WRITING
As a journalist with a 15-year career, several stories stand out as having broader appeal:
- National award winner – Amanda’s legacy is a rainbow for sick kids
- National award winner – Searching for Sydney
- Dan Hamhuis profile. Fun fact: once upon a time, I was a sports reporter in Smithers, B.C. Someone told me to find this kid selected for the B.C. hockey team – who would later go on to play in the NHL.
Content marketing
A great way to market your business is to tell the story the impact your organization has on others. Content marketing is a type of writing I am really passionate about:
- Spotlighting the K’nmaĺka? Sənqâĺtən Indigenous garden provides a rare opportunity to step into a space filled with traditional plants significant to Syilx Okanagan people.
- A Q&A about the Gathering Place gives insight to the special student experience at Okanagan College’s Salmon Arm campus.
- Profiles of wine researchers crafted for a university brand campaign.
Website content
And even if your organization doesn’t have a blockbuster story to tell (even though I think you do), everyone needs solid website content. Simply put, web copy is my jam.
- Okanagan College’s website project – including campus pages
- OC Trades and Apprenticeship
- Non-profit organizations
EDITING
Manuscripts
Taking my years of editing experience at newspapers, I am supporting non-fiction writers through editing services – including substantive and stylistic editing, copyediting and proofreading.
My first client, Mare McHale, published Finding Your Cape: How to Course Correct and Achieve Greatness When Things Don’t Go as Planned and the book became an Amazon bestseller within a week. It was an incredible project and, considering it came out the year of a pandemic, it was incredibly well-timed.
More client work coming soon – their projects are shaping up so well!
Corporate services
Details matter when you’re in business, government and fundraising. For the corporate world, I have written and edited several publications:
NEWS RELEASES
Having been the editor sifting through a full inbox, I know what to write to make a news release stand out. Here are just a few samples of releases I have written that have gotten national pickup:
- City of Penticton renames itself ‘Westjetville’ – picked up by the Calgary Herald and Province newspaper.
- Trying to resist the urge to splurge? UBCO researcher says ditch the smartphone – and the story got picked up by Reader’s Digest and so many others.
DIGITAL STORYTELLING
What’s a case competition? What do students get out of it? We needed multimedia to convey the emotion of Live Case Challenge. My creative direction developed these videos.
I followed this up with a time lapse of the day.
BRANDING
Visuals can hurt or help your story. The City of Penticton needed a brand refresh and visual identity guidelines. This rolled out with a full corporate suite and brand kit, and this flowed into campaign material. View the outcome.
LOOKING FOR MORE?
Doing this for 20+ years means I have a lot of examples under my belt. Contact me and we can talk about what you have in mind.