My New Beat – Wendy Hargreaves

Wendy Hargreaves started as a cadet journalist when typewriters, ash trays and hot metal presses were still in regular use. She has reported on health, education, politics, police, courts and sport, becoming Deputy Chief of Staff at the Herald Sun before leaving her post to have two kids. She continued as a freelance writer for the age(melbourne) magazine and the Green Guide, taking a brief stab at producing breakfast radio at Triple M before returning to News Ltd as the Sunday Herald Sun’s online editor. Wendy also launched the paper’s first dedicated food section.

Like dozens of her colleagues, Wendy took redundancy from the Herald Sun in 2013 (when the company decided to nationalise its food coverage out of Sydney). Within days of leaving, Wendy seized on the Herald Sun’s coverage hole and launched a Melbourne-centric online guide to food/fun/travel called 5 of the Best, taking her 10K social media followers along for the ride. The site has been a monetised digital magazine since its launch, with advertisers and sponsors keen to reach the 60,000 readers visiting the site every month.

Wendy also has a regular 3AW segment about food, along with a thriving career as a keynote speaker telling her story of reinvention and resilience at events and conferences across Australia.

Next year, it will be 30 years since Wendy started as a cadet journalist with the Geelong Advertiser.

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Have you become redundant from a media organisation since 2007?

If so, we’d love to hear what you’ve been up to so we can share it in our new “My New Beat” section. In up to 200 words, let us know something about the new work you’ve found in the media, or how you’re applying your skills elsewhere. You can also attach a pic (jpg only) or link. Please email both the text and image to l.zion@latrobe.edu.au.