Selene San Felice helped launch Tampa Bay’s much-read Axios newsletter, and she stayed within the company’s short brevity style in sharing some bad news this morning.
“1 big thing: Axios laid me off,” the University of Tampa alum posted on the-social-network-formerly-known-as-Twitter.
A memo from Axios CEO Jim VandeHei is also in the company’s bulleted style. It expresses sadness and says 50 positions have been eliminated to get ahead of changes in media. “This is a painful but necessary move to tighten our strategic focus and shift investment to our core growth areas,” he added.
San Felice’s byline was on this morning’s newsletter, and she told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that her last day will be Friday. She said Axios’ two other local reporters, Kathryn Varn and Yacob Reyes, are safe.
San Felice—an alum of Maryland’s Capital Gazette, 2018 Time Magazine Person of the Year, and Pulitzer Prize special citation recipient—got the news this morning on a walk with her girlfriend ahead of a 9 a.m. company meeting.
“Then no one logged on for the 9 a.m. meeting, and I saw a message like, ‘Oh, we're not having a meeting because of the news,’” she told CL. “And I checked my email and it was like, You are affected by the layoff. “My whole body is still hot and cold.”
Another company meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m.
At least three reporters at Axios’ local newsletters have been slashed, San Felice said, although it's still unclear who they are. National News Editor Emma Loop said she was also laid off, just over a year after taking a full-time job with the company.
For San Felice, the news brings back memories of being an intern at the Tampa Tribune when it was bought by the Tampa Bay Times.
"They were all being told, 'You all just lost your job. We are shutting you down, and we now own you.' I was emailing my editor Dennis Joyce and saying 'I'm really sorry, this is terrible news, but do you want my story?,'" she told CL in 2022.
She told CL that she was caught off guard by today’s news.
“We thought they were going to launch Axios Jacksonville, or something. We thought they were going to launch more. We had absolutely no idea. We've never had furloughs. We've never had pay cuts. They did a pay equity survey where they were giving people raises who weren't making as much,” she said, adding that the company also paid her well.
“The most you would imagine a journalist makes in this job. Now I don’t know what the fuck I’m gonna do,” she said about her salary, adding that one thing she would’ve done differently is taken the rumblings of starting a union more seriously “I really wish we had started something."
Axios’ Tampa Bay newsletter launched in January 2021, and several copycats have popped up in years since.
San Felice is nominated for “Best Journalist” in CL’s 2024 Best of the Bay awards, and still totally eligible to win.
Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.
Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
“1 big thing: Axios laid me off,” the University of Tampa alum posted on the-social-network-formerly-known-as-Twitter.
A memo from Axios CEO Jim VandeHei is also in the company’s bulleted style. It expresses sadness and says 50 positions have been eliminated to get ahead of changes in media. “This is a painful but necessary move to tighten our strategic focus and shift investment to our core growth areas,” he added.
San Felice’s byline was on this morning’s newsletter, and she told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that her last day will be Friday. She said Axios’ two other local reporters, Kathryn Varn and Yacob Reyes, are safe.
San Felice—an alum of Maryland’s Capital Gazette, 2018 Time Magazine Person of the Year, and Pulitzer Prize special citation recipient—got the news this morning on a walk with her girlfriend ahead of a 9 a.m. company meeting.
“Then no one logged on for the 9 a.m. meeting, and I saw a message like, ‘Oh, we're not having a meeting because of the news,’” she told CL. “And I checked my email and it was like, You are affected by the layoff. “My whole body is still hot and cold.”
Another company meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m.
At least three reporters at Axios’ local newsletters have been slashed, San Felice said, although it's still unclear who they are. National News Editor Emma Loop said she was also laid off, just over a year after taking a full-time job with the company.
For San Felice, the news brings back memories of being an intern at the Tampa Tribune when it was bought by the Tampa Bay Times.
"They were all being told, 'You all just lost your job. We are shutting you down, and we now own you.' I was emailing my editor Dennis Joyce and saying 'I'm really sorry, this is terrible news, but do you want my story?,'" she told CL in 2022.
She told CL that she was caught off guard by today’s news.
“We thought they were going to launch Axios Jacksonville, or something. We thought they were going to launch more. We had absolutely no idea. We've never had furloughs. We've never had pay cuts. They did a pay equity survey where they were giving people raises who weren't making as much,” she said, adding that the company also paid her well.
“The most you would imagine a journalist makes in this job. Now I don’t know what the fuck I’m gonna do,” she said about her salary, adding that one thing she would’ve done differently is taken the rumblings of starting a union more seriously “I really wish we had started something."
Axios’ Tampa Bay newsletter launched in January 2021, and several copycats have popped up in years since.
San Felice is nominated for “Best Journalist” in CL’s 2024 Best of the Bay awards, and still totally eligible to win.
Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.
Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
