My Story

Writing is about one thing: telling a story. And stories have positioned themselves in the center of my life for as long as I can remember.

As a child, I whiled away many days eagerly waiting for bedtime, when my dad would read books to me (shoutout to Tumtum and Nutmeg). This was followed by an adolescence during which I regularly got in trouble for staying up all night reading. Then, what began with books matured into a love for all stories. Games send me to new worlds with friends, while film, animation, and comics weave art, music, and writing into something powerful.

My greatest desire is to step onto the stage, taking on a direct role in bringing stories to audiences who love them as much as I do. And in case you're wondering, I don't just mean storybooks. Let me share three tales of how I have shaped the stories of an influencer, a tech company, and an academic publisher.

• Social Media: As a young woman (who may begrudgingly admit to being a bit of a homebody), I stepped into the role of "Boring Old Guy". This YouTube-famous "nature grandpa" is a young-at-heart gentleman who adores hiking and camping with his dog, Summit. You may have noticed that this doesn't exactly fit my personal profile! Still, for 16 months, this was an identity I represented on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts. With an angle towards connecting Boring Old Guy's audience with his adventurous and quirky personality, combined with a strategy of variety with tightly-knit categories, I grew his audience and income exponentially. I quickly identified gaps where audience engagement was lacking and poured energy into creating real, everyday connections in Stories, comments, and short-form videos.

• Copywriting: Good copy should always tell a story, even if that story is about a software module or a piece of tech buried in layers of jargon. As a Sales & Marketing Specialist at CyberLock, Inc., I dove deep into translating lingo-laden descriptions into spec sheets, product overviews, promotional videos, social media content, and newsletters. I did this with the simple goal of making the products resonate with partners and end-users, growing the community that already existed around the company.

• Publishing: Now that I've gotten this far, I realize it might not take much to convince you how stories are relevant here. Oregon State University Press publishes the stories of the Pacific Northwest, from biographies to politics, Indigenous studies, field guides, and beyond. I helped bring these to life in their best and most polished form by proofreading, editing, managing art logs, collaborating with authors, and arranging content in Indesign. It was important to me that I never missed a single detail, whether it was a comma disguised as a period or an art file out of order.

These three tales have one important thing in common: a story is being presented, and it is important that it reaches and strikes a chord with those it is intended to convert. Whether that conversion is an engagement, a purchase, or a chuckle and a share, the story behind it matters. Stories are what connect us, and nothing is more fulfilling to me than to make those connections a reality. If you feel the same way, let's chat more about how I can help you tell your story!