With relish, she covers education, wolfs down hot dogs

By MARLA KORENICH
USFSP Reporter

SARASOTA – At 10:30 on a Friday morning, she left the Sarasota Herald-Tribune office with purple streaks in her blond hair, an interrobang tattoo on her ankle, and a smile.

An interrobang is a question mark and an exclamation point together.

“It’s my favorite symbol. It explains my life,” she said.

Shelby Webb describes herself as enthusiastically curious. Her actions cause reactions, she said.

“People are always saying, ‘Really? What are you doing?’” she said.

Webb, 24, is the education reporter for the Herald-Tribune, and has been there for almost three years. She is a fifth-generation Floridian, born and raised in Sarasota. She graduated from the University of Florida in 2013 with a bachelor’s in journalism.

Following graduation, she applied to 90 papers. Only two responded. The Herald-Tribune was one of them.

This morning she is headed to Bradenton for an interview.

“Just so you know, my friend spilled a beer in my car, and it smells terrible,” Webb said.

Despite the smell, Webb’s quirky attitude keeps things rolling.

“I didn’t think my hair would turn out so purple, but no one has said anything about it yet, so I think it is okay,” she said.

At B’Towne Coffee Company shop in Bradenton, Webb met with three employees of Manatee County government to talk about an upcoming convention designed to get millennials more involved in local government.

The convention will include “cosmic shuffleboard,” and Webb went off on a tangent about hipsters and shuffleboard. She made a lot of jokes to keep the conversation going.

Rachel S. O’Hara, a Herald-Tribune photographer, joined to take photos and shoot video for Unravel, an online publication of the Herald-Tribune for young professionals in the Sarasota-Bradenton area.

To get a photo of the three government staff members in the street, Webb ran out into the middle of the road behind O’Hara to make sure no cars were coming.

“Hey, you watch the other side of them! I am depending on you,” Webb yelled.

Back at the office an hour later, Webb looked at the 13 red steno notebooks spread out on her desk.

“I don’t even know which one has the notes I just took,” Webb said.

There is also a stack of newspapers about 2 feet tall.

“I was going to do something with them, but I’m not sure what,” she said.

Also on her desk is a trophy in the form of a dog holding a hotdog atop a Grey Poupon jar.

“We did a hotdog-eating contest to boost morale in the newsroom,” she said.

Webb ate three hotdogs and buns the fastest, to the dismay of Katy Bergen, a reporter in the next desk.

There are 100 desks in the office, but only 15 had people in them. There was only one editor in sight.

Like virtually every other American newspaper, the Herald-Tribune has dramatically cut staff in recent years, but the empty desks don’t worry Webb anymore.

“I used to be worried, but they know I am a workhorse and pump stories out,” she said.

Webb talked on the phone with her editor, Victor Hull. She had to add some paragraphs to a Lakeland Ledger story to make it relevant to the Herald-Tribune.

“He’s the best editor I’ve had,” she said.

A previous editor would rewrite her stories, she said, but Hull is easier to work with. She thinks she has become a better writer since her start in 2013.

“I think they just gave up on you,” quipped Scott Davidson, a fellow reporter.

While getting a quote to add to her paragraphs, Webb talked to an official who alerted her to a government meeting next week.

“See, this is why it is so awesome. I called to get a quote, and he tipped me to a story idea,” she said.

When she writes stories, she said, she starts from the top down.

“I don’t like to leave an interview if I don’t know what my lead is going to be,” she said.

Several times during the day, Webb said how much she loves her job.

“Every day is different,” she said. “I get to meet people, learn new things every day. I know what’s going on in the county without trying.”