Dina Sciortino, Patch Staff

Phone: (914) 269.8671

Born/Raised: White Plains/Valhalla

Birthday: May 5

My main editorial mission is to arm citizens with important facts that help them make informed decisions. Her passion for journalism started at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, NY, where she won a Quill Award in Enterprise Writing for a story on the lack of affordable health care for students. She went on to receive a master's degree in journalism from Iona College in New Rochelle, NY.

Dina has worked for Metromix.com, the Impact and the Rivertowns Enterprise—a well-established and respected local newspaper in Dobbs Ferry. She covered Hastings-on-Hudson and Ardsley as one of the Enterprise's two staff reporters.

Dina loves music, especially The White Stripes, and her Maltese Ruby.

I started at Patch as a local editor covering my native city of White Plains, NY, where there was NEVER a dull moment! The first day I launched my site I covered the mayor’s domestic violence case, which made national news headlines.

I spent the next few weeks in and out of the courtroom, while also maintaining the editorial calendar, budget, and team of freelance writers and community listing collectors who I trained and hired to write content and help populate the site’s estimated 4,000 directory listings.

During my time in White Plains I gained a large following and built a credible news site that rivaled and often bested The Journal News. I also covered high profile stories like the arrival of The Jersey Shore’s Snooki and the police shooting of Kenneth Chamberlain, where I was asked to discuss the case on CNN.

During my time as local editor of White Plains Patch, I was asked to moderate the White Plains Concerned Citizens for Open Spaces’ White Plains Common Council Candidate Forum and serve as media judge for the 2011 Miss Westchester Pageant.

I later took as local editor for Rivertowns Patch covering three villages of Hastings-on-Hudson, Irvington and Dobbs Ferry and recently took on the role of field editor covering six Patch sites (Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow, Ossining/Croton-on-Hudson, Nyack-Piermont, Pearl River, New City, Nanuet), running social media accounts and writing aggregated content.