuffPost Australia was launched as a joint venture with Fairfax and landed heavily in the Australian market, hiring around 30 team members. AOL, now owned by Verizon Media, was left alone when the joint venture ended, resulting in mass redundancies across the team.
Since then, the platform has largely relied on repurposed international content, but it claimed that going forward, the focus will be on identity, sustainability and topics including gender, climate change, green living and wellness and mental health. The team has also recently been joined by Josie Harvey, who came across from Storyful to focus on US trending news. Nick Visser is the fourth member, covering US breaking news.
HuffPost lost former editor Josh Butler, who was appointed in February 2018, in March of the same year, only to appoint David Barden in September who left for 7News.com.au where he is now senior front page editor.
topics
Alicia Vrajlal
Carly Williams
Huffpost
HuffPost Australia
Louise Roug
Ryot Studios
Verizon Media
Yahoo
Yahoo Lifestyle
Verizon is currently shopping Huffpo – this is just bizarre and I had always presumed Mumbrella was better than this.
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Hi Duncan,
Fair point (to an extent). We probably bought into the PR angle a little too strongly with the headline. This has now been amended.
Given how extensively we covered what was essentially their exit from Australia, any new appointments are news worthy, and more investment than they put into the brand when they were letting everyone go.
The bottom half of the story does detail HuffPost’s ups and downs here, but you’re right that this wasn’t properly balanced at the top.
Thanks for the comment and for flagging,
Vivienne – Mumbrella
Hopefully HuffPost’s new owners take on the new appointments. Timing of appointments and news must be a little scary for them…
https://www.ft.com/content/6e80c144-f1fb-11e9-ad1e-4367d8281195
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