Transcript Works: Jamie Berry, page designer
Jan. 29—Editor's note: Today's profile of page designer Jamie Berry is the latest in a series focusing on Norman Transcript employees.
Jamie Berry is the veteran of The Transcript's editorial department. Berry, 36, was hired in May of 2010 to be a designer and copy editor.
When she arrived, practically every desk in the newsroom was taken, unlike today. Working remotely had not yet become a thing.
"It is just so bare now," she said.
Berry came to Norman from the Durant Daily Democrat, where she interned and worked part time while attending Southeastern Oklahoma State University. She was hired full time after graduating in 2008.
Berry moved from Yukon to Durant in the third grade after her father, a meter reader for Oklahoma Gas and Electric, was transferred.
It was Durant where Berry got her taste for journalism from her grandmother, a longtime Daily Democrat writer named Betty Argo.
When she was 8, Berry remembers her grandmother asking her to proofread copy during the layout process, when cutting and pasting were not done digitally.
"She would give us a sheet and have us look to see if we saw anything off," Berry recalled.
She learned the art of page design when she worked for her college paper.
"I enjoy puzzles, so to me page designing is like a giant puzzle because you have all these pieces that have to fit just so," she said. "It's just interesting to see how you can get it all to fit together."
In 2017, Berry started writing and eventually became a reporter. For 13 weeks, she chronicled her experience as a member of the Citizens Police Academy in Norman.
When The Transcript had an opening for a reporter in March 2019, she made the switch and was assigned the crime and courts beat.
"I kind of always had the bug for writing," she said.
Berry's husband was ill, and being a reporter meant more daytime hours to spend with him the couple's son.
The next couple of years would be tough on Berry and her young son. Her husband struggled with his health, and underwent a heart transplant in May 2019.
At one point, Brandon Berry suffered cardiac arrest and spent seven weeks in the hospital. A second cardiac arrest incident would follow, and he passed away Sept. 26, 2020.
Counseling has helped Berry and her son "get through it."
"You still miss them, it's not something that goes away," she said. "But you learn to live with it and work through it."
