The Press Democrat
Michelle Rodd is an experienced executive assistant and human resources professional with a strong background in organizational management and event planning. Currently serving as the Executive Assistant to the CEO & Publisher at Sonoma Media Investments since March 2013, Michelle has been recognized as Employee of the Month in February 2014. Previous roles include HR Manager and Executive Assistant at Okta, Inc., as well as corporate sales and marketing at the Golden State Warriors, and HR management at Papa Murphy's International. Michelle holds an MBA from Saint Mary's College of California, completing the degree in 2009, along with a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration with a focus on Marketing from the same institution.
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The Press Democrat
The very first newspaper in Santa Rosa, the parent of today's Press Democrat, was begun in 1857, just three years after Santa Rosa was chosen as the seat of Sonoma County and seven years after California became a part of the United States. Called the Sonoma Democrat this newspaper was a four-page weekly. Its name reflected the politicsof the Santa Rosa and Russian River valleys, which were settled in the 1840s and '50s by farmers from Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee. The founding publisher was Alpheus Russell, a merchant with some newspaper experience who came to open a general store on Third Street. John Taylor, a prosperous rancher south of the new town, encouraged Russell to establish the paper, giving him a five-dollar gold piece for the first subscription. At the end of a year, Russell sold the paper to printer E.R. Budd, who sold it again in 1860. The new owner was Thomas Thompson, a young Virginian who had edited Petaluma's Sonoma County Journal five years earlier at the age of 17.