Educating, Raising Awareness, and Empowering
through the stories of Auburn
Launched in 2017, the award-winning Auburn Examiner is a local independent news outlet focused on educating, raising awareness, informing and empowering through the stories of Auburn, Washington.
UPDATE: In July, 2023, it was taken over by South King Media, a family-run, independent, award-winning, local news website publishing company run by Scott & Theresa Schaefer.
The Auburn Examiner’s goal is to be a conduit for information to our readers, providing a platform for discussion and discourse generated from it.
Our number one priority continues to be telling Auburn’s stories and doing it well. There will be stories the Auburn Examiner does not run that other outlets do. We are an independent outlet with limited capacity. When the Auburn Examiner launched, our standard was quality over quantity. This has not, and will not, change.
Read about the Auburn Examiner publishing policies, our funding sources, and how you can help support local independent journalism.
Meet The AE Team
The Auburn Examiner team is comprised of a core group of regular unpaid volunteers who consistently contribute and provide support to the outlet. With the exception of Auburn Examiner founder, Elizabeth, these individuals all have full-time jobs or outside obligations. Elizabeth does the bulk of the writing (and subsequent work associated with articles) and management of the outlet. Additional articles, research, social media content, photography, video, and other miscellaneous work are provided by volunteers.
Want to become a contributor, submit a guest article, or support the Auburn Examiner? Send us an email contact (at) auburnexaminer.com.
Elizabeth Miller – Founder and Editor
Elizabeth Miller is the founder and editor of the Auburn Examiner. Wanting to see more in-depth local news coverage, Elizabeth launched the site in 2017, allowing her to publish without the restrictions of word counts, package minutes, or deadlines.
In her role as editor, Elizabeth drew upon her previous experience as an editor of a quarterly newsletter and successful court blogger to deliver accurate, fair, and quality journalism. Since launching the Auburn Examiner, Elizabeth has advanced her skills and experience through courses and training with the Society of Professional Journalists, the Radio Television Digital News Association, and the University of Pennsylvania.
Outside of the Auburn Examiner, Elizabeth is an avid Washington Capitals fan (#LetsGoCaps!), mental health advocate, and promotes pet blood donation. She may be one woman, but she’s got one hell of a Mary Poppins’ bag full of resources that’s seriously hard to contend with.
Scott Schaefer – Publisher/Editor
Publisher/Editor. With three National Emmy Awards for Writing on “Bill Nye the Science Guy” and a veteran in TV/video/film, multimedia, marketing/advertising, technology and the internet, Scott first started The B-Town Blog as a hobby and has since turned it into a full-time business called South King Media.
His previous credits include as a Director on “Penn & Teller:Bullsh*t!” (Showtime), “The Arsenio Hall Show” (Paramount), “Sightings” (Paramount), “Totally Hidden Video” (Fox), “America’s Funniest People” (ABC), Fox On-Air Promotions and KING-TV’s “Almost Live!” where he got his start. To learn more about him, visit https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottso/ or http://www.scottso.net.
Theresa Schaefer – Sales Manager
Scott’s wife joined him in 2012, and she handles Sales and Marketing/Promotions. Previously she served as a member of the Victorinox Swiss Army Sales Management team.
Theresa is a veteran sales and marketing professional – with deep customer service experience honed at Nordstrom – who is ready to help your business. Email her for our Media Kit.
John A. Huguley – Reporter
John A. Huguley is a published author, a freelance editor, and a journalist for various Puget Sound news outlets. In addition to multi-genre writing, John loves photography and has an archive of over 200,000 personally taken photos, some dating back to the 1970s.
John is a native of Washington state. He says much of his creative writing and photography, is inspired by the beautiful Pacific Northwest. With no destination in mind, John will often head out the door with his laptop under one arm and camera under the other, not knowing what he will encounter.
When the weather is nice, you may find John riding one of his motorcycles along country roads. Occasionally stopping along the way to capture a photo or two.
John is passionate about investigating facts and promoting equality. He will never turn down the opportunity to do either.
Learn more about John or view his photography at www.johnhuguley.com
Contributors:
The Auburn Examiner also has regular contributors that either have specific focus areas or provide content on a less frequent basis.
James Rodgers – Poetry Corner
We are amazingly lucky to have Auburn’s Poet Laureate James Rodgers Special to the Auburn Examiner to provide insight into Auburn’s poets. We also get a little poetry, which is pretty neat too.
James is a prolific poet living in Pacific, for more than two decades, and has been in the Pacific Northwest his entire life. While James prefers humor, he writes all kinds of poetry, having been published in multiple publications. He also has three self-published chapbooks. James is a very talented and respected poet with a long-time commitment to Auburn’s literary arts community and we’re thrilled to have his contributions to the Auburn Examiner.
