To whom it may concern:

When asked to resurrect Oklahoma City's alt-weekly newspaper in the wake of the pandemic in April 2021, I thought thrice about accepting the offer.

After conferring with the current creative director and Berlin Green, everyone agreed that she would assume the reins before year's end, which sealed the deal for me. Over the next six months, she learned not only her job, but the responsibilities and expectations of every single person within the company and filled the gaps, as needed, for an entire organization for a part-time wage of one before assuming her role in perfect stride during the holiday season. Without her, there would be absolutely no way that Oklahoma Gazette could have weathered a subsequent 18-month print run. She not only acted as a complete creative department on her own while managing social media for published stories, but also produced a significant amount of original content concurrently. She designed all of the newspaper's covers and also provided art for and/or penned a considerable number of newspaper stories for each issue before it succumbed to economic and inflationary pressures mid-2023. After having spent 20 years in print news, I can unequivocally state that Berlin Green will write a news story that needs only the lightest editing touch and will likely file it early too, which either makes us writers\editors look bad or accurately conveys her capabilities.

Furthermore, she offered to pivot the brand — without pay — towards a digital platform, which I refused. All of this to say, if Berlin Green believes in your brand, then she does so with ironclad resolve and will give more than what is reasonable, much less expected, to ensure your company's success.

No matter what was thrown at her (late/dropping ads, late/dropping editorial, newly-added in-house ad necessities, fresh content, or curveballs involving all of the above up to and including press day), Berlin fielded it flawlessly. She never missed a single deadline in her years of service, even when she had only minutes to work. She offered to take on tasks that weren't asked but also never said "no" to an assignment. And she made it all look easy.

Thanks for reading (or at least pretending to). I cannot truncate my praise for her work any more than what I managed above. Whatever you're going to pay her won't be enough, I assure you. She'll work as if you paid her twice as much.

If you'd wish to speak directly, I can be reached via email at mattmdinger@gmail.com or on my cell -- (405) 620-1458). Please text or leave a voicemail if I don't answer and I promise to respond in very short order.

Sincerely,
Matt Dinger
(former?) editor/publisher of Oklahoma Gazette