Homer News welcomed a new member of the team earlier this month. Chloe Pleznac, local resident and former KBBI radio host, began working as a reporter Jan. 20.

Born and raised in Homer, Pleznac is a graduate of Homer High School and has previous experience with public radio through working with KBBI. She started as a volunteer hosting music shows when she was 16 and completed her senior service project there, then was employed as a morning host at age 18.

More recently, in 2022 she moved to Juneau to take a position as morning host for KTOO.

“I was looking to have that leaving-home experience for a little bit, so I had the opportunity to move to Juneau and host Morning Edition for KTOO, which was a crazy awesome thing,” she said. “But it does take a lot of energy to get up that early, and I felt I wasn’t able to do as much storytelling as I wanted to do.”

Pleznac said she was inspired by all the work that happened around her in the radio sphere, so when she had the opportunity to return to Homer to finish her graduate degree, she jumped on it.

Pleznac grew up reading the Homer News, and in her transition out of radio hosting, she wanted to get more “on the ground” with local journalism.

“Similar to KBBI, it’s one of those pillars that upholds this community,” she said. “So to be part of that is really exciting. I’ve always wanted to be in the room where news is being written.”

Pleznac earned her associate’s degree through Kachemak Bay Campus in 2020, then transferred to University of Alaska Anchorage to complete her bachelor’s degree in political science and history online.

“The pandemic was happening, and everything was pretty much just online at that point,” she said.

She then earned her first master’s degree in public administration through University of Alaska Southeast and is now pursuing a second graduate degree in Arctic and Northern Studies on a part-time basis through University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Her experience so far working with Homer News is “so much more collaborative.”

“It’s really world-expanding,” she said.

Pleznac looks forward to uplifting community voices in her work as a reporter.

“Having been someone that was born and raised here, I know how important it is,” she said. “So looking for those opportunities to be able to uplift youth and people that need it, being able to give a voice to the community — especially in a place like Homer, people understand how important those connections are.

“Hopefully (people) will keep buying a paper, because I think we have some pretty important stories to tell here.”

Reach reporter Chloe Pleznac at chloe.pleznac@homernews.com and reporter Delcenia Cosman at delcenia.cosman@homernews.com.