About The Bloggers

Lauren Saks

Lauren Saks (@laurensaks) is the web producer for PBS Engage. She manages the daily production of the Engage site and writes many of the posts on the blog. She is also the primary Twitter writer for PBS, making sure that the public gets answers to their questions and knows about the exciting things that @pbsengage is doing online.

Lauren loves taking you behind-the-scenes at PBS to give you a glimpse into new projects and digging into the archives to uncover forgotten gems that scream to be viewed again. When Lauren isn’t working hard to engage you in conversation online, she can often be found at indie rock shows singing along in a tone deaf drone, eating cheese or digesting a book off of Bill Moyer’s reading list.

Betty Alvarez

Betty Alvarez (@bettyPBS) is a content manager for PBS. Betty books talent for the Live Chat Series and works to enhance the web presence of news and public affairs content on PBS.org.

When not writing the Five Good Questions series, she’s usually watching copious amounts of television or teaching her dog to speak Italian.

Amy Baroch

Amy Baroch (@AmyBaroch) is the senior project manager for PBS Engage. In this role she manages the Engage blog, team schedules, and grant budget. Amy also manages PBS member station relations for the Engage team. A big part of Amy’s work is with PBS member stations where she is able to uncover the diversity of PBS’ talented personalities from broadcast, the web, and behind-the-scenes.

When Amy isn’t releasing her inner Charlie Rose, bringing Q&A to Engage, or making herself smarter by learning about monkeys on Nature, she can be found attempting to run 5K races and tutoring kids at the local middle school – but not both at the same time.

Jonathan Coffman

Jonathan (@jdcoffman) is the product manager for Engage, he oversees the strategy and process behind creating tools and services for PBS.org, the member stations, and independent content producers. His passion is for building online communities that spill over into real life.

In addition to blogging for Engage, Jonathan's personal blog is syndicated to numerous other online publications where he often speaks on the need for transparency in news operations, personal branding, and the future of the social media space.