Nice to meet you, we’re (a portion of) The Bend. When it comes to putting together The Bend Magazine every month, it really does take a village. Though many, many other talented individuals work together to make this world of ours go round, here are a handful of key players.
Jordan Regas
Owner & President
Jordan and his wife Kaley Regas founded The Bend Magazine in 2014. Though he’s done just about every job imaginable for the company, Jordan largely wore both the hats of publisher and editor-in-chief for quite some time. When starting the magazine, his true passion was telling stories, but he quickly realized owning and managing a magazine would require much more than writing. In 2018, Jordan and Kaley purchased the Oklahoma City lifestyle publication 405 Magazine and founded a parent company for both publications, Hilltop Media Group.
Today, Jordan serves as the president of Hilltop Media Group. In this role, he provides high-level leadership, sets strategic direction, tackles big-picture problems with creative solutions, works on sales strategies with the market publishers and ensures the company’s culture stays intact. Even 10 years later, Jordan’s favorite part of the job remains the same: the people. For him, one of the greatest things about owning a company is getting to do work you love with people you love and admire.
Kaley Regas
Owner & Vice President
It might be easier to ask Kaley Regas if there’s a position she hasn’t held for The Bend in the decade since she founded the publication with her husband. She’s played a role in the sales, editorial, graphic design, accounting and events departments of the company since its inception — and has a collection of business cards to prove it. Kaley has always been referred to as the “cover queen” and for good reason. She understands the phenomenal importance of the nanosecond first impression a publication’s cover has on its readers. Curating each month’s cover — especially this month’s special anniversary cover — alongside the market art directors and editors will always be one of the best parts of her job.
In her current role as Hilltop Media Group’s vice president, Kaley has many responsibilities in both the Corpus Christi and Oklahoma City markets consisting of directly overseeing The Bend and 405 Magazine’s publishers, upholding brand standards, integrating new processes, working directly with the company’s CFO and putting out fires wherever they pop up.
Chris Knapick
Publisher
In the fall of 2015, a friend told Chris Knapick The Bend Magazine was seeking a full-time salesperson. After meeting with owners Jordan and Kaley, he immediately felt a strong connection to their concept and how they were bringing it to life. He was amazed that, despite their young age, their vision and ethos for the publication was crystal clear. Chris served as a sales executive until 2019, when Jordan stepped away from the publisher role during the acquisition of 405 Magazine and asked Chris to take the reins.
As the publisher of The Bend, Chris focuses on leading and managing the magazine’s staff, meeting revenue and profitability goals, maintaining and growing key accounts, serving as the public face of the magazine through community outreach and developing custom publication clients. Working with a team deeply committed to influencing our Coastal Bend community for the better brings him immense joy, and he loves hearing from locals about how The Bend has helped them to feel proud of where they live. More than anything, working for The Bend all these years has shown him how something as small as a local lifestyle magazine communicating a positive message can build momentum that fuels positive growth.
Kylie Cooper
Editor-in-Chief
A few months out from her college graduation in 2017, Kylie Cooper sent her resume and writing samples to Jordan Regas with the hope of joining The Bend’s freelance writing team. As fate would have it, the company was looking to hire a managing editor and she was asked to interview for the position. She got the job, had her first day at the publication just three days after walking the stage and charged full speed ahead. She took on more of a leadership role in 2019 as editorial director, and in the fall of 2021, her title changed to editor-in-chief — one she still proudly holds.
As The Bend’s editor-in-chief, she leads the editorial team to ensure the execution and quality of print and digital content. This includes collaborating with the leadership, editorial and freelance teams, planning the editorial calendar, slating stories for each issue and the website, lots of writing and editing, maintaining The Bend’s presence in the community and just about any other task thrown her way. For Kylie, much like the other writers-at-heart team members, people will always be the best part of her job; both those she works with and those whose stories the publication shares. She feels lucky to work with some of the most talented, creative and smart people around. But sharing the stories of the local leaders, dreamers, doers and changemakers and seeing the good that can come from giving a platform to others will always be her “why.”
Jarred Schuetze
Art Director
While attending the first-ever Local’s List event in 2016, Jarred Schuetze introduced himself to Jordan Regas, expressed how much he appreciated what he and his wife created with The Bend and said he wanted to be a part of it. He initially joined the team as a part-time marketing designer shortly thereafter. In 2017, he was promoted to associate art director, and became the art director in 2019, a role he still holds. Jarred’s responsibilities as The Bend’s art director include laying out and designing each month’s issue cover to cover, collaborating with the editorial team to provide art direction for each photo shoot, designing ads and internal collateral and more.
As a born and raised Corpus Christian, Jarred always hated the uninspired groan of “there’s nothing to do here,” and has been drawn from its beginning to The Bend’s mission of highlighting the good. Today, if he had to pick one thing he enjoys most about his job, it would be working with the creative people on the team and putting their minds and talents together to achieve a truly beautiful product. A full-day photoshoot is something he cherishes — no matter how many problems or pivots have to be made along the way.
Alexa Rodriguez
Managing Editor
Alexa Rodriguez’s story with The Bend began as a freelance writer in 2016. After about two years of contributing stories, she took a step back to focus on other professional endeavors, and in the summer of 2022, she re-joined The Bend family, this time as the managing editor. Self-described as one of the Coastal Bend’s biggest advocates, she saw The Bend’s intent on elevating its community through local stories in a way she had never seen elsewhere and was inspired. From eloquent words and captivating photography to consistent community engagement, she knew it was how she wanted to make a living.
Alexa’s role as the managing editor can be described as keeping plates spinning. She manages the production cycle for the print publication, manages the digital presence of the brand across varying platforms, collaborates with the editorial team to ensure art direction is communicated to contributors, edits and writes stories for print and digital … the list goes on. She loves the ever-changing nature of this creative field and enjoys how it keeps her on her toes. However, meeting local visionaries, telling their stories and connecting them to the broader populace is her favorite part of the job.
Kent Cooper
Account Executive
The most recent addition to The Bend’s full-time staff, Kent Cooper joined the team in June 2023. Having been in media sales for the majority of his career and always admiring The Bend’s work, Kent actually came out of retirement last summer and accepted the position of account executive. He viewed The Bend as a fantastic, locally focused publication he’d be proud to represent in the community.
In the account executive role, Kent’s days are spent out in the community connecting with business owners, developing, implementing and managing advertising campaigns through print and digital mediums with clients and facilitating event sponsorships. He loves the relationships he’s formed with his clients and working with the best businesspeople in the area. When it comes to what Kent enjoys most about his job, he credits The Bend’s team as a whole — a group of upbeat, creative and professional individuals he feels proud to work alongside.