Hello readers! My name is Hannah Emberton, and as the title suggests, this is a belated introduction. However late, I still wanted to offer a formal introduction to you all.
Over the past few weeks, as I have begun to settle into my new role as executive editor of the Parsons Sun and the Chanute Tribune, I have often given a quick summary of who I am and how I wound up here.
But I’d like to share that with all of our Sun readers now.
Firstly, there could never be a replacement for Ray Nolting’s level of coverage and dedication to his community. However, I hope you are comforted to read that I have every ambition of continuing to fill the Sun with quality local news.
I may not be from Parsons, but I wouldn’t consider myself a stranger.
I grew up in Coffeyville, graduating from Field Kindley High School in 2014, and from Coffeyville Community College in 2016, having focused heavily on communications and arts courses.
After a gap year spent in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I pivoted to studying social studies education and attended Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma for two years before deciding that degree program wasn’t for me. While in Tahlequah, I met the love of my life, Nick Cornell. This year, we celebrated five years of being together.
In my professional career, I have worked across several fields, including mental health, child care, hospitality, business and now, journalism.
I came into journalism by pure chance. I have always loved writing and did a bit of freelance writing for extra pocket change in college.
In 2023, I was laid off from my job as a community manager for a coworking space. At that same time, they were looking to hire a reporter for the Coffeyville Journal.
The publisher at the time, Josh Umholtz, — who you may know now as the publisher of Farm Talk here in town — took a chance on me, and hired me to write for my hometown newspaper, which was one of the greatest privileges of my life.
In 2024, I moved briefly back to Tahlequah to be closer to my partner’s family. During that time, I got to work as a copy editor, education reporter and features writer for the Tahlequah Daily Press under Kim Poindexter, another legendary journalist.
Working for her was like getting a crash course in everything I didn’t know that I didn’t know. Despite my untraditional background, Kim’s belief that I was a good journalist and that I could do anything she threw at me, fueled a desire to continue to develop my skills. While there, I began to dabble in InDesign, a software made for designing print works, from newspapers to flyers to magazines.
I worked there for seven months before Nick and I made the decision to come back to Kansas.
In March of this year, I took over as editor of the Tribune, and at that time I did not expect that yet another transition was in the works for me this year.
Given the whirlwind of a year that 2025 has been for me, I am happy to say that I am now in a season of planting roots more firmly.
I have a place in my heart for every community I’ve reported for, but already in these first few weeks, Parsons and Labette County have been so welcoming. Which is good, because Nick and I will officially be Parsons residents in a few short weeks.
Since March, I’ve commuted back and forth from Coffeyville five to seven days of the week. If my car had feelings, I imagine it would be thrilled about this change in commute. My cat, Suki, can’t speak English, but I believe she will be very happy when she realizes that I am home a bit more.
I am honored and excited to continue the legacy of the Sun. My email is always open, and I am happy to take calls, and meet you — the community — as long as I am not on deadline. If you’d like to stop by the office or send us a photo or a press release, please shoot an email to [email protected].
