Sarajevo: A Portrait of the Siege was voted one of the "Top Five Books" of its year by the American Library Association.
Roles: Executive editor and caption writer.
Client: Warner Books.
Challenges met: Commissioned first-person essays from renowned journalists such as Christiane Amanpour and Tom Gjelten to write about a single moment they witnessed that epitomized the war. Wrote photo captions from incomplete notes from stressed wartime photojournalists, to add editorial content, context, and depth to the images.
Roles: Executive editor and developmental editor.
Client: Random House.
Challenges met: Managed a $1.3 million budget with international contributors from 100 archives in 14 countries. Commissioned and edited essays from renowned essayists such as William Styron and Martha Gelllhorn. Edited a 60,000-word, academic, historical narrative by Sherwin Nuland into clear chapters with added literary style. Edited historical captions so that each told the story of a singular medical advance.
Roles: Producer, editor, and writer.
Client: Rizzoli International.
Challenges met: Pitched and sold the project. Edited reportage photos and poetry to cultivate a bit of magic between poem and image. Wrote a Preface to bring universal themes into the project. Delivered digital mechanicals for a 3D package: the book Nuptials, a keepsake box, wedding planner, and guest book.
Roles: Producer, editor, and writer.
Clients: Chronicle Books and Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Challenges met: Created the proposal that raised $330,000 to produce an unprecedented, not-for-profit venture. Created a process for two radically different publishers to happily co-publish. Convinced Thomas Moore to write the Preface. Uncovered stories of volunteers that were both unusual and visually compelling. Persuaded Magnum photojournalists to shoot those stories at nonprofit rates – and to hike the Rockies to photograph a Boy Scout troop.
Roles: Ghostwriter, researcher, and interviewer.
Client: Center for Physician Leadership; Fredric Tobis, MD, CEO.
Challenges met: Articulated this content expert's vision and expertise; filled in content gaps with research. Told the story of the U.S. healthcare crisis with enough depth and complexity for physicians and hospital C-suite executives, yet enough clarity and style to engage a general audience.
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Roles: Writer, SEO editor, and researcher.
Client: WebMD.
Challenges met: Wrote and edited web copy amid rapidly changing SEO standards, best practices, and medical content. Wrote and edited features, reference articles, and sponsored content to meet target content needs, channels, and word counts. Managed a team of writers to revise "A-Z Guides" and other large channels as WebMD templates and styles evolved.
"Heartburn / GERD Guide" on WebMD
"Hemiplegic Migraine Headache" on WebMD
"What Is Prediabetes?" on WebMD
Roles: Writer, editor, and information designer.
Client: EvergreenHealth, Maternal-Fetal Medicine group.
Challenges met: Raised the money to make the project. Coaxed consensus from 22 specialist physicians and six nursing staff. Told a frightening, life-or-death, medical story in a compassionate, reassuring – but honest – way. Enhanced the hospital brand and increased patient engagement, referrals, and compliance. Managed budgets, schedules, and egos.
Roles: Information designer and copywriter.
Client: Krames/Staywell.
Challenges met: Delivered population-specific patient engagement to improve outcomes, save physicians' time, and market healthcare practices while cutting production time. Used best-practices information design for readers with low literacy and low health literacy to explain diagnosis, medical and surgical treatment, and recovery, to educate patients, improve compliance, and enhance recovery.
Roles: Copywriter and content developer.
Client: EvergreenHealth.
Challenges met: Introduced the Evergreen Neuroscience Institute and Evergreen MS Center brands, launching these service lines and their added value before building was complete. Founding editor/writer for Evergreen Rounds to market speciality care advances to primary care physicians, using a "ground rounds" theme and first-person quotes to increase referrals and put a human face on medical content.
Roles: Project director and copywriter.
Client: Evergreen Healthcare.
Challenges met: Interviewed physician staff to find the most compelling human stories and medical services with the best outcomes. Coaxed agreement from multiple medical specialties competing for marketing space. Ghostwrote the messages from the CEO and Board President.
Roles: Information designer and copywriter.
Client: Krames/Staywell.
Challenges met: Delivered field-tested, population-specific content in a health literacy model proven to get results. Finessed key concepts to be market sensitive for target healthcare markets. Created visual storylines to engage readers, inspire wellness behaviors, and improve health and well-being.
Roles: Healthcare journalist.
Clients: Glamour, Self, Shape, and Medical Self-Care magazines.
Challenges met: Balanced the latest, best-practices medical information with reassurance about difficult subjects to improve health literacy and outcomes.
Roles: Content developer, information designer, and copywriter.
Client: 2BeMa, the first commercial real estate website for senior housing, with channels for both brokers and consumers.
Challenges met: Found unique ways to introduce the brand, the concept, and four service lines housed under one start-up. Designed website content strategy and navigation; researched and developed content. Wrote copy for LivOn, the senior housing channel.
Roles: Journalist.
Client: Maine Boats & Harbors magazine.
Challenges met: Profiled an academic marine biologist doing cutting-edge acoustic research into whales and "ship strikes." Told the story of his research to engage and inspire a general interest audience.
Roles: Executive editor, project director, and writer.
Client: Warner Books.
Challenges met: Corral a team of tech writers into a single coherent vision and voice. Map the landscape of an emerging technology in an entertaining, visual way to help non-techies understand it. Write an Introduction to inspire consumers to embrace this new technology.
