Heather Baker
Heather Baker, the former publisher of the auto-buying guide Drive Arkansas and several Arkansas Times publications, is the new publisher at Vowell Media in Little Rock, owned by Vicki Vowell.
In the new job Baker will serve as publisher of AY Magazine, Arkansas Money & Politics and Mental Health Guide of Arkansas, as well as special publications for the Arkansas Hospital Association and Northwest Arkansas Medical Center.
Baker, who founded AutoBuyer, Savvy Kids and Arkansas Wild before leaving Arkansas Times at the end of 2012, has been working 15-hour days since starting the new job on Monday.
“This has all happened in the last couple of weeks,” she told Arkansas Business on Wednesday. “Publishing is my passion, and I found that I was a good fit with Vicki, so after discussions with my family I decided to jump on board and do it. It’s my happy place.”
As publisher of AY and Arkansas Money & Politics, Baker replaces Missy Penor, who held the jobs for about two years after moving over from the Daily Record.
Baker left Arkansas Times to start Drive Arkansas under her own brand, H Baker Media, and at the time described the free weekly tabloid as “direct competition” for AutoBuyer, which was quickly shut down by Arkansas Times.
Baker later phased out Drive Arkansas to work for clients including Jeunesse Global, which she described as the largest network marketing firm in the world.
She joins Vowell Media at a challenging time for Arkansas Money & Politics, which has cut print publication and recently lost veteran journalists Wythe Walker and Jay Grelen. It is now led by Managing Editor Shelby Styron, a 2016 graduate of the University of Central Arkansas.
Asked about AMP, Baker was reticent.
“It’s only my third day, so I don’t know if I should really comment,” she said. “I think it’s something that could expand and grow, though.”
Baker said her main focus would be on AY, which she called “a very established publication with a reach of 137,000 eyeballs.”
“I’m going to be focused on growing the market in social media and online,” she said. “That’s been a big part of what I’ve been doing the last couple of years.”
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