Full-time
Senior Copywriter, Content Strategist
MBLM (Dubai, UAE)
December 2013 – December 2016
Working with an elite team of designers, directors, coders and account managers, I wrote the copy that would form the brand’s backbone. From hospitality, tourism and fashion to real estate and manufacturing, we’d push concepts until they were perfect, always keen to approach projects from a different angle. My tasks included:
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- Developing brand messaging systems and communication guidelines and defining a clear and distinct voice and tone for each brand
- Writing copy for both traditional media and digital platforms in the form of websites, presentations, brochures, annual reports, video scripts and print, radio and television advertisements
- Working closely with the Art Director and creative team to ensure that our projects were on track and on brand
- Creating presentations and proposals for potential clients
- Directing film for television advertisements
- Managing translations into Arabic and Mandarin
Senior Copywriter, Public Relations Coordinator
University of Dubai (Dubai, UAE)
October 2011 – December 2013
Publicity was the name of the game; positive, of course. Forming relationships was the foundation of newsworthy stories – talk to students, faculty, staff: talk to everyone. Find a compelling story, find a cool story, find a genuine story and get your media contacts excited about it (another relationship pillar). Brings me back to my journalism days. My tasks included:
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- Engaging the media and managing media relations to increase news coverage of our university
- Writing and distributing press releases, taking and distributing photos, and coordinating interviews between media and faculty or students
- Developing clear communications and public relation plans
- Creating content for social media and managing social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn)
- Writing university communications and marketing materials such as brochures, fliers, pamphlets, posters, online website content, digital advertisements and social media posts
- Working closely with the Graphic Design Team to develop concepts and create advertisements, brochures, online banners and marketing collaterals
Reporter
Loudoun Times-Mirror newspaper (Leesburg, VA)
May 2007 – January 2009
Blessed to have an editor as liberal as Allen Ginsberg, I was given free rein to cover the Arts and Entertainment beat of Loudoun County, Virginia in the most flowery of prose. Looking back on it now, as a more mature writer, I’m amazed at the level of creative freedom I was granted, and more amazed that I won several Virginia Press Association awards, even beating out some writers from the Washington Post. My tasks included:
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- Investigating the murky underbelly of the death metal music scene, enduring deafening drums and shots of Jack Daniels with the band
- Interviewing albino tigers as they chomped down 20 pounds of raw meat in seconds
- Bravely going toe-to-toe with the brawny women of the local roller derby league
- Navigating the twangy notes and dizzying fiddles of mountain bluegrass jams
Reporter
The Warren Sentinel newspaper (Front Royal, VA)
May 2006 – May 2007
Baptism by fire: Late nights at school board meetings, early mornings at the courthouse, speeding after firetrucks toward mountains engulfed in flames, interviewing sobbing relatives of the recently murdered, running behind police led by german shepherds hot on the trail of a bank robber, speaking to families entrenched in poverty; stories of woe, stories of hope, stories of determination and hopelessness. My tasks included:
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- Everything: I covered community issues, crime, environment, natural disasters, immigration, county government, regional economy, education and arts and entertainment
- Served as sub editor, primary photographer and aided in design and layout of newspaper
Freelance (2019)
Copywriter, Social Media Consultant
JEMSU Digital Marketing (Denver, CO)
- Working with JEMSU’s marketing director to develop the company’s approach to social media advertising and communicate its strategy to potential clients
Copywriter
Front Range Biosciences (Lafayette, CO
- Copywriting website content, blogs and thought leadership articles
Copywriter
Androvett Legal Media & Marketing (Dallas, TX)
- Working remotely, I write website content, digital and traditional advertisements, blogs, e-mail campaigns and social media content for a range of clients
Freelance (2017-18)
Copywriter, Brand Strategist
Lumpy Ridge Brewing Co. (Estes Park, CO)
Copywriter, Screenwriter
Trimble (Denver, CO)
Copywriter, Brand Strategist
Brandenburg UK Ltd. (Bangalore, India)
Screenwriter, Director
Kadence Guitars (Bangalore, India)
Copywriter
Mota Designs (Dubai, UAE)
Freelance (2009-11)
Copywriter
StubStreet.com (Boulder, CO)
Writer/Contributor
Comedic Scenes for Young Actors, Smith and Kraus Publishers, Inc. (Chicago, IL)
Reporter
Vail Mountaineer newspaper (Vail, CO)