Triad City Beat is a free, biweekly publication that was founded in 2014 by Brian Clarey, Jordan Green and Eric Ginsburg. Triad City Beat exists to chronicle the Triad cities as low-cost incubators of innovation, sustainability and creativity. We publish smart reporting and writing that recognizes the intelligence of our readers.
An informed citizenry is the lifeblood of democracy, and we take our responsibility seriously to provide good journalism to hold economic and governmental powers accountable, both locally and across North Carolina. Culture binds us, and we commit to provide lively and vital coverage of food, music and the arts in Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point.
We unapologetically focus on the cities, and won’t shrink from defending LGBTQ+ rights, racial justice and an urban sensibility. We carry the flag for no party or faction, and fiercely defend our editorial independence.
Triad City Beat is owned by Beat Media Inc., based in North Carolina.
Learn more about how you can support our work here.
An altweekly veteran of more than 20 years, Brian studied journalism at Loyola University New Orleans and wrote for the Gambit before moving to the NC Piedmont Triad. He has been covering this market in publications like the News & Record, Our State, O. Henry magazine and Yes! Weekly since 2000.
Sayaka Matsuoka has been working as a journalist since she first interned at Triad City Beat in 2014. Since then, her byline has appeared in publications such as Indy Week, Durham Magazine, Rewire, Bitch, the Bitter Southerner, and Nerdist.
Sayaka currently works as the managing editor for Triad City Beat where she covers culture, news and writes a weekly opinion column.
She believes that journalism is one of the great democratizing powers in our society and that impactful storytelling has the ability to evoke empathy, build bridges and create justice-oriented change.
In addition to working for TCB, she sits on the board of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, a national organization, as the diversity chair.
Aiden Siobhan is a transgender and queer artist, writer and designer attending UNC School of the Arts in Winston-Salem. Their work focuses on LGBTQ+ experience and has appeared in MovieWeb, Wheat Magazine, and Headwaters Literary Arts Journal. They hail from Allentown, PA and they love to go on adventures to create documentaries with their fiancé.
Gale Melcher
CityBeat Reporter (she/they)
Raised in Wilmington, N.C., Gale is a graduate from North Carolina State University. She loves exploring the great outdoors, and when she’s not writing she likes to pick up a paintbrush or camera to document the world around her.
Carolyn has been a part of Triad City Beat from the very beginning. A trained photographer who went to Guilford College, Randolph Community College and Maine Media Workshops, Carolyn works to capture the essence of the Triad for us every week. She and Brian Clarey conceptualized a series in which Carolyn would share her work which culminated in our Shot in the Triad series which you can find at the back of our paper every week and online here. She also contributes regularly to news and culture pieces as well.
James Douglas
Chief Contributor (he/him)
James Douglas has been with TCB since 2019 as a culture and contributing writer. His early work has been featured on bar bathrooms across the state. When he’s not writing for TCB, he travels to parts unknown, works as a bartender at a local dive bar, and helps run the family farm.
Michaela joined TCB in 2020 as an editorial intern and has since written multiple culture stories and currently compiles our weekly events. She also tackles news from time to time and is an NC A&T alum.
Contact her at [email protected] for story ideas and also to get items on the community calendar.
Luis H. Garay
Chief Contributor (they/them)
Luis (they/them) is a queer Latinx local food blogger, writer and podcast host based in Greensboro. Their goal is to uplift diverse food spaces locally and beyond. Find Luis via Instagram at @GoEatGSO or on their blog.
Autumn Karen
Chief Contributor (she/her)
Autumn Karen is a small-town NC girl turned ghostwriter and educator who relishes raising her three boys in Greensboro. When she’s not digging into stories about arts and culture for TCB, climbing mountains, or chasing kids, Autumn teaches ghostwriting at UNCG and HPU.
Kaitlynn Havens
Chief Contributor (she/her)
Kaitlynn Havens is a freelance writer living on the Southside of Winston-Salem. Her works include travel anecdotes, stories with a social justice impact and recognition to those that often go unnoticed. When she’s not writing, Kaitlynn is both a toddler mom and a flight attendant for a major airline.
Allen Broach
Publisher Emeritus (he/him)
Allen has been a voice for the arts, veterans, LGBT issues and small businesses for more than 30 years. His advertising agency, Broach & Co., thrived for decades on Elm Street in the same downtown building where he eventually installed the Broach Theatre.
Triad City Beat is seeking culture freelancers. Please note, this is not a full-time or part-time salaried position. Freelancers get paid per article.
Stories can include food, art, theater, music and more! We love stories that are people focused and dig into how culture intersects with race, gender, class.
For starters, please take a look at our freelancer guidebook to get an idea of the kinds of stories we are looking for as well as pay and process. Please also take a look at our past culture pieces here to get an idea of the kinds of stories we are looking for.
We adhere to a narrative journalism style of writing that strongly focuses on storytelling and show vs. tell type of writing. More on that can be found in the guidebook.
Once you read the guidebook, please reach out with any outstanding questions you have, send past clips if you’ve got them to [email protected] and you can start pitching stories!
A good pitch includes an interesting subject, an idea of who you might interview, a timeline, as well as a why (why is this interesting?)
Internships
Triad City Beat is currently not hiring interns but anticipates restarting its internship in January 2024. Stay tuned for updates. Reach out to [email protected] for more info.
