Dear Reader:

This week marks our two-year anniversary and, with it, some exciting news.

Thanks to a generous investment from Google News Initiative (GNI), we are hiring a director of revenue, effective immediately. This person will spearhead our sponsorship and advertising program, as well as help us continue to increase our revenues from reader memberships. If you aren’t already a member or patron, now would be a great time to become a monthly donor!

Launched in 2018, GNI has helped more than 7,000 news publishers across the globe build a stronger future. GNI has committed upwards of $80,000 so we can attract a candidate eager to help us achieve financial self-sufficiency. This person will work closely with our publisher to secure advertising partners, as demonstrated by our recent sponsored post from Downtown Roanoke, Inc.

In March, we wrote, “Our long-term success relies upon our ability to attract both advertisers as well as new free subscribers who become paying members.” The ability to hire a revenue director marks a transformational step toward achieving that goal.

Please spread the word about this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to grow a local news startup into a financially thriving media outlet. A full job description can be found at this link.

As we embark on our third year, I also want to reflect on some of our journalistic accomplishments over the past 12 months:

• We broke new ground in investigative stories — from our reveal on how Greyhound pulled out of occupying a Roanoke station built especially for the bus company; to financial and personal drama at Virginia Children’s Theatre; to how city officials are exploring how to restore the Mill Mountain Star, which could include wholesale replacement.
• We earned numerous awards from the Virginia Press Association for our reportage, including for our series beginning in the fall of 2022 on how the Democratic-controlled Roanoke City Council advocated to roll back criminal justice reforms put in place at the state level by Democrats and the subsequent backlash.
• We brought you up-to-date on Roanoke’s cultural and culinary happenings, including a look at 4 New Food Trucks You Need To Try, the city’s craft cocktail scene and the story behind Roanoke’s uplifting elevator museum.
• We dedicated a special issue to the climate crisis, spotlighting how Roanoke’s climate is changing, how “climate refugees” are relocating to the city, how Roanoke plans to reduce carbon emissions, and more.

With our new revenue director, we look forward to bringing you more local Roanoke journalism that you won’t find elsewhere — or will find here first — for years to come.

Thank you again for your readership and support.

Sincerely yours,

Henri Gendreau

Publisher and Editor-in-Chief
The Roanoke Rambler
Local | Investigative | Literary
editor@roanokerambler.com