Working Life
Past Employers. Past Projects. And Collaborators.
Measurement Resources Company and Backbone Collaborative — Editor/Copywriter
Editing highly detailed scientific writing (MRC) and editing and writing punchy, upbeat marketing copy (Backbone Collaborative). Assignments have ranged from editing and proofreading lengthy business case studies (MRC) to editing/writing in-depth client strategy copy (Backbone Collaborative).
Bath & Body Works — Senior Copywriter, Design & Concept
The multi-billion-dollar creator of soaps, lotions, fragrances, and candles sold on six continents employed me to develop names for fragrances (IN THE STARS, LOVELY DREAMER, ONE IN A MILLION), create a sub-brand (Moxy), and write little stories (romance copy, we called it) to sell those fragrances to millions of customers of all ages and walks of life. On the Design & Concept team, I helped track and crystalize marketplace trends to inspire product ideation in lockstep with packaging designers, merchants, and marketers. Other duties included proofreading all packaging copy to ensure clarity and consistency of brand voice/style, writing/editing collaborative trend reports, and compiling/writing a weekly in-house blog.
Ologie — Senior Copywriter
At Ologie, one of America’s leading higher education marketing agencies, I collaborated with strategists, graphic designers, photographers, and videographers to help universities and colleges better communicate their offerings to prospective students and their families. Duties included interviewing stakeholders to gather research, develop strategies, and write marketing copy for everything from 100-page mailers to three-word phrases for campus bus shelters. Ologie’s clients during my time there included William & Mary, Tulane, Emerson, Indiana University, Virginia Tech, Haverford College, and others.
Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams — Senior Copywriter
Inspired by art, music, movies, history, fragrance, current events, and pop culture, founder Jeni Britton Bauer created ice cream like no other. As the company’s in-house writer, I wrote product descriptions, digital/print advertising, and e-commerce/website/blog copy that channeled Jeni’s unique voice and vision. In addition to daily copywriting and editing duties (blogging, generating targeted SEO-minded emails, etc.), I worked with Jeni, her kitchen staff, and Artisan Books on two cookbooks, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller/James Beard Foundation Award-winning Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home (2011) and Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream Desserts (2014).
The Columbus Dispatch — Pop Music Critic and Reporter
As the daily newspaper’s Pop Music Critic and Reporter I interviewed and profiled brand name musicians (Paul McCartney, Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, Christina Aguilera, Merle Haggard, Bizzy Bone, Joan Baez); reviewed albums and concerts; traveled in band vans; covered music business news; tracked and opined on trends; celebrated regional artists; managed and edited a stable of freelancers; wrote obituaries, planned and organized a weekend entertainment guide; wrote and contributed to a handful of internationally recognized news articles (Dimebag Darrell murder at the Alrosa Villa; Neil Diamond’s refund of 9,000 concertgoers in light of my review of his hellacious 2008 concert); won a few writing awards; spoke about reporting and writing at central Ohio universities and on TV and radio stations; and, beyond a demanding beat, generated articles and columns for every section of the major metropolitan U.S. newspaper (circulation at the time: 220,000 daily/335,000 Sunday).
Salami Dreamin’(2015): limited edition artist’s book in the permanent collections of several libraries and institutions, including: Yale University; Rochester Institute of Technology, University of California, Irvine; School of the Art Institute of Chicago; Ringling College of Art & Design; University of Utah; The Ohio State University; Ohio University; and the Center for Book Arts, New York City.
My wife, Michelle Maguire, worked alongside printmakers to create the images from her photographs. I gathered and paraphrased the colorful anecdotes of Aunt Doll, Michelle’s Italian American great-aunt. Now 92, Aunt Doll has lived in Canton, Ohio, her entire life. She cusses, loves cured meats, knows more about the NFL than you do, plays strip mall slot machines with her vegetarian hairdresser of 50-plus years, is never trying to be funny but always is, worships the sun from her concrete-slab patio, and frets about nothing except her beloved Italian bread packing on the pounds. Aunt Doll makes the most of it. The gist of her story: enjoy every chicken wing while you holler at the Cleveland Browns on your gigantic analog TV, because we aren't here forever.
Other writing outlets: Big Mess, 614 and Columbus Monthly magazines, Everybody’s News (R.I.P.), and Irvin Public Relations.
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