Brooklyn
New York
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Writer and Editor
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Most recently I’ve served at the Director of Content for Talkspace, an online therapy provider attempting to destigmatize and broaden access to mental health care, offering affordable, confidential therapy with licensed therapists, anytime, anyplace.
Previously I worked as the Content Marketing Manager for Ghostery, provider of a browser extension that gives users more control over what they share online, as well as enterprise privacy services and solutions.
Prior to my work with Ghostery, I was the Content Strategist for Winthrop Intelligence, an innovative software services firm that builds user-friendly online database tools that help athletic directors and administrators in higher education make better hiring decisions.
As Talkspace’s Director of Content, I built, managed, and ran the global content strategy and operations with a campaign-based, insights-led approach in the service of business and communications goals mapped to revenue-based KPIs. I headed content creation across multiple form factors: video, podcast, long-form, short-form, and social.
Synthesizing and prioritizing business inputs, I created, sourced, and structured our multi-channel mental health content that drove traffic and engagement and that translated into conversions and brand lift as well as high engagement and improved retention. In four years under my leadership traffic increased by nearly 10x. Conversion rate on high-traffic, low-funnel pages improved by 19% and increased registrations by 32%. I managed on-page and off-page SEO and link-building, internal link strategy, and managed site map and Google webmaster tools.
With a guiding curiosity to stay on the cutting edge of this fast-moving industry, I monitored, analyzed, and reported on content marketing results, performance, and ROI by focusing on KPIs and optimizations that drove growth.
Designed to capture high-value leads, I led the creation of Talkspace’s first e-course, a research-backed video tutorial providing tools and strategies to better understand and manage work stress. Each video lesson also provided instruction, exercises, and concrete examples to help transform thoughts, habits, and behaviors keeping users from being their best self at work. Using extensive client surveys and research from our clinical team, I wrote the script, managed production of video lessons, and executed the implementation of lessons on the e-learning platform.
For Mental Health Awareness Month 2020 I led a collaborative cross-channel multi-media campaign to highlight the impacts of the coronavirus on our mental wellness that asked the question: what does your mental health look like? The campaign included a series of pieces about the virus’s impact on daily life in areas such as relationships, work, family, and social issues. Each long-form piece included tips and clinical expertise from our team of licensed therapists and downloadable exercises. The campaign also included rich media profiles and interviews with high-profile mental health warriors about how they handled the coronavirus outbreak as well as a writing class specific to mental health helping tell the mental health stories of COVID-19.
In 2018, I relaunched the Talkspace blog with a new design and layout and an emphasis on hard-hitting, well-researched and reported long-form pieces by some of the most talented authors writing on mental health. These conversations — on topics like the impossible decisions faced by those with mental health challenges due to the high-cost of mental healthcare, the consequences for patients of the schism between psychiatry and psychotherapy, as well as narrative pieces exploring issues like the mental health costs for caregivers — contributed to driving the conversation around mental health care, meaningfully impacted readers lives, and contributed to meaningful changes in public mental health policy. In 2020, our focus on the mental health impacts of COVID-19, racial inequality, and political divisions resulted in a 32% increase in qualified traffic.
In 2020, I penned and oversaw the design production of an initiative to push the bounds of what content could do, moving from static pages to narrative storytelling that included video, audio, animation, and data visualizations to help drive engagement, differentiate the Talkspace brand, drive social shares, and increase conversions. The Mental Health Decade in Review focused on the ten past tumultuous years — from Occupy to Black Lives Matter, #MeToo to March for Our Lives — all milestones that pushed conversations about mental health forward. The new decade saw so many of us renew our commitment to mental health and equal care, in other words: therapy for all.
In 2019, I built a lead flow library with dynamic CTAs leading to a targeted email nurture series personalizing content experience based on user segmentation. CTAs were segmented based on condition and the nurture series provided compelling offers that provided control over lead-gen and bottom-of-funnel creative and messaging. Quicker iteration and better testing meant we met our readers where they were in their life — and lifecycle.
In 2020, I spearheaded the creation of our clinical assessments, short online mental health tests to help determine whether to seek help from a licensed mental health professional. I created landing pages with targeted copy and content that would quickly rank organically for targeted keywords, developed a conversion funnel and optimized internal links across owned properties to boost assessments in SERP. I created a successful email nurture series activated toward garnering leads.
