Writing

Explainers/Primers:

• What Happens When a Home Buyer Backs Out? (Eave)
• What’s The Difference Between a Mortgage Pre-Qualification and Pre-Approval? (Eave)
• What Does Renters Insurance Cover? (Legal Beagle)
• Is it Legal to Leave a Dog in the Car? (Legal Beagle)
• What’s Criminal Justice? (Legal Beagle)

Interviews/Profiles:

• How Getting Sober Helped Nicole Atkins Find Her Voice (Inspirer Magazine)
• Hayley Orrantia Talks ‘The Goldbergs,’ Songwriting, and Vocal Surgery (Inspirer Magazine)
• Meet Christine Pellegrino: The Reading Teacher Who Became an Unexpected Political Leader (Inspirer Magazine)
• Constance Schwartz on What She’s Learned from 25 years in Male-Dominated Industries (Inspirer Magazine)

Pop Culture Think Pieces:

• Wonder Woman Proves that Female Storytelling is Needed Now More than Ever (Inspirer Magazine)
• The Fearlessness of Hip-Hop’s First Female Mogul: Missy Elliott (Inspirer Magazine)
• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – Induct These Women: Dolly Parton (Inspirer Magazine)

Blogging:

Eave Blog:

When I started at Eave as copywriter and content lead, the company’s blog had lackluster performance at best. After just two weeks of implementing my content program, the Eave blog grew its audience by more than 20,000%. Now the blog is becoming a popular hub for mortgage content and consistently brings customers to Eave’s marketing site. 

Here are a few samples:

• 9 Unexpected Mortgage Closing Costs to Watch Out For (Eave)
• The Home Buyer’s Guide to Competing in a Cutthroat Housing Market (Eave)

Cute Girl With a Banjo: 

I started Cute Girl With a Banjo in my mid-twenties as a fun, personal blog. I never really imagined that it would evolve into much, much more. When my mother suddenly and tragically died in 2013, my fun little twenty-something blog became an outlet for my grief. My writings ended up resonating with a lot of people. In just a few years, Cute Girl With a Banjo grew to have more than 4,000 followers, and an actively engaged readership. My work was featured on WordPress’s Freshly Pressed, syndicated by Thought Catalog, and shared by Brain, Child Magazine. How did I do it? I can tell you one thing: it wasn’t from clever marketing. I didn’t post every day, or offer e-courses, or comment on other bloggers’ pages, or do any of the other 700 things new bloggers are taught to do. Honestly, I hardly did anything to market this blog, aside from sharing my writings on Facebook and Twitter. I gained over 4,000 subscribers because I made great content that made people think and feel something.

If I could go back in time, of course I would do a few things differently. I would probably have done a lot more marketing. Also, I would most definitely change the blog’s name (lesson learned: think long-term about your blog and where it might go before naming it. Do not pick just any random name. Eventually, you will no longer be a cute girl with a banjo, and instead will be an adult woman looking for work. Oops).

Here are a few samples:

• This is not a before-and-after weight loss story
• The long, lonely road of grief

 

Case Studies:

I pitched, researched and wrote this case study for The Intersector Project, covering the transformation of the largest public housing development in New Orleans. 

 

Books:

I contributed research to journalist Liz Plank’s forthcoming book, How to Be a Man. I also contributed research and wrote segments for the book Babygate: How to Survive Pregnancy and Parenting in the Workplace.