Jessi Virtusio biography

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Updated: March 8, 2012 7:49PM

Jessi Virtusio has been the SouthtownStar’s arts and entertainment editor since November 2007, when the Daily Southtown and Star Newspapers merged.

She started with the group in the mid-1990s as a freelancer writing features. In 1997, she began regularly covering news as a stringer. Her beats included Community High School District 218, Midlothian, Oak Forest, Palos Hills and Worth.

During her time at The Star, she also served as assistant business editor, home and garden editor, and associate features editor.

Her work for the twice-weekly garnered awards from the Illinois Press Association, Suburban Newspapers of America, and the Realtor Association of West/South Suburban Chicagoland.

Since 2001, Virtusio has profiled local musicians and previewed national acts performing in the Southland via her Gig of the Week, which originated in the FirstLook magazine (now Weekend on Fridays).

In 2007, she began penning a weekly pro wrestling column. A member of ChicagoProWrestling.com, she is considered the only print journalist to regularly cover pro wrestling in the Southland.

Virtusio has blogged for SouthtownStar.com since June 2008, when she launched Elaborating on Entertainment to discuss music, movies and much more with online readers.

In August 2009, she began penning the weekly Hot Picks column of top events you won’t want to miss. That feature now appears on Thursdays in the Southland Entertainment pages.

She also runs SouthtownStar.com’s FYI on FMBA blog, which launched in May 2010 and offers all you need to know about First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park.

In October 2001, Virtusio launched The Word from Section, a monthly online newsletter dedicated to the TV show "La Femme Nikita." She even was acknowledged in Christopher Heyn's 2006 book "Inside Section One: Creating and Producing TV's 'La Femme Nikita' " (Persistence of Vision Press).

Before her time with the newspaper, Virtusio served as assistant editor of Subculture, a monthly music magazine that circulated in Illinois and Indiana, and was a college radio disc jockey.

A longtime Southland resident and former aspiring concert pianist, Virtusio once appeared as an extra on the TV series “24” as a reporter.

Jessi Virtusio can be reached at jvirtusio@southtownstar.com.