Nina Baratti, a 2011 graduate of Haddon Heights High School, got her first taste of working in media at Philadelphia’s KYW Radio.
Whether on television or radio, Nina Baratti has made a career of informing the public. Now, the 32-year-old informs the township of all that’s happening in its school district.
“As the public information officer, I work as the spokesperson with the media,” Baratti said, “and I do a lot of work updating the school district’s social media pages, updating photos, taking videos at events, editing them and getting them online.
“We have so many positive things that are happening in the district that it’s a very special thing for me to be able to tell these stories.”
Baratti’s documentation of what’s going on in the township’s school system has made an impression on its staff – particularly the top administrator.
“The thing about Nina,” noted Superintendent Dr. Kwame Morton, “is that she has this energy, presence and personality that truly is amazing. She radiates this enthusiasm for people, for life, and a way of communicating that I was really just blown away by.”
Baratti, a 2011 graduate of Haddon Heights High School, got her first taste of working in media when she participated in KYW News Radio’s Newstudies program, for which area students research, write and record their own news segments for broadcast on the station.
After high school, Baratti majored in broadcasting at Montclair State University and interned at Fox 29-Philadelphia. Upon graduation in 2015, she soon got her first job as a multimedia journalist/reporter at the now-defunct SNJ Today television, a Millville-based broadcast focused on South Jersey. She covered everything from air shows, food bank donations and blood drives to alley cats prowling the Atlantic City Boardwalk.
“I did my own camera work, set up the shots, gave my stand-up report,” Baratti explained. “I was a one-man band. As my first job as a journalist, it (SNJ Today) was very special for me because I had a very supportive manager. I think very creatively, and she would say, ‘I trust you; go out there and see what you come back with.'”
Baratti left that job – and New Jersey – in 2018. She headed to Harrisonburg, Virginia, where she became one of the main anchors for WHSV-TV’s 5 p.m. news and anchored and produced its 6 p.m. broadcast.
“I enjoyed being a producer,” she noted, “because you’re putting together a big puzzle all day. One of my favorite parts of my job there was training the new reporters who had just gotten out of college. It wasn’t technically part of my job description, but I enjoyed the mentoring aspect of it.”
Baratti left WHSV four years ago and came back home to New Jersey, where she became a breaking news reporter at Philadelphia’s KYW, the very station where she got her first broadcast journalism experience as a high schooler.
“I was a nighttime reporter – my shift was from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m.,” she recalled. “So a lot of my stories were crime related, sports related and covering town hall and school board meetings … I was kind of sent all over the place, wherever the news was.
“One of my favorite parts of the job was covering the sports playoffs,” Baratti added. “I got to do fan reaction, ‘red October’ Phillies games. That was fun.”
She discovered the job posting for the township’s public information officer while still at KYW. Though she wasn’t actively looking for a new gig, the job piqued her interest.
“I remember reading the job description and thinking, ‘This sounds like an interesting job,’ Baratti recounted. “I think I can do it.'”
She began her new job in November.
“It felt like the right move for me,” she related, “and it’s been a wonderful experience.”
Asked if she misses her days as a television and radio journalist, Baratti was upbeat.
“All the perks of being a journalist I still get to do,” she pointed out. “I still get to be a storyteller, and I get to be really creative here. And I can tell you,” she added with a laugh, “I haven’t ruined one pair of shoes since I’ve been here.”
