I’ve interviewed LGBTQ+ eSports players, informed Central Florida communities about COVID-19 cases and wrote an expressive personal essay that went viral.
I’ve also written research articles, press releases and strategic communications content on top of my sizeable writing portfolio in breaking news and features journalism.
For a detailed list of published bylines, check out my Contently and MuckRack profiles.
Breaking News Writing Highlights
Florida Coronavirus Updates for Orlando Sentinel
During the first 18 months of the COVID-19 outbreak, I wrote frequent Orlando Sentinel updates regarding coronavirus cases and deaths throughout Central Florida.
What started out as a live blog in early March that was a collaborative effort with newsroom staff evolved into daily, weekly and holiday updates (or no holiday updates at all).
Tropical Storm & Hurricane Updates for Orlando Sentinel
I made notable updates on the Orlando Sentinel’s weather articles, based on forecasts from the National Hurricane Center and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, for the 2019, 2020 and 2021 hurricane and tropical storm seasons.
Police Briefs for Orlando Sentinel
I kept track of breaking news information during night and weekend shifts at the Orlando Sentinel, which resulted in writing about missing people, fatal crashes, shootings and arrests.
Puerto Rico’s governor refuses to resign, won’t run for 2020 reelection amid mass protests over leaked chat: Breaking news report of when Ricardo Rosselló, former governor of Puerto Rico, made several announcements on a Facebook live stream in the middle of his administration’s leaked group chat scandal.
Air Force space shuttle lands after record-breaking orbit at Kennedy Space Center: A brief report on a United States Air Force space shuttle that arrived in Cape Canaveral after spending a record 780 days in orbit. This article got picked up by wire services and circulated to worldwide publications, ranging from the U.S. Virgin Islands to Australia.
Features Writing Highlights
Bad Bunny reaches global status, ushering in a new era of reggaeton: Front-page story for “Orlando Weekly” published on March 2022, where I wrote a features piece on Bad Bunny’s discography ahead of his sold-out concert at the Amway Center.
Being LGBT in the South Florida Fighting Game Community: A profile piece for “South Florida Gay News” special issue on LGBTQ+ gamers, where I interviewed two local and prominent eSports players (Super Smash Bros., Street Fighter, etc.) and their goals of keeping their high ranks while Florida’s fighting game community embraces diversity of its players.
No USA, You Can’t Claim Monica Puig’s Puerto Rico Gold Win as Your Own: Personal essay published on The Huffington Post regarding my thoughts about Puig’s historic tennis gold win for Puerto Rico in the 2016 Olympics and the toxic language of how “USA should claim/count” the win as their own. It was picked up by HuffPo after it went viral on my Medium account during its initial upload.
J-WORLD Tokyo Indoor Theme Park: For JapanTravel.com, I wrote about the offerings of the now-defunct indoor theme park located in Ikebukuro, Japan, that was based on popular characters from the collective “Shonen Jump Weekly” manga series.
Speakfridays Ten-year anniversary coverage: Multimedia coverage of a cultural open-mic venue located in Wynwood, that celebrated its ten-year anniversary for WLRN 91.3 FM, Miami’s NPR affiliate station.
I spent all Memorial Day weekend in 2016 conducting interviews, filming video footage, taking photos and editing the sound bites along with the broadcast script, online article and accompanying video.
Strategic Communications Highlights
Universities partner with Orlando Sentinel, other Tribune papers for Virtual College Fair: Article serving as a press release for a two-week virtual college fair held in March 2021, hosted by Orlando Sentinel parent company Tribune Publishing.
The social media crisis of Goya Foods brand after #BoycottGoya movement: Analysis essay reflecting on the crisis communications of the Goya Foods brand after its CEO praised former president Trump in early June 2020, despite Trump’s constant attacks against Latinx communities and Goya’s significance in Latinx households.
Public Relations Strategy for BoxLunch
An attached PDF file contains a detailed strategic communications plan for retail company BoxLunch which sells pop-culture merchandise.
The complete package was a result of a semester-long project for my Strategic Writing in Public Relations graduate course at the University of Florida.
Lynnette Cantos 