Solen Aref – Reporter
Solen recently reduced her time with us from a regular team member to whenever she’s able. Unfortunately for us (really, more you), Solen is returning to WU for her final year and she’s been interning at King5 (while also working a fulltime job, of course). This means our chances to work with her are far fewer. But we take what we can get!
Solen currently studies broadcast news and political science at Washington State University. Her dream job is to become a t.v. news reporter in Seattle one day- the same t.v. stations she grew up watching endlessly as a child.
Learn more about Solen and follow her personal blog at: sincerelysolen.com
Cameron Thrall – Financial Contributor
Cameron Thrall is an Auburn-based Edward Jones Financial Advisor. He has a BA in International Studies and an MBA. In addition to his Series 7 and 66, Cameron is also an Accredited Asset Management Specialist.
When not helping clients make smart financial decisions, Cameron can be found cheering for the best NHL Hockey team (the Capitals) or local favorite the Seattle Thunderbirds. Cameron and his wife are also avid fliers, flying both airplanes and helicopters. You can reach Cameron at his new Edward Jones office on 3rd Street NW in Auburn.
Karen Meador – Local History
Karen realized at a tender age she had a serious obsession with history when the idea of visiting the San Juan Capistrano Mission was more appealing than a trip to Disneyland. Since then, she’s researched and embraced the heritage of each place she’s lived from Northern Norway to South Mississippi.
Long active in the heritage community, she served on the Board of the Association of King County Heritage Organizations and the Citizen’s Advisory Committee for the King County Historic Preservation Program. She’s discovered, written, and lectured about a variety of topics, the most notable being the history of the Fort Steilacoom to Fort Bellingham Road. Her award-winning brochure, ‘Military Road: A Lasting Legacy,’ has created interest in many previously-overlooked aspects of local history as well as the network of military roads that contributed to the settlement of the Pacific Northwest.
Her work has appeared in numerous venues, including Pacific Northwest Magazine and Columbia: The Magazine of Northwest History.
Karen enjoys exploring heritage sites of all genres, ‘hiking to history,’ discovering new restaurants, classic car shows, and vintage fashion modeling.
Six – ‘Unofficial’ AE Mascot
Six is Elizabeth’s task-trained service dog and the ‘unofficial’ mascot of the AE. He is a three-year-old German Shepherd. In addition to being a service dog, Six is also a blood donor with the Blue Pearl Community Blood Bank. Six might love to work, but the minute his vest comes off he is a completely different dog, releasing every ounce of energy he has on his dog and cat brothers. He’s vocal, he loves his pack, and is the ultimate German Shepherd goofball.
Note: there are times, events, and locations you may see Elizabeth without Six. The decision of when and where to have Six assist her is entirely up to Elizabeth. This decision is neither up for discussion nor does anyone have a right to question it.
Former AE Team Members:
The Auburn Examiner is built and runs on the passion, dedication, and knowledge of our team. We wouldn’t be here without all of them. We’re always sad to see our volunteers move on, but can’t help but to be proud when they move on to bigger and better waters.
Lindsay Hicks – Reporter
Lindsay wrote for the AE while she attended classes at NYU (remotely) for her journalism graduate degree. As amazing as she is, even Lindsay couldn’t work full time, go to school full time, work a full-time internship at CBS and write for the AE. We were sad to see her go, but are so proud of her!
Scott Sheridan – Real Estate Contributor
Scott provided the AE with regular weekly updates for Puget Sound real estate. Then the pandemic hit and well, we all know what happened to the housing market. We’ve confirmed he’s still alive and well, we can not confirm his sanity.
Waylon Menzia – Politics
Waylon wrote for the AE when we were just beginning, providing valuable summaries of council meetings and study sessions.
2020 Spotlight CONNECT Entrepreneur of the Year
The Auburn Examiner received the Auburn Area Chamber of Commerce 2020 Spotlight CONNECT Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
“The Entrepreneur of the Year Award recognizes an entrepreneurial business that is less than five-years-old and has made a significant impact in their industry and/or the Auburn Area.”
The award nomination statement read: “[Elizabeth] is dedicated to covering the local news in Auburn and disseminating important, hyper-local information to our community. Elizabeth is a recognizable face at all major, community events. She is also successful at utilizing social platforms to effectively engage with community members and promote various awareness raising and recognition campaigns, from National Latinx Business Day to Suicide Prevention Month. Through her efforts, she supports the local business community, nonprofits, and city departments.”
Kacie Bray, Auburn Area CONNECT CEO, presented the 2020 “Entrepreneur of the Year” SPOTLIGHT Award to Elizabeth Miller, alongside the AE “unofficial” mascot, Six, on Tuesday, October 27th, at the Auburn Area Chamber offices in downtown Auburn.