For Ghostery I headed the B2B-focused digital marketing strategy for content and lead generation, thought leadership, and brand awareness. Day to day, I owned, created content for, and managed the daily production of the Ghostery blog, email marketing, sales enablement tools (website, print, mobile), whitepapers, case studies, and newsletters. My leadership resulted in an organic traffic increase of 53% in six months—from 193k avg visitors/month to 295k avg visitors.
I worked cross departmentally to revise, measure, and align content to marketing goals and led a new account-based content marketing effort for the demand gen engine to achieve our KPIs (both velocity and conversion) that resulted in MQL-to-SAL rates of greater than 45%. The run-rate of leads from all 4 channels (SEO, SEM, Events, Nurture) equaled 2,000+ MQLs for Q1-Q3. My “test and iterate” approach continually gauged content effectiveness mapped to the buyer’s journey for seven business units and products as well as a SaaS platform. I also bylined articles for the CEO and spearheaded PR efforts that landed features in the New York Times, Ad Age, and Vice’s Motherboard.
I led creation of The State of Digital Vendor Governance, a whitepaper summarizing the results of a first-of-its-kind, industry-wide survey. The whitepaper featured proprietary research of an emerging technological space that sits squarely between ad and marketing technologies and impacts global companies in retail, travel, financial services, technology, and media. Using the results of the survey, I ideated the piece, wrote the copy, and led art direction.
I created an infographic—Your Site Diagnosed—using the results of a global survey of IT and Digital Marketing experts from corporations ranging from small (up to 50 employees) to large (over 250), with assets of just over $1 million to multinationals with annual revenue of over $50 billion. I concepted the project, wrote the copy, and directed the design.
I spearheaded the conception and production of A Tale of Two Travel Companies, a two-page sales enablement tool for an account-based marketing effort. The travel campaign precisely targeting select EU travel companies and was used in anticipation of the busy holiday booking season.
I headed the creation of a sales one-sheet for the professional services department, providing 7 Tips to Ensure an Optimal Digital Experience.
I wrote a case study of a Top 50 US Retailer that used Ghostery to boost performance and keep many of the technologies that were driving conversions and revenue. The results included a 4-second improvement in site speed, a 5% decrease in abandoned shoppers and a .5% increase in online conversions.
I authored a wide range of original content for Winthrop Intelligence (college sports analytics) and HigherEdPeople (higher education HR). Day to day, I owned the blog, newsletter, and social media accounts, authored all communications and white papers, and optimized content strategy and personas to bring a new SaaS product to market—all of which grew organic traffic from 0 to 750k visitors per/month and 1.4M monthly pageviews. I also architected lead generation from our B2B email list and built a 30K email subscriber list. With this strategic execution of brand voice and precise prospect targeting, the result was satisfied clients and a 98% customer retention rate.
I wrote content for the websites, marketing copy for the sales channels, and generated dozens of high-value links, increasing domain authority from 0 to 60+ in two years. Winthrop now ranks page 1 of Google for thousands of high intent keywords. In addition to my writing and editing duties, I sourced writers and ran the editorial schedule and the workflow of over 25+ authors, Additionally, I oversaw the work of the design team, and mined analytics for actionable SEO/SEM strategy insights. Our content set records for unique views and product sales in Q4 2012 through Q4 2013. The writing was cited by the New York Times Editorial Board—a piece on the Ed O’Bannon litigation—and The Atlantic—on NCAA tournament payouts—and was profiled by Inside Higher Ed.
I wrote Winthrop Intelligence's Year in Review, a deep look at Winthrop's impact on college athletics. From a continuous stream of new innovations, to citations in the New York Times and the Atlantic, 2013 was a terrific year for Winthrop Intelligence and their clients.
I concepted and storyboarded an animation about the benefits of using HigherEdPeople, an organization devoted to the belief that finding quality talent in Higher Education should be easier and less time-consuming than it is today. HigherEdPeople removes the middle-man and gives you the best tool available to find the best candidates.
