Aspen Anderson Promoted to Editor at Vashon

Anderson was initially planning to be a photojournalist. When she lost a close family friend, however, her family visited with his friends and Arizona State University college mates who were all studying to be journalists. Witnessing their energy for the work and reading their writing motivated her to become a writer.

“That got me going as a reporter,” she said. From there, she took internships in Thailand at the Bangkok Post, the Everett Herald, the Los Angeles Times, and at The Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber — twice. She credits former Beachcomber editor Alex Bruell with providing the highest mentorship she’s received.

“Aspen came to us with the level of skill I would have expected from someone doing the job post-college for four or five years,” he said. “It was a wonderful surprise that she was turning in really cool stories and really good enterprise work — stuff that I wanted to write but was dreading — and she would just carve into it and do a great job.”

Anderson was unaware that Bruell had submitted her work for award consideration in the 2025 Better Newspaper Contest. Bruell, though, said her work deserved consideration, whether she was seasoned staff or a young intern. She won 2025 Feature Writer of the Year, for writing created during her internship.

She describes her time at the Beachcomber as “my favorite internship experience I’ve ever had,” even after stints in major cities and international newsrooms. “Alex really took the time with me,” she said. “It was a mentorship experience that made me grow so much more than any other internship.”

She credits Bruell with shaping her instincts, recalling his advice that her stories on big events “read really well if you have a strict timeline and get the facts right in the beginning.” It was a small piece of advice she implements today. “It changed how I tell stories,” she said.

Bruell was Beachcomber editor from 2023 till he stepped down this past August to pursue freelance writing, photo and video work.

According to the Beachcomber, Anderson “joins a long tradition of women who have led the paper over the past two decades, including Elizabeth Shepherd (2021-2023), Leslie Brown (2006-2013), Natalie Martin (2013-2015), Anneli Fogt (2015-2018) and Susan Riemer (2018-2019), among others.”

Shepherd said “I’m thrilled to welcome Aspen to her new role — an important one in our communty. She has the talent, training, chops and energy to lead our local newspaper into its next chapter.”