GILROY
– Colleen Valles, a former reporter and editor for The Gilroy
Dispatch, has returned to head the Lifestyles section for the three
sister papers known as South Valley Newspapers.
GILROY – Colleen Valles, a former reporter and editor for The Gilroy Dispatch, has returned to head the Lifestyles section for the three sister papers known as South Valley Newspapers.
The eight-year media veteran joined the news staff this week to bring a new focus to the section, which publishes each Friday.
“Colleen is a dynamic individual with really great newspaper experience,” Dispatch Executive Editor Mark Derry said. “She’s going to bring some energy and vitality to the Lifestyles section.”
Valles, 30, began her newspaper career at The Dispatch in 1998. She wore several hats during her tenure, first as the education reporter, then as sports editor and finally as the public safety reporter.
Valles left The Dispatch to report on Northern California agricultural and environmental issues for The Associated Press, until 2003. She recently returned to the Gilroy area from a seven-month stay in Europe.
“I’ve been wanting to move out of the news and into lifestyles and feature stories,” Valles said. “I know the community and the people a little bit. It’s going to be good for me to be involved when there’s so many changes going on. It’s going to be a lot of fun to build from the ground up.”
Valles will head the features section for The Dispatch, the Hollister Free Lance and the Morgan Hill Times, coordinating more focused local coverage. Valles will plan, edit and write feature stories for each community, as well as design the section’s pages.
“I think the pages will be fun, creative and compelling reading,” Derry said. “And that’s what we want – compelling stories for our readers.”
Valles said she is already thinking of ways to bring more of a community focus to each of the three newspapers.
“I’d like to get the schools involved more,” she said. “I’d like to focus more on the local agriculture and the things that are important here, like the wineries.”
