CHARLOTTE, N.C. — This newspaper, qnotes, has been serving the LGBTQ community here and parts of North and South Carolina for 35 years. In that time there have only been five production managers, graphic designers, typesetters or whatever term you want to describe the art of putting the pages of a paper into the format that you see as the end reader.
Photographs have to be adjusted, copy has to be formatted, ads have to be designed and pages have to be assembled in a clear and precise way. Articles have to be posted to the website, and there is a lot of file organizing and archiving to do as well.
Lainey Millen has done this job (these job’s) for a little over 20 of the 35 years, and she is retiring. The paper is bringing on someone new to take the helm and follow in the footsteps of Millen. Her vast experience of over 40 years in the business has been a real asset to qnotes. The position will be filled, however, no one can take Lainey Millen‘s place.
Now on a personal note…
Lainey has been a tremendous asset to the qnotes team for two decades. I have never worked with anyone who has the work ethic she has. She has always gotten the job done. No matter the challenges that come up and trust me, challenges pop up all the time. It may be that an ad comes in late, a writer misses the deadline or Mother Nature decides she wants to pound us with snow and ice. Lainey is like the Energizer Bunny — she keeps on going. Even in sickness, grief or work overload with other clients. She has always gotten the job done. Even if it’s 5 a.m., it gets done.
Thank you Lainey for all your help, all the fun times, the difficult times and the times that you have been a part of sharing with the community some of the best and worst news we could report on. Thank you for the stories you have penned, the interviews you have done as well as the 20-plus years of production work you have done, and done with such dedication. You will be missed!!!
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