BlueLena Advisory expands with new revenue strategy practice led by two accomplished media executives

CARY, N.C. – September 23, 2026 – BlueLena today announces the expansion of BlueLena Advisory, its strategy consulting division for independent and nonprofit news organizations, with the addition of April Brumley Hinkle and Emily Dresslar as Principal Consultants in the launch of a dedicated practice focused on earned revenue, advertising, sponsorship, events, and corporate partnerships.

This expansion builds on BlueLena Advisory’s launch earlier this year, broadening its focus beyond fundraising and philanthropic revenue to help publishers develop more diversified and sustainable business models.

BlueLena Advisory will now offer specialized expertise across the full revenue portfolio, helping organizations strengthen the strategy, systems, products, personnel, and processes needed to grow both contributed and earned revenue.

“Publishers recognize that long-term sustainability requires developing multiple, complementary revenue streams, but many lack the capacity or depth of experience to build those programs,” said Daniel Williams, CEO of BlueLena. “April and Emily have spent their careers successfully building exactly these kinds of operations. Bringing their expertise into BlueLena Advisory significantly expands what we can offer publishers as they move from experimenting with earned revenue to building disciplined, scalable revenue operations.”

Proven success building media revenue operations

April brings decades of experience in media sales, advertising, sponsorship, and business development. She spent over twenty years at Texas Monthly, ultimately becoming Publisher, before joining The Texas Tribune as its founding Chief Revenue Officer. There, she helped develop corporate sponsorship and earned-revenue programs that became key components of the Tribune’s diversified business model.

At the Tribune, April expanded traditional sponsorships into customized corporate programs that included events, digital products, and other publisher assets. Her experience in both commercial and nonprofit media provides valuable insight into how mission-driven publishers can form business partnerships while maintaining editorial independence.

Emily brings extensive experience in media innovation, business strategy, revenue development, and publisher coaching. She previously served as Director of RevLab at The Texas Tribune, an industry training and innovation program that worked with over 350 newsrooms and reports generating more than $1.5 million in new revenue for participating publishers. 

Before RevLab, Emily led business operations for The Compass Experiment at McClatchy, a Google News Initiative-supported project created to develop sustainable local news businesses, and previously managed strategic partnerships for Calkins Digital.

A Specialist-in-Residence for Project C, Emily also develops and teaches revenue strategy curriculum for the American Journalism Project, CUNY, the University of Texas-Austin and others.

“Publishers have valuable audiences, trusted brands, powerful convening capabilities, and deep relationships within their communities,” Hinkle shared. “Our goal is to help them translate those assets into diversified revenue without compromising journalism or trust. At the same time, we help them add value and enhance the overall brand experience through resourceful, highly aligned messaging from earned revenue sponsors and advertisers.”

April and Emily will work with BlueLena Advisory clients to assess existing revenue portfolios, identify new opportunities, and build the organizational infrastructure needed to convert these opportunities into sustainable revenue.

A comprehensive revenue strategy support practice

The new practice will offer on-demand strategic advisory, program design, coaching, training, and implementation support tailored to each publisher’s needs and stage of development.

Services may include earned revenue portfolio assessments, diversification strategies, advertising and sponsorship architecture, positioning, packaging, pricing, corporate partnership development, event strategy and monetization, sales pipeline and forecasting systems, inventory and audience analysis, CRM and advertiser relationship management workflows, proposal and renewal systems, and sales leadership and team coaching.

The practice will also help publishers create custom programs for businesses and institutions seeking meaningful access to publisher audiences through newsletters, social media, websites, events, content, and community channels.

Structured programs customized for publishers

Aligned with BlueLena Advisory’s focus on practical, repeatable frameworks, April and Emily will develop and deliver customized, structured offerings for individual publishers, cohorts, and journalism support organizations.

These offerings range from revenue audits, opportunity mapping, systems architecture and process design, forecasting, planning and team training.

• Sponsorship & advertising support will offer intensive support in audience and inventory analysis, package development, pricing, prospect segmentation, sponsorship pipelines, sales tools, forecasting, renewal strategies, and CRM-based relationship management.
• Events & corporate partnership growth programs will help organizations design sustainable event revenue models, sponsorship menus, partner targeting strategies, integrated sales plans, and systems for fulfillment, stewardship, and measurement.

In addition to direct publisher engagements, the new practice aims to partner with foundations, associations, and journalism support organizations to design and deliver cohort-based training programs, curricula, field reports, new tools, and other initiatives to strengthen earned-revenue capabilities across the independent news sector, similar to the current mid-level gift development program designed for the Institute for Nonprofit News, and led by CJ Ortuño.

Expanding the revenue toolkit for independent newsrooms

BlueLena launched BlueLena Advisory in spring 2026 to provide independent news organizations with enhanced strategic capacity alongside its technology and professional services. The practice has initially focused on fundraising systems, major gifts, development operations, and revenue performance management, while identifying earned revenue as a key area for future growth.

Adding April and Emily marks the next stage of this strategy.

The expanded practice will complement BlueLena’s existing technology and professional services infrastructure, including audience engagement, CRM, and revenue management capabilities, while allowing Advisory engagements to be tailored to each organization’s needs.

BlueLena Advisory’s earned revenue and events strategy services are now available for individual publisher engagements and customized cohort or industry programs.

About BlueLena

BlueLena provides technology, professional services, and strategic consulting to help independent news organizations grow their audiences, strengthen relationships, and achieve sustainable revenue. Through its audience engagement, CRM, donor intelligence, automation, and professional services infrastructure, BlueLena supports independent publishers across the United States and internationally.

About BlueLena Advisory

BlueLena Advisory is BlueLena’s strategy consulting division, offering senior-level expertise and implementation support to independent and nonprofit news organizations. The practice helps publishers develop sustainable revenue systems across fundraising, membership, major gifts, advertising, sponsorship, events, corporate partnerships, and other revenue diversification strategies. BlueLena Advisory works with individual publishers, foundations, associations, and journalism support organizations to deliver structured engagements, cohort programs, training, and industry-wide initiatives.