Sarah Blazucki, who has helmed PGN for nearly six years, will step down later this month.
Blazucki, 37, is headed to Washington, D.C., where she will take a position as a writer-editor at the Peace Corps, starting Sept. 24.
Her last PGN issue will be Sept. 21.
Blazucki, a native of Baltimore, holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communication, with a concentration in journalism and a minor in women’s studies, from Towson University. She started at PGN as a staff writer in March 2006 and was appointed editor in October of that year.
She said that one of her greatest obstacles, and ultimate achievements, was enhancing PGN’s reputation within the local LGBT community.
“My biggest challenge was rebuilding the ties with the community,” she said. “Coming into the job, I recognized that there were people who wouldn’t talk to us, who didn’t trust us and I didn’t know why. So I had to figure out who wouldn’t, why they wouldn’t and fix that. The paper needs to be the voice of the community and if people don’t talk to us, then we’re ineffective.”
Shortly after taking over, Blazucki held a series of editorial board meetings with dozens of community leaders to garner their input on the direction of the paper.
“I got people to come in and talk about what they’ve experienced with the paper, how they felt and how we could do a better job,” she said.
She also strove to heighten the publication’s professionalism and, under her tenure, PGN has won 37 awards.
Mark Segal, PGN publisher, said, “Sarah took PGN from being an award-winning publication to being one of the nation’s best. Her integrity and ethics were something that made me as a publisher proud every single day. Not only are we at PGN losing an editor, we are losing family and a friend. It is heartening to know that she will always be a member of the PGN family.”
Blazucki said the position has prepared her to work well with diverse communities.
“I honed my skills in working with lots of different constituencies — readers, business owners, people who work for nonprofit organizations in the community,” she said. “I’ve had to be able to understand what they need but also convey how and why we do what we do, and build and engender trust.”
Outside of PGN, Blazucki is a résumé writer for The Resume Place and served on the board of the Philadelphia chapter of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. After serving as an at-large member for the national NLGJA board since 2010, she was elected vice president of print and digital media this summer.
