Sun Has a New Publisher

…and it is I. This press release went out all over the world today, with this loverly photo.

Alameda Sun Names Publisher
Founding editor returns as publisher, exec editor

ALAMEDA, CA: The Alameda Sun and its parent corporation, Stellar Media Group, Inc., have named Julia Park Tracey as publisher and executive editor of the newspaper. Tracey will also oversee book publishing, business development and marketing, event management and community outreach. Tracey is the founding editor of the Alameda Sun and is also one of the owners of the publishing company.
“We are glad to have Julia back at the helm,” said Eric Turowski, CEO and general manager of the Sun. “She brings a great deal of experience and will be an asset in all the newspaper’s departments.”
“Julia provides leadership for our talented staff and we feel she represents the Sun in the community in the best light,” said Eric J. Kos, CFO and creative director of the company.
Tracey started the Alameda Sun with founding partners Turowski, Kos and James Spratley in September 2001. Spratley was the first publisher, Kos was creative director, Turowski general manager and Tracey (then Julia Park) was editor. Tracey was made a partner in January 2002. Spratley left the newspaper in 2002 and the company has been without a publisher since then.
Tracey left the newspaper for an editor’s position with Alameda and Oakland magazines in 2004, then led her own publicity firm, working with artists, performers and non-profits. Tracey has been acting editor at The Music Scene and co-editor at The East Bay Monthly since 2006. She left The Monthly to return to the Sun as publisher and executive editor.
“I’m very glad to be back on the Island full-time,” said Tracey. “I am passionate about this community and doing what I can to support it. I look forward to bringing new writers onboard, adding new features and continuing our tradition of a strong community spirit.”
Tracey, 44, a Bay Area native, becomes one of the few women publishers in the state of California. She received her BA in journalism from San Francisco State University and her MA in English from the California State University, East Bay. She was a longtime reporter, columnist and theater critic for the San Leandro Times and features editor at the Castro Valley Forum before leaving to found the Alameda Sun. She is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Tongues of Angels, founder of the Red Hills Review literary magazine and director of the annual Alameda Literati book fair. Her work has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle and East Bay Express, as well as in academic and literary journals and anthologies around the world. A collection of her poetry is forthcoming from Ankh Press, and her work appears online on several blogs.
Under Tracey’s guidance as editor, the Alameda Sun was named Best New Business by the Chamber of Commerce in 2002, a Shining Star in the Arts by the Alameda City Arts Council in 2003, and received recognition for public service from the California Newspaper Publishers Association (CNPA) for the Sun’s coverage of “The Most Racist City in America.” Tracey was the recipient of the Isle City Business and Professional Women’s LENA Award (Woman of the Year) in 2003 and was named Outstanding Chamber Member by the Alameda Chamber of Commerce in 2005.
She also received a CNPA Blue Ribbon award in 2005 for best column (“Modern Muse”), and was tapped for Best Editorial in 2005 by the San Francisco-East Bay Press Club; she was recognized by the same organization this year for Best Blog (“Modern Muse”).
Tracey comes from a family tradition of publishing; her father, William Park, was business manager and publisher at CM Publications in San Rafael, CA, which published Bicycling! magazine, SportsWoman (the first women’s sports magazine), Redwood Rancher and Dairy Scope. He was also a publishing consultant for Darkroom Photography and Super 8 in San Francisco as well as Trailer Life and Motor Home in Thousand Oaks before retiring from publishing in 1984.
Tracey is married to Patrick A. Tracey, director of human resources for CBR Systems, Inc., a biotech firm in San Bruno. They have five children and live in Alameda, CA.

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