Read David Downs' Resume



David Downs 

San Francisco, CA.
415.240.2742 cell
david.downs@gmail.com

EDUCATION
2004, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL., Medill School of Journalism, Academy of Alternative Journalism, Fellow
1998-2002, University of California Santa Barbara, Bachelor of Arts, English Literature

EMPLOYMENT
2018-Present
Senior Editor, Head of Brand Experience | Leafly.com
Assigns, edits, reports, and publishes news, products, and lifestyle coverage for the web's leading cannabis information resource. Head of the Leafly Strains database.

2016-2018
Cannabis Editor | San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco, CA.
Created the award-winning lifestyle media vertical, GreenState, at the national metropolitan daily newspaper. Duties included: reporting, writing, assigning stories, editing, photography, art direction, web production, marketing and administration. Facilitated The Chronicle's rise in the cannabis news on the West Coast, liaising with the Metro, Business, Lifestyle, Opinion, and Investigative teams to set story priorities and effort reporting.

2008-2016
Freelance Journalist, Author
San Francisco, CA.
Award-winning arts, technology and cannabis journalist. Best-selling author. Contributing author to Beyond Buds (2014), author of The Medical Marijuana Guidebook (2016) and co-author of Marijuana Harvest (2017). Senior Editor, Cannabis Now Magazine. Syndicated columnist, East Bay Express — "Legalization Nation". Editor, Smell The Truth on SFGate.com. Co-founder, "The Hash" podcast. Product reviewer/photographer, CULTURE magazine. Arts and technology journalism for New York Times, Scientific AmericanWIREDRolling Stone, etc. Village Voice music criticEDM reporter, San Francisco Examiner; Music App Reviewer, Billboard Magazine.

2007 - 2008
Web Music Editor | Village Voice Media
San Francisco, CA.
Managing a national staff of sixteen including hiring and acquisitions. Digital and print reporting, writing, photography, editing, and production for a national sixteen-paper, alternative newsweekly chain. Doubled SF Weekly.com average monthly page views in eight months.

2006 - 2007
Music Editor/Web Editor | East Bay Express
Oakland, CA.
Award-winning weekly column writing for 70,000 circulation weekly newspaper. Launched East Bay Express daily web content. Editing a twenty-page weekly print music section with a staff of freelancers across the country.

NOTABLE AWARDS
2022 Oaksterdam University Award for Literary Excellence
2020 Kavli Science speaker for VAPI reporting
2018 Scripps Howard Breaking News Award for Wine Country fires coverage
2010 Knight-Batten Award for Innovation in Journalism
2008 First Place, Technology Writing, The San Francisco Peninsula Press Club, "The Day The Music Dies"
2006 First Place, Features Writing, the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, "Roboscalper"

NOTABLE APPEARANCES
2024 SF Weed Week founder / producer
2024 Merritt College | Landscape Horticulture Department | guest lecturer
2024 International Cannabis Awards, Barcelona judge
2024 Emerald Cup Judge—pre-rolls
2024 US Health and Human Services Agency citation: Marijuana schedule III recommendation
2023 "American Pot Story" documentary speaker/guest
2023 Emerald Cup Judge — hydrocarbon concentrates
2018 International Cannabis Business Conference - San Francisco — moderator
2017 International Cannabis Business Conference - Kauai — moderator
2017 Loyola Law School - Journalist Law School — guest lecturer
2016 UC Berkeley Extension - Beat Reporting — guest lecturer

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