Where Carrie works: CityBeat While this may be bold, we can’t help but think Carrie would work right here at CityBeat, writing a weekly dating column for the single and looking in Cincinnati. She’d be on a freelance basis, of course, as her schedule is too packed with social and fashion events to be stuck in an office all day. We can see her sashaying into our Race Street office once a week, making an appearance and then getting on with her day. Photo: Hailey Bollinger

Change is hard. And making the decision to actively change something — and to follow through with it — is even harder.

Today is my last day as Editor-in-Chief at CityBeat, a bittersweet statement to type.

I took over the role in 2018 but have been with the newspaper since long (long) before that. I started here as an intern back in 2006, and I’ve now worked here for more years than the paper had even existed when I first stepped foot in the office (CityBeat launched in 1994 and had been around for 12 years in 2006; I’ve been here for 16).

I did leave for a stint to edit art books, plus I started my own women’s magazine under the CityBeat umbrella, but I always came back because I wanted to work for this paper more than anything. I wanted to uphold and contribute to its legacy and its role as an alternative weekly, to do everything I could to make sure it would continue to exist, to advance the spirit with which it was started.

So to have served as CityBeat’s Editor-in-Chief for the past four years has truly been an honor. It hasn’t been easy — navigating the pandemic, losing beloved staff members, gaining new staff, adapting, the workload. But the paper is still here, thanks to extremely hard work from dedicated employees and freelancers, and ready to enter its next iteration.

Starting Monday, Ashley Moor will be taking over as Editor-in-Chief. She was most recently with Dayton.com and the Dayton Daily News covering arts, culture, dining and entertainment. She also previously served as the Editor-in-Chief at Dayton’s now-shuttered alt-weekly, the Dayton City Paper. She will be joining the current editorial team of Managing Editor Allison Babka, Digital Content Editor Maggy McDonel and Calendar Editor/Writer Sean M. Peters. Hopefully, some additional names will be joining that roster soon.

My goal has always been to ensure that CityBeat continues, to avoid the fate so many other print publications and alt-weeklies have faced in recent years. And in my time, I’m proud to have helped revolutionize our digital presence, increase readership and set us up for continued success in an ever-evolving media landscape. But I didn’t do it in a vacuum. I am thankful for our readers and cheerleaders, and I am thankful for every single person I’ve had the opportunity to work with over the past 16 years — my co-workers, designers, freelancers, former editors, all of our interns and publishers (publisher Tony Frank is actually celebrating his 17th anniversary with CityBeat today).

CityBeat wouldn’t be what it is without the hard work and contributions that every single staff member and freelancer has put into this publication since 1994. I won’t name everyone, but if we’ve worked together — and for all of those who came before me — I appreciate you and your value and your talent. I’ve made some of my best friends and some of my best memories here. And I will most definitely cry as I leave today.

But I’m ready to hand the wheel over to someone else. I’ll still be hanging around here in some capacity, but I am excited to see what happens next for CityBeat and what this team can accomplish — this time from the crowd and not from the driver’s seat.

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This article appears in Apr 6-19, 2022.