I guided the production of a Social Media Study in college athletics. We looked at data provided from the University of Miami, Mississippi State, UNC, and Oregon about the growth of their social outreach, the concentration of users across platforms and total users, and emerging channels. These leaders also generously discussed their most successful campaigns, how precisely they interact with fans online, as well as social media’s measurable impacts on ticket sales.
I produced and edited an article on Sports Technology, the innovations for which patents have been awarded in 2013 for sports equipment and training, as well as a brief historical overview of recent patents and some of the most active assignees.
I produced and edited an article about Coach Influence on Player Development where we sought to answer the question: What affect does a college football head coach have on a recruit? Because we are able to observe multiple players going through a system with a single coach, we were able to estimate coach fixed-effects of the probability of a player making a professional roster.
My writing has appeared in many venues, including fiction in Joyland Magazine, a story that was nominated for the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers, and recently in Litro.
I've published nonfiction in the Literary Hub—a place celebrate books and literary culture—the Michigan Quarterly Review—UM’s flagship literary journal—Brooklyn Rail—a journal of arts, culture, and politics—the Huffington Post—the first commercially run digital media enterprise to win a Pulitzer Prize—the Tottenville Review—a review of books focused on debuts, translations—and The Faster Times.
I’ve received recognition from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council the Millay Colony, Hawthornden Castle, Ucross Foundation, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Ragdale Foundation, the Jentel Foundation, and others. I was recently nominated for the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers, was a finalist for the 2019 Emerging Artists Program from the Jerome Foundation, and a semi-finalist for the 2021 George Bennett Fellowship from Phillips Exeter Academy.
A personal essay in Lit Hub about The Rally, a political reading series I founded and host, fundraising for small- and medium nonprofits, partnering with lit orgs to build member-group coalition fighting community injustice, and fostering direct action to advance democracy.
A short story in Litro Magazine about betrayal abroad.
An interview in the Michigan Quarterly Review with acclaimed novelist, playwright, and teacher Wesley Brown, who became a member of the Black Panther Party in 1968 and was sentenced to three years in prison for refusing induction into the armed services.
A short story in Joyland Magazine about adolescents growing up without supervision.
I reviewed Ken Murray's debut novel, Eulogy, for The Brooklyn Rail.
I interviewed novelist Patrick McGrath about his new novel, Constance, for the Huffington Post.
I reviewed three Slovenian novels for the Tottenville Review, a new collaborative focused on debuts and translations.
I reviewed Spanish writer Andres Neuman's new novel, Traveler of the Century, for The Faster Times.
A de Groot Foundation Courage to Write Award winner, I’ been recognized with fellowships from Hawthornden Castle, Lighthouse Works, Millay Colony, Ucross Foundation, VCCA’s Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus, Willapa Bay AiR, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and others.
I was recently nominated for the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for a piece published in Joyland Magazine, was a finalist for the Tofte Lake’s 2019 Emerging Artists Program from the Jerome Foundation, and a semi-finalist for the 2021 George Bennett Fellowship from Phillips Exeter Academy.
I’m also a voting member of PEN America, the world’s oldest humanitarian organization, working at the intersection of literature and human rights, as well as the National Book Critics Circle, the professional association of American book review editors and critics.
The de Groot Foundation supports writers and the literary arts by providing a monetary award meant to inspire writers toward the completion of a promising work in progress.
One-month writing residency in Midlothian Scotland’s Hawthornden Castle.
One month writing residency on Fishers Island, NY, an island in Long Island Sound.
One-month writing residency on the site of poet Edna St. Vincent Millay’s home in Austerlitz, New York funded by the Millay Colony for the Arts.
One month as a writing fellow in Sheridan, WY, thanks to the generous support of the Ucross Foundation.
One month writing residency at the Kebbel Villa in Schwandorf, Germany .
One month writing residency in Oysterville, WA, between the Willapa Bay and the Pacific on Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula.
Fellowship funded by LMCC and the Trust for Governors Island providing creative time and space for artists, writers, and composers from the five boroughs of New York in response to COVID-19 and its devastating impact across the NYC cultural landscape.
Semi-finalist for fellowship to provide time and freedom from material considerations to a person seriously contemplating or pursuing a career as a writer.
I was nominated for the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers, an award that recognizes twelve emerging fiction writers each year for their debut short story and aims to support and launch the careers of fiction writers.
One month in Sheridan, WY, as a writing fellow, thanks to the generous support of the Jentel Artist Residency Program.
Two-week funded writing residency in Amherst, Virginia thanks to the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.
I'm a voting member of the National Book Critics Circle—an organization that honors outstanding writing and fosters a national conversation about reading, criticism and literature.
I’ve worked as a copywriter for many publishers including for Abrams Books, the first company in the United States to specialize in publishing art and illustrated books. I wrote the copy for their annual catalog of newly released titles, as I did for Michigan State University Press, scholarly publishing arm of Michigan State University.
Prior to that I worked for Party City Inc., the largest retailer of party goods in the United States and Canada. There I wrote birthday party guides, including ideas for invitations, decorations, and party favors featuring Party City products.
Most recently I worked for Varick North, supplier of marketing services for early-stage startups, writing SEO-friendly copy and content.
I wrote compelling, descriptive catalog copy for the Spring and Fall 2011 releases of a mid-size academic press, careful to express specialty and niche interest as well as broader commercial appeal of each book. Titles included Michigan Notable Book Award and Midwest Book Award winner.
With Varick North, I composed informative, SEO-friendly content for early-stage startups looking to boost organic traffic without the initial outlay for a full marketing department.
Most recently I worked as a copy editor on special reports for George Soros’s non-profit human rights organization, Open Society Foundations, which has invested $10 billion in building tolerant democracies.
Prior to OSF, I worked for the Global Commission on Drug Policy, an organization that advocates for informed, science-based discussion about humane and effective ways to reduce the harm caused by drugs.
Additionally, I’ve worked an editor for Open Road Integrated Media, editing everything from the Boxcar Children to a 700 page nonfiction tome on the Kennedy assassination.
I also worked as an acquisitions editor for Carolina Academic Press, a small law publisher with a staff of thirteen that produces over ninety books annually. There I served as a liaison for authors throughout the entire publishing process—from nascent idea inception to post-release marketing. During my tenure, the ebook division saw a 36% sales increase.
I copy edited “The Impact of Drug Policy on the Environment,” the focus of an event leading up to the 2016 UN General Assembly Special Session on drugs for Open Society Foundations.
I copy edited "The Negative Impact of Drug Control on Public Health: The Global Crisis of Avoidable Pain," for the Global Commission on Drug Policy, launching it’s third thematic report at the International Harm Reduction Conference in Kuala Lumpur.
I proofread ebook editions of popular novels for Open Road —NY Times Best Sellers and Pulitzer Prize Finalists. I also provided feedback and analysis for ongoing marketing.
With Carolina Academic Press I acquired titles and liaised with authors to assess viability of law and academic book proposals. Additionally, I provided substantive editing, copyediting, proofreading, and typecoding for law and academic manuscripts. The ebook division saw 36% sales increase in 2011-12.
I’ve taught creative writing through Duke University’s OLLI Extension, dedicated to providing excellent education for adult learners, and through Skillshare, an online learning community with over two millino student.
I've also taught at Stanford University and UC Berkeley through Education Unlimited, one of the nation's leading summer academic enrichment program providers.
I began teaching at the Monterey Bay Writers Studio—an organization I cofounded supporting the literary arts in the Central Coast of California through a diverse offering of classes, workshops, and events.
I led a six-week intensive writing course through Duke University's OLLI Extension focusing on the fundamental elements of fiction (Structure and Point of View, Setting and Pacing, Conflict and Dialogue, and Character), practicing specific methods for revision, and strategies for working with second drafts.
With Skillshare, I led an online writing class on Igniting The Fictional Dream: Setting And The Senses. I provided bite-sized lessons and participants complete creative projects on their own timelines along the way.
I designed and implemented creative writing, personal statement writing, and critical reading curricula for advanced high school students at Stanford University and UC Berkeley through Education Unlimited. I diagnosed the needs of individual student participants and took steps to execute a course of instruction that resulted in a high level of student and parental satisfaction.
For the Monterey Bay Writers Studio, I developed a core curriculum and evaluated student work with an emphasis on revision, restructuring, and publication, for four creative writing classes. I applied a variety of classroom strategies and structures including lecture, discussion, close reading, and workshop for fiction and non-fiction courses.
