The Background story
I’ve always been a storyteller for as long as I can remember.
Here’s the story of how I became a writer and got where I am today: ideally positioned to support your company and help you do big things.
Chapter 1: Humble Beginnings
Everyone’s got to start somewhere, right? Say it with me: Aww. (Or yikes, depending on how you interpret my childhood hobbies and interests.)
So here’s my fun fact: I wrote my first “book” at six. Yes, as a child, my happy place was writing stories at the kitchen table. Eventually, I filled an entire trunk in my bedroom closet with stapled-together, self-illustrated stories that contained 100% riveting material and not-at-all cringey plot. Next, as interests evolved, I recruited my best friend to create our own magazines and movie scripts. In high school AP English class, I was that kid who got excited about timed writings analyzing literary themes and character development while my classmates groaned.
Clearly, my love for words was always there. Now the words just needed to become more interesting, relevant, and useful to someone other than my parents or teachers.
Chapter 2: The Lightbulb Goes On
But how to parlay my love for writing into a career? In college came the big aha moment that changed everything: I discovered the world of marketing, advertising, and PR, and, with it, freelance writing. Yes, companies desperately need great writers, and I knew I had finally found the right outlet for my talents. As a result, I earned a Bachelor of Science in Public Relations, a Bachelor of Arts in Government, and a minor in advertising from The University of Texas at Austin, followed by a Master of Arts in Communication Management from the University of Southern California. Along the way, I also enjoyed some interesting times working at the Texas Capitol for the 2003 legislative session and completed internships at Tate Austin Public Relations, BWR Public Relations, and Paramount Pictures’ theatrical marketing department. Hook ‘Em Horns and Fight On
Chapter 3: My Mad Men Era
Once out of the classroom and out in the wild, I honed my craft of telling other peoples’ stories. This meant becoming a copywriter at a creative services agency, where I basically wore multiple hats and wrote everything under the sun for all types of clients. My team—comprising graphic designers and web developers—and I created comprehensive, custom branding and marketing campaigns for companies in the restaurant/retail, health care, industrial, and financial sectors. These campaigns involved taglines, websites, e-newsletters, blogs, press releases, ads, billboards, social media, brochures, direct mail, and so much more. I even got to travel to clients’ sites to do a deep dive on their business and attend their events that I helped support with marketing collateral. It was tons of fun, and I learned a lot about how to listen to and collaborate with clients to obtain the right results via a variety of media. During these years, I trained myself to be incredibly versatile and nimble in skill set, day in and day out.
And when I say I did everything to support our clients, I’m being serious. See that picture of me in a monkey mask? That’s me appearing in my client’s Christmas party video. Never a dull moment!
Chapter 4: My Office Space Era (Just Kidding)
The next phase of my growth and development as a writer was about learning what it’s like to be a writer embedded within a single company. So, I moved in-house to become a communications specialist and senior-level writer at two prominent companies with a global presence in the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) and energy/oil and gas sectors. I still got to flex my creativity on marketing campaigns and product launches, but I also honed my corporate communications skills and gained greater exposure to executive leadership, subject-matter experts (SMEs), and other internal stakeholders. I also got to work on major and highly visible projects, like annual and ESG reports and video scripts. And I really nailed down how to interview SMEs and discuss highly complex topics—and then make those concepts accessible to non-industry readers while still communicating meaningfully to those in the know.
Plus, I continued to work with and learn from a great group of writers, designers, marketing strategists, and developers, with whom I could enjoy daily tea time, Scary Movie Club, and the occasional friendly hazing. Like that time they turned my cubicle into a “castle” when I returned from a vacation to Disney World (pictured here).
Chapter 5: Freelance Writer Extraordinaire
By this time, I knew I had acquired the optimal blend of experience and expertise to strike out on my own and deliver value to a wide variety of companies. Every career move up to this point had been very strategic, designed to get me to this place. And about a decade ago, I accomplished my long-time goal and began freelance writing full time for companies in Texas, across the U.S., and even internationally. It’s been an incredible adventure as The Write Freelancer!
I’m really proud of the quality work I’ve produced for many highly respected companies and the relationships I’ve built along the way. I deeply appreciate the trust my clients have placed in me and consider myself so lucky to get to do what I love. There’s no better feeling than to hear a client describe how I’ve positively impacted their business or improved their standing with customers.
I’m also backed by a pretty cool team that helpfully chases away delivery people and lawn guys who might distract me from my work—but, mostly, they just snore through my Zoom meetings or sulk at me from right behind my laptop screen until I pay them some attention.
Epilogue: Life Outside
When I’m not staring into my MacBook and pounding away at the keyboard, I’m a mom to my four mostly adorable human and canine children (a diverse role that involves juggling myriad culinary, janitorial, activity coordination, entertainment and event planning, and chauffeuring services). In the remaining 2% of my free time, I enjoy staying up way too late to binge a really good book or TV show, working out at the barre, or planning my next travel adventure—preferably to Hawaii or Disney World.