Writing for Individuals

A ghostwriter for professionals.

You have ideas, expertise and stories. I turn them into crisp language, so you can share your brilliance with those who matter most.

Writing for Organizations

An experienced communications strategist.

You have experts with something to say, and news to share inside and outside the organization. I provide distinct messages and a strategy for using them.

Researcher of Urban Resilience

Harvard-trained in sustainability and environmental management.

I’m interested in helping cities find creative ways to solve their biggest challenges. I won an award for my thesis, in which I introduced a way to map, measure and analyze sidewalk shade—to make it easier to consider shade when designing for walkability, and to plan for more equitable access to shade across a city.

Clarity

Organizing jumbled thoughts into distinct messages, compelling content and memorable sound bites that showcase expertise and vision.

Strategy

Creating communications systems built on a hierarchy of messages designed to inspire, inform and influence thousands of employees or customers.

Simplicity

Simplifying complexity. Eagerly tackling new subjects—technology, science or business—and distilling the information for technical or lay audiences.

Long. Short. Serious. Fun.

I’ve written books for a university president, a university professor and division chair, and a corporate leader. I can do the research, design a storytelling architecture, and write the full manuscript. I’m a member of the Association of Ghostwriters.

I can help with all stages of research: crafting the proposal, designing the study, analyzing the data, writing the report, and creating materials that help you share your results with the world.

Websites are fun, because I get to help an individual or organization clarify their identity and share their vision in crisp language that captures their expertise and ideas.

There’s a meaningful story behind your data, and a good report will inspire as well as inform. I’ve written Corporate Social Responsibility and other reports that put a year’s worth of data and milestones into context to bring your achievements alive.

Harness your own expertise to share it with others. I’ve written scripts for dozens of hours of leadership training, and also crafted packaged do-it-yourself modules simplifying concepts like statistics and marketing. I’m also a teaching assistant for a Harvard graduate level course (Analytical Methods in Sustainability), for which I guide student work on research design, systems diagrams, and life-cycle analysis.

Writing and publishing articles or newsletters can be an effective way to share your expertise with your target audiences. I’ve ghostwritten pieces on a variety of topics over the years: public policy, healthcare, energy, finance, biotech, high tech, leadership, and sustainability, to name just a few.

I’ve created several assessment tools, where I identified metrics so C-level execs can measure progress related to organizational goals. For my thesis research, when I couldn’t find an existing method for quantifying sidewalk shade, I created one–learning GIS spatial analysis and 3D shade modeling.

I enjoy finding ways to connect people to their city and to each other. I’ve been turning the Pasadena, California municipal code into haiku, and I’ve placed stories as art installations on sidewalks around the city. The idea is to make the city and our fellow community members feel like vital parts of our lives.

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Biography

Writing isthinkingon deadline

Much of the work I do is related to communicating about risk and the urgent need for change—as when a large corporation needs people to work differently, specialized experts need to distill the complexity of their ideas, or community organizations want to share their stories of sustainability.

I specialize in taking something complex and making it clear and compelling, whether writing about genome sequencing for a client or turning Pasadena’s municipal code into haiku for fun.

I help organizations, teams and individuals clarify and share their vision.

I write their stories and create strategies for telling those stories in ways that move their audiences to action.

Those audiences can be as diverse as consumers, employees, investors, general news media, and technical trade reporters.

Any and all topics are fair game.

I’ve spent my life simplifying things to their most efficient and minimalist state: a well-packed bag, a light footprint, a taut story.

My mission is to give you that same clarity—organizing your thoughts into distinct messages and memorable sound bites so you can share your brilliance with the people who matter to you.

I started my career at a global PR agency (Fleishman-Hillard in Los Angeles) where I conducted media relations campaigns for brands like 3M, Nestlé, AOL, Pioneer Electronics, Century 21 Real Estate Corporation, and several hotel/casinos in Las Vegas.

But I really just wanted to write. So I became a freelance writer, working directly with agencies, corporations and individuals.

I joined nimble virtual teams of creatives as a consultant. I spent 12 years helping tech startup founders share their vision, as the lead writer for Edge Communications, Inc.

I expanded to organization-wide internal communications strategy, for large corporations that needed people to work differently, as consulting writer and strategist for bluefeet Branding and Thought Leadership.

My work evolved into comprehensive content development for Glenn Llopis Group, writing books and turning that content into curriculum for training and executive summits. I also design assessment tools so leaders can expand skills and track progress toward goals.

Mid-career I returned to school for a master’s in sustainability and discovered the joy of designing and conducting research while learning new analytical skills.

Sustainability is the study of global systems like energy, water, climate, urban design, land management and more.

I’m particularly interested in urban resilience: making cities livable and neighborhoods walkable and rollable. I work with think tank Investing in Place toward the organization’s mission of leveraging public space in Los Angeles to enhance quality of life for all Angelenos.

I’ve also researched and written about fair trade, visiting artisans in El Salvador and producing a short web film about meeting coffee growers in Nicaragua. I reported on delivering healthcare to remote villages in Malawi for ONE.org, and wrote a white paper on rainwater harvesting for a client.

As a writer and researcher for think tank Investing in Place, I have helped design the studies, analyze the data, and write the reports for the organization’s key research initiatives over the past few years: a study of favorite public spaces in Los Angeles, research into what it’s like to ride the bus on key LA city routes crucial to underserved Angelenos, and LA’s first-ever inventory of city-managed assets. I also create reports and materials to educate civic and community leaders about how the city of Los Angeles budgets for and manages its streets and sidewalks.

I won an award from Harvard for the original research I conducted for my thesis related to urban resilience in heat waves—in which I proposed a method to help cities identify where people spend a dangerous amount of time in direct sun, to make it easier to plan for more equitable access to shade across a city.

I’ve been a ghostwriter for CEOs and executives, helping them share their expertise in topics like healthcare, energy, financial services, change management, stem cell research, virtual economies, linguistics, and multiple other highly technical topics.

I can write about subjects for which I’ve had no training because my expertise is actually in synthesizing information.

I’m an expert at coming into a new situation, submersing myself in the topic at hand, quickly understanding the high-level goals and the ground-level details, and packaging that complexity in a way that’s clear and straightforward.

I specialize in deep-dive projects that require undivided attention over long periods of time, especially when they also require complicated story-puzzling.

  • I’ve ghostwritten or helped write three full-length books (and, of course, my own master’s thesis).
  • Wrote scripts for a series of 15 leadership training videos for executives
  • Ghostwrote dozens of high-level articles for Forbes based on 100+  hours of interview transcripts
  • Wrote and edited a 100-page catalog of training opportunities for marketers at a major consumer packaged goods company
  • Wrote several whitepapers on topics such as healthcare, virtual currencies, social commerce, online forums, and challenging the status quo in the automotive industry