Expertise
★ Content Strategy
★ Information Architecture
★ Content Modeling
★ Content Design
★ UX Writing
Experience
Elless Media, Principal
August 1998-present
Operate content strategy, web publishing, and digital marketing consultancy.
- host and produce Content Strategy Insights podcast
- speak and present on content strategy at industry conferences
- consult with business and agency owners on content strategy and digital publishing
- developed content-marketing and SEO programs (grew monthly engagement by as much as 75%)
Utterly Content, Consultant
August-October 2020
Helped organize and promote content strategy conference
- recruited, and managed event experience for, conference sponsors
- identified and recruited speakers for conference panel discussions
- collaborated with marketing team to promote the conference
Virtual CCO, Founder
May 2019-January 2020
Planned and validated subscription business to bring content-strategy expertise to startup founders.
- conducted market-validation interviews with 60+ tech-startup founders and investors
- built product prototype (subscription-based community and publication model)
- conducted product-validation interviews with a dozen tech-startup founders
Well9to5, Founder and Publisher
August 2015-January 2017
Conceived, raised funding for, designed, and operated digital “active office” publication.
- created company visual identity and designed website
- researched and wrote Consumer Reports–style active-office product reviews
- recruited community product testers
- devised and implemented rigorous and consistent testing methods
- designed, researched, and wrote “Standing Desk Buying Guide” and other guides
- numerous interviews with industry experts
- extensive competitive and industry research
- designed, populated, and implemented database of active-office products
- interviewed possible users to set scope and depth of product offerings
- researched user preferences and product characteristics to create product taxonomies
- created entity relationship diagram and database design
- created robust faceted search web interface to access the database
- produced personal-wellness podcast and blogged on active-office industry
- spoke at ergonomics and wellness events
OfficeFitness.org, Office Fitness Evangelist
January 2007-August 2015
Wellness and fitness advocate for sedentary office workers.
- blogged and spoke on sitting disease, ergonomics, and other aspects of office fitness
- wrote, produced, and published Scared Sitless: The Office Fitness Book
WorkWhileWalking, Editor-in-Chief (interim)
January-April 2015
Interim editorial lead for office-fitness furniture company publication.
- supervised and mentored editorial staff
- assigned, edited, and wrote office-furniture reviews
- published weekly email newsletter
- collaborated with CMO on video production and digital asset management
BodyworkU, Founder and Publisher
June 2006-October 2012
Founded, built, and operated continuing-education class promotion website.
- designed both end-user-facing and client-back-end website interfaces
- designed website information architecture and MySQL database
- hired and collaborated with Mason (Perl)/MySQL developer to build website back-end
- hired and supervised editor to populate and maintain content database
- low-budget, SEO-only strategy grew traffic to 10K monthly visitors in about a year
DigitalCandle, Director of Marketing
June 2001-January 2002
Managed marketing program for marketing-services startup serving shareware developers.
- designed automated marketing-services product for shareware developers
- redesigned company website
- collaborated with developer team on CMS overhaul
- recruited and supervised marketing staff
- spoke at shareware developer conferences
workz.com, Executive Producer
April 1998-December 2000
Jack-of-all-trades senior manager for dot-com startup.
- assigned, wrote, and edited online-business how-to stories
- launched and operated creative agency (BannerWorkz)
- grew team from 1 to 15 in-house and freelance designers in about 4 months
- grew monthly revenue to $40,000
- developed comprehensive product launch plan for contextual advertising system
- collaborated with executive team to align business, technical, and creative needs
- consulted with attorneys and other outside advisors on project scope
- overhauled CMS taxonomy to accommodate new advertising functionality
- worked with development team to implement custom content management system
- managed website redesign, both information architecture and front-end design
- oversaw data migration from old CMS
- wrote and edited documentation for new CMS
- administered staff training for new CMS
- evaluated companies for acquisition potential
- spoke at internet marketing conferences
Big Tent Media Labs, Senior Producer
August 1996-August 1997
New-media producer for early dot-com publishing start-up.
- conceived, developed, and produced prototype of consumer-oriented self-help website
- wrote and edited self-help articles and other website content
- consulted with founder to explore additional publishing and marketing opportunities
Public Speaking and Media Appearances
- FH Joanneum Content Strategy program, May 2021, guest speaker (topic TBD)
- UX Writer Conference, February 9-10, 2021, “Content Modeling for UX Practitioners” talk
- WordFest, January 21, 2021, “Content Modeling in WordPress” talk
- LavaCon, October 23, 2020, “Modeling Content Strategy” talk
- Utterly Content, October 19, 2020, “Modelling Content Strategy” keynote
- University of Washington Storytelling & Content Strategy program, October 7, 2020, “A Conceptual Model of Content Strategy” lecture
- Turning Conversations into Meaningful Content (and vice versa) interview, August 18, 2020
- UX Writer Conference, June 9, 2020, “The Three Flavors of Content Strategy” lightning talk
- FH Joanneum Content Strategy program, May 21, 2020, “A Day in the Life of a Content Strategist/Content Designer” panelist
- ConveyUX, March 5, 2020, “Balancing Quantitative and Qualitative Perspectives in UX Strategy” panel host
- Cambia Grove, Jan. 22, 2020, “Content Strategy for Startups” roundtable
- Seattle Interactive Conference, October 18, 2019, “Content Strategy for Startups” presentation
- Impact Hub Seattle, August 7, 2019, “Introduction to Content Design” Lunch + Learn
- Office Nomads, June 11, 2019, “Content Strategy” Lunch + Learn
- Content Strategy Seattle meetup, April 4, 2019, “Content Marketing Panel” moderator
- Lean Startup meetup, April 1, 2019, “Keeping Your Customers and Optimizing User Experience” panelist
- Seattle Public Library, March 3, 2019, “Content Design 101” workshop
- WordCamp Seattle, Nov. 10, 2018, “DIY Content Strategy” presