Darla M. Youngs, General Manager and Senior Editor
Darla M. Youngs grew up in Madison County, in Pine Woods, and is a graduate of Morrisville-Eaton Central School. She attended SUNY Morrisville, where she was first in her journalism class and editor of the campus newspaper, the “SUNY Morrisville Chimes.” Upon graduation, Youngs moved to Long Island to pursue her career, initially as editor of Nassau Pennysaver Publications—where she created her first weekly newspaper from the ground up, a tabloid titled the “Freeport Advantage.” From there, Youngs moved to Buy-Lines Press in Baldwin as editor and later to the Weekly News Group, Lynbrook, as managing editor. Discovering that her interests lay more in the technical side of the business, Youngs was production manager at Richner Publications in Lawrence for 10 weekly award-winning community newspapers, nine shoppers, and assorted special supplements before returning to upstate New York. After 11 successful years on Long Island, Youngs moved to Cooperstown in 1994 to take a position with The Journal Co., where she was production director for “The Freeman’s Journal” and “The Journal,” a weekly shopper, before leaving to start her own freelance design business, DMYoungs Design. When “The Freeman’s Journal” was purchased by Otsego Templeton Publishing Co. in 1997, Youngs was hired as general manager of the company, which published “The Freeman’s Journal” weekly, the “Otsego Times” monthly, the annual “Otsego Book” tourist-based publication and “The Glimmerglass” seasonal weekly, among other titles. In 2006, precipitated by her father’s illness, Youngs stepped away from the publishing business. She worked for Otsego 2000 for a short time before being hired in 2008 by the Otsego County Conservation Association, where she later served as executive director from 2011-2016. Youngs was the operations and finance manager of Oneonta Bus Lines/Eastern Travel before being hired by the Susquehanna Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals as operations manager, where she was instrumental in that organization’s successful $5 million capital campaign and worked from 2018 to the fall of 2022 before returning once again to “The Freeman’s Journal” and its sister publications, “Hometown Oneonta” and AllOtsego.com, as general manager and senior editor. Youngs has two sons, Morrison and John Darcy, and lives in Hartwick with her menagerie Scrambles the Death-dealer, Juliet, Orla, Lucy, Seth, Kale, Pepper and Elfya.
Tara Barnwell, Publisher and Advertising Director
Tara Barnwell was born in Columbus, Ohio, but grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida. She received a B.S. in Communications, Public Relations and Journalism from Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. Barnwell has many years in the newspaper business; she was with the “Tampa Tribune” for 11 years as a major account executive in the advertising department. She and her husband, Mark, moved to Cooperstown 26 years ago and started a bed and breakfast, which is still running. Barnwell was marketing director for Glimmerglass Festival for five years. She started with Iron String Press 17 years ago when there was only “The Freeman’s Journal,” and was very involved 15 years ago when “Hometown Oneonta” began. Barnwell is the president of the board for LEAF in Oneonta.
Larissa Ryan, Office Manager
Born in Cooperstown, Ryan first attended The Brookwood School before transferring to Cooperstown Central School for middle and high school. Following graduation from CCS in 2011, she attended the SUNY University at Albany, studying business administration with concentrations in business management and information technology management, and a minor in history. Following graduation, Ryan was employed at her parents’ business, the Mohican Motel, before being hired as office manager of what is now Iron String Press in the autumn of 2016. Ryan enjoys learning about history, knitting, gardening and world travel. She has taken tours to Italy and Greece and spent a three-month vacation in New Zealand with her family. Ryan serves on the Cooperstown Winter Carnival Committee and has recently taken up beekeeping.