Aslan Shand, daughter of the late founding Echo editor Nicholas Shand, has returned to Byron Shire with her family and has immediately bunkered down into The Echo editorial HQ.
She’s been away for six years in the UK, and returned ‘because of grandparents and family and the opportunity for the kids to know them’.
She last worked with The Echo from 1997 to 2000, in sales and journalism roles.
In the last decade, Aslan has primarily been looking after her three kids with her merry wench, Ewan, who is a naturist/games programmer.
She studied professional writing at RMIT and has a business degree from SCU as well as an Arts degree from University of Western Sydney.
Echo editor Hans Lovejoy says he is delighted to have such a talented writer back on board with deep local knowledge of the Echo ethos.
He said, ‘The gruelling workload, the unrelenting pressure to be somewhat accurate while not pleasing everyone… the modest pay… welcome back!’