Journalism is Stohs' recipe for success
By Stephanie Borman
J Alumni News staff
Nancy Stohs' journalism career began as an experiment.
Almost 30 years later, her journalism career still hinges on experiments.
As food editor for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, she not only edits recipes but also tests most of the recipes printed in the newspaper. Her family is used to what her husband of two years, Michael Meier, good-naturedly calls "experimental food."
"I bring home recipes from work, and I try them out on him," Stohs said.
That may be a reflection on her long-time tendency to try new things.
For instance, she came to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus in 1971 for a three-week experimental summer course in beginning reporting, designed to give high school students a jump-start on their college education.
The class tipped the balance in Stohs' decision to study journalism at Nebraska instead of Northwestern University, the other school she was considering. The Grand Island native said the summer class helped her realize the Nebraska program had a strong reputation and the instructors had made a good impression.
"I knew I would receive a sound journalism education at UNL," Stohs said.
Years later, Stohs said she still believed the UNL journalism school did a thorough job of teaching necessary skills along with the ethics and history of her profession.
Stohs graduated from the University of Nebraska with high distinction in 1976 with a degree in journalism and history.
While attending UNL, Stohs was active with the Daily Nebraskan. Michael Nelson, editor of the Daily Nebraskan at the time, took a chance on Stohs and hired her when she was a freshman.
"She was extremely bright at such a young age," said Nelson, now an editor with The Kansas City Star.
Nelson said he remembers being impressed with how dedicated Stohs was to her job. Stohs had tremendous enthusiasm and was very driven, Nelson said.
"We built some of our hopes on her," Nelson said.
Stohs said working at the DN helped prepare her for her career because the Daily Nebraskan is independent from the university and very much a real-world setting.
Stohs' first journalism-related job after graduation was for The Ledger in Lakeland, Fla. She was the education beat reporter there for almost two years.
In 1978, Stohs won her first award. She placed first in the International Reading Association Media Award for a newspaper series about adult illiteracy.
An opportunity to work for a highly regarded metropolitan newspaper and a new fiancé took Stohs to Milwaukee, Wis., where she started work for The Milwaukee Journal.
Stohs has had various jobs at The Journal. She was a lifestyle and suburban reporter, health writer and columnist, features copy editor and food editor and writer.
While Stohs was a features copy editor at The Journal, the paper won the Penney-Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Award for the top features section in the United States.
In April of 1995, Stohs took her current position as the food editor for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the new paper that resulted from a merger of the afternoon Journal and the morning Sentinel.
As food editor, Stohs oversees two weekly food sections. Between the Wednesday Food section and Sunday Entrée section, that amounts to about 40 to 46 columns of editorial space devoted to food. She assigns these stories to staff writers and to freelance writers.
Nancy Herrick, Entree editor for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, said Stohs has many balls in the air at one time with running two sections, and yet she manages to get everything done.
"She doesn't get frazzled," Herrick said. "She has the ability to keep focus."
Stohs said curiosity is what fuels her love for writing and reporting.
"The job is no fun if it gets boring or old," Stohs said.
Her background makes her current role easier, she said. She grew up with a grandmother and mother who cooked everything from scratch. Stohs grew up eating healthy foods because he father was a chiropractor who insisted on a balanced diet, but she admits to having a sweet tooth.
And, after working as a food writer and editor, she believes a variety of foods is important. Herrick described Stohs as a walking encyclopedia about food.
"She is our expert in food," Herrick said.
Stohs said she had been able to stay enthusiastic about her job in food journalism because trends are always changing.
She generates and supervises special series and projects, including a popular four-part series last summer that examined the foods and dishes of Wisconsin.
Herrick said the paper's readers are at all different levels in cooking, and Stohs tires to be sure the food pages offer a little bit for every reader.
Stohs continues experimenting with new recipes that come her way and with trends that are always changing. It seems to be a theme in her life.
