About
Jenny Stanley is a DIYer and the executive editor for the Service & News team at BobVila.com. She has published content that speaks to her passion for home improvement during her entire career. Her areas of focus include any home or garden topic that fellow DIYers may type into a search bar, as well as trends and news that she knows the Bob Vila audience will enjoy reading about.
Experience
Jenny is the executive editor of service and news content for BobVila.com. Prior to joining Recurrent Ventures in 2020, she was the senior digital editor at Family Handyman. There, she helped build the brand’s first editorial team focused solely on digital content. In addition to growing the site’s article library along with exponentially increasing the number of unique visitors to the site during her tenure, she also helped launch two Family Handyman video franchises that continue to be liked and shared on social media today.
Jenny also spent more than 8 years with Handy magazine, working her way up from associate editor to senior editor to managing editor. Throughout her time there she produced various home improvement projects, wrote and edited articles, collaborated with designers and photographers, represented the brand at trade shows and events, and appeared in videos.
A coveted internship sparked it all! Jenny started her home improvement–focused editorial career by earning a spot in Meredith Corporation’s apprentice program. During her senior year of college, she worked alongside the editor of Do It Yourself magazine and the editor of Kitchen Style & Storage magazine, both special-interest publications under the Better Homes & Gardens brand. She fell in love with every aspect of publishing, found a content niche that she’s passionate about, and never looked back.
Education
Jenny started her postsecondary education at Des Moines Area Community College, where she earned an Associate of Arts degree while also writing for the student newspaper and several community newspapers under The Des Moines Register. She wrapped things up at Iowa State University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in journalism and mass communication. During her time at ISU, Jenny wrote for the Iowa State Daily newspaper, Ethos magazine, and was selected as one of four interns for the Meredith Corporation’s apprentice program.
Highlights
- Specialties: More than 15 years of editorial experience in the home and garden realm
- Education: Bachelor of Arts in journalism and mass communication from Iowa State University
- Other work: Family Handyman and Handy magazine; served as an editorial apprentice for Better Homes & Gardens’ Special Interest Media Group
Proudest DIY
“When we moved into our house back in 2013, the kitchen needed a face-lift. It was actually one of the main reasons we bought the place—there was a blank slate just waiting for our personal touch. Seven years later (yes, it took us that long to finally take the plunge) we ripped down the upper cabinets and started our DIY kitchen makeover in January 2020. Other than installing the countertops and adding an outlet, my husband and I tackled the entire project ourselves. In 6 months, we updated every surface in the kitchen, and we couldn’t be more proud of how it turned out.”
