Amy Bartner, Content Producer, Conga
When she was a journalist at IndyStar, Amy Bartner broke the news of Pirate Cat’s arrest on the Monon, failed twice in front of a live audience while trying out the course of “American Ninja Warrior,” and covered City Hall and the 2017 Trump presidential inauguration. Now she’s loving being a content producer at tech company Conga, where the people are friendly and the beer is free. She’s also a member of the Indy Maven editorial board.
Personal life: Amy, 36, lives with her fiancé, Kris King, and a demonic cat and sweet dog in the Bates-Hendricks neighborhood on the Southside.
Maven superpower: Connecting with people online and IRL.
You were one of Indy’s earliest adopters of Twitter. If Twitter caught fire, which one of your 34.3K Tweets would you save?
Ohhhh, I think we’d all be better off if most of them were deleted because I often think I’m funnier than I really am. BUT, this one is one of my favorites.
Supporting local journalism is a big cause of yours. Give us a pitch for why we should subscribe in 75 words or less.
Here’s 71 words of soapboxery: Local journalists document history and help create free-thinking members of the democracy, while shining spotlights on both the wrong—and the right—happening in our community. They help you explore and understand new things in the city, because they live here and care about its success just as you do. So if you value journalism, please support it with your dollars. Because it’s costly in time, money, and energy to create.
You just helped launch a podcast, “Agents of Change,” at Conga. What are some local podcasts you listen to?
A few really good ones are: Drink Culture, Shift Drink, and Dave’s Old Interview Tapes.
If I were to visit your ‘hood, what’s one place I should check out?
Bowhaus Tap. Specifically on a Friday night for karaoke, and especially if Dee is bartending.
“You know that whole joke about vegans and CrossFitters loving to talk about veganism and CrossFit? Well I’m currently ‘that guy’ about Orangetheory.”
What is something you’re tired of?
People being mean on the internet. Actually, scratch that, people being mean in general. Just…be kind.
Funniest person in the world right now?
Do NOT tell him, but honestly, Kris. I know it’s disgusting for me to say that, but it’s not even me being a biased fiancée. He’s objectively pretty hilarious.
You’re always obsessed with something new. What’s on your radar right now?
You know that whole joke about vegans and CrossFitters loving to talk about veganism and CrossFit? Well I’m currently “that guy” about Orangetheory. It’s amazing and I don’t care who knows. I’m also probably the only grown lady who watches beauty YouTubers obsessively, so I can relate to a lot of teenage girls about Tati’s makeup palette.
If you could switch lives with one person for a day, who would it be?
I’m fascinated by the Instagram influencer lifestyle. I want to know everything that goes into taking one photo. The time spent, the conversations, the poses, the authenticity, and mostly: The real realness that exists outside of Instagram.
OMG, no, no no, scratch that. The answer is Cher. Obviously, Cher.
Amanda Kingsbury just wants to live inside the mind of Margaret Atwood for a day.
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