Sarah Schmalbach is a news product manager, Philadelphia native and former journalist who most recently co-led the Guardian Mobile Innovation Lab in New York. The Guardian Lab was a small multidisciplinary team that experimented with mobile-first storytelling formats for two years and shared what it learned with the industry.
At the Institute, she’ll explore ideas for what the scope and outcomes might be for a similar innovation team here in Philadelphia, with a distinctly local news focus. Her research will ensure that the project’s goals align directly with the primary goal of the Institute, which is to develop and support sustainable business models for essential local journalism