Matt Kettmann

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Call Matt at 805-965-5205.

Senior Editor Matt Kettmann started at The Independent as an intern in the spring of 1999 while an anthropology major/professional writing minor at UCSB. He was hired as a proofreader in the fall of 1999, then spent five years as a news reporter and nearly two years as pop culture editor before becoming senior editor in the summer of 2006.

In addition to covering news, arts, and lifestyle in Santa Barbara for nearly 10 years, he has been lucky enough to pursue a great deal of international affairs journalism, taking trips to Bolivia, Belize, Costa Rica, Uganda, Thailand/Hong Kong, India, and the wartorn, officially unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic between Armenia and Azerbaijan. He also covered the Michael Jackson trial for The Independent, which was much like visiting a foreign land.

These days, Matt oversees Independent.com and is involved in managing various day-to-day aspects of the newspaper. He continues to write for the paper on numerous topics, and also freelances for TIME, Sunset, Wine Spectator, Smithsonian, Ode, Hemispheres, LA Yoga, Ventana, Broughton Quarterly, SkyWest, Swindle, and other publications.