Suffolk County News production assistant leaves after nearly 20 years on job

Each week, like clockwork, a dedicated team of production workers piece together the stories that make up the Islip Bulletin, Suffolk County News, and Long Island Advance.

For nearly 20 years, Suzanne McKenna Link has worked as a production assistant across your hometown newspapers, laying out each page each week, most recently in The Suffolk County News. Link, who is also an independent author, recently left The Suffolk County News to move with her husband, Brian, to Massachusetts, so they could be closer to their daughter, Angela, and grandchildren.

“I found laying out the paper on the page every week, understanding the way the eye scans a page, and finding ways to balance images with text, very satisfying,” Link said. “It was very much like putting a puzzle together.”

Raised in Bayport, Link joined The Long Island Advance production team in January 2007 after earning a graphic arts degree from the former Briarcliffe College in Patchogue, and having worked numerous jobs while raising a family.

Going back to school in her 30s was at first “unusual,” but Link quickly became the enthusiastic student, raising her hand in class and earning honors while learning design, a deviation from previous accounting and retail merchandising jobs.

For the next 19 years, Link would work under four production managers and five editors. Along with working regular 9-to-five hours, Link remembers each Tuesday being the most important production day. Link and her fellow production crew would arrive around 7 a.m. on Tuesdays during her early years at the office, and would keep working until 7 or 8 p.m. alongside two other layout assistants and two proofreaders, who, alongside the editorial team, would make additions and corrections to the paper throughout the day.

The long hours provided for real camaraderie, Link said. This included celebrating birthdays at lunchtime together, creating inside jokes, and playing music as the night grew longer on a particularly lengthy deadline day.

“We had a really great office crew… we were all on the same ship,” Link said.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the entire office was forced to go virtual, and since then, some staff members retired, and many tasks are still completed from home or in the field rather than the office. Since returning in person, Link was only in person on Tuesdays and half the day Wednesdays alongside production assistant Joanne Kalfas and production manager Andrew Ingenito.

“Working with Suzanne was great. She was professional, dependable, and easy to work with, and she brought a positive attitude to everything she did,” Ingenito said. “She was someone I could count on, and I really enjoyed working with her.”

In her early years at the office, Link was offered a reporter position for The Suffolk County News, and even the top production manager position, both of which she turned down.

“I liked being in the production ‘side seat,’ and as a young mother and fledgling indie author, neither position aligned with my personal goals,” Link said. “My production assistant hours permitted me time to pursue my writing and be with my family.”

Under Islip Bulletin and Suffolk County News editors Liz Finnegan and Linda Leuzzi, Link had an opportunity to develop her writing skills as she planned a debut novel. Link said Finnegan and Leuzzi put her to work doing freelance articles and taking photos alongside other stories. Writing occasional “My Turn” columns also helped Link gain confidence in her writing.

“Suzanne was a dependable person; if you wanted something in particular, on The Suffolk County News, she’d work with you,” Leuzzi said. “She was great to work with.”

When Link opened up to Leuzzi about working on a book of her own over a decade ago, Leuzzi, an author herself who recently published the novel “Car Dogs,” encouraged her to follow her dream, and not listen to any doubters.

“I said to her, ‘This is your mission; be firm about the fact that you want to write, and don’t feel guilty about it,’” Leuzzi said.

The story Link had been mulling over came about after spotting someone walking down the street and creating a world about what his life might be like. Ideas kept flowing, and Link recalled rushing to her computer to sit down and write, piecing together the story similar to piecing together the countless stories each week at the office.

After working with editor Enrica Jang, Link published her debut novel, the romantic story “Saving Toby,” set in Sayville. Becoming an author, Link said she found community with fellow writers as a member of the Romance Writers of America’s Long Island chapter. The connections she developed would push her to publish two sequels to “Saving Toby,” called “Keeping Claudia” and “Finding Edward.”

“Writing a book is not easy; you really have to be dedicated to it,” Link said. “But for people who feel like they really want to do it, I would say make sure you join a writers’ group… get some feedback on your work, and make connections.”

In 2024, Link published her fourth novel, “#GIRLFIGHT,” set in Bayport and Fire Island, which follows a woman training as a fighter, and delves deeper into the protagonist’s relationships with family. Human stories and putting characters through trials and tribulations, with at least a few dramatic fight scenes, are all hallmarks of Link’s literature. More recently, Link has become a freelance editor, and is currently working on books for three authors.

This past week, Link held her final, for now, local author meet-and-greet at Tiny Raccoon Books in Sayville, and finished packing her moving truck to head off to Massachusetts. “I’ve always enjoyed my work,” Link said. “I really enjoyed it.”