Mission-Driven Marketing & Communications
As a writer, editor, and marketing communications strategist, my goal is to make complex concepts easy to understand while preserving critical information. If you need copy, editing, or communications help, tell me about it.
What I Do
- Tailor technical content to specific audiences at all levels
- Manage marketing campaigns in social media, email, web, and print
- Develop and maintain processes for project management
- Test different communications to find out which drives better results
I am currently available for short- and long-term projects of all kinds and have recently left a role as a digital content strategist for the Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Neurology. Previously, I was a contractor with the hospital’s central marketing department, and before that had freelance clients including the MIT Energy Initiative and BlueHub Capital (formerly known as Boston Community Capital). You can find a more extensive work history at LinkedIn.
Volunteering and Service
I serve on the steering committee for Somerville YIMBY, a group that promotes the creation of more housing as a solution to our regional housing shortage. I am a former member of the Data and Marketing Association (now the ANA) Ethics Policy Committee. When possible I help young people with their writing through 826Boston and the writing lab at Boston Green Academy.
Some Samples
- Before-and-after revisions to a medical information flyer for HIV+ Medicaid members, shortening copy and lowering grade level to meet regulatory and style guide constraints.
- Policy and finance explainers: What Is Zoning and Why Does it Matter? and What Exactly Do We Mean by “Affordable Housing?”
- A REDCap survey about health habits to help people calculate their McCance Brain Care Score
- A REDCap survey about ALS symptoms to help people quickly find out if they’re eligible for the HEALEY ALS Platform Trial
- “You Don’t Learn This in Class,” an article about undergraduate research for Energy Futures magazine, Fall 2018.
- Copy for the MIT Energy Initiative’s education pages.
- Academic writing about urban policy: A study of mission creep at AIDS Healthcare Foundation and the Sierra Club and a short description of how we might have a pilot program to charge for parking permits in Boston.
- Print and email communications for student loan borrowers at a critical transition point, and messages about avoiding scams and education resources for military service members.
- Draft DMA Ethics Policy Memo about Pokémon Go: Augmented Reality and Data Privacy Concerns.
Technical Publications
- Linux in a Nutshell 4th and 5th eds. Co-author for command reference and content on GNOME desktop
- Running Linux 4th and 5th eds. Contributor to sections on GNOME desktop and package management
- “What is GNOME” O’Reilly Network, August 2005
- Software manuals including the Evolution User’s Guide through version 2.4 and the documentation and man pages for Novell ZENworks Linux Management 6.5
Vanity Projects
- It’s Secretly Ironic, an intermittent newsletter / blog
- When the Voice Speaks, a short volume of poetry self-published in 2011, now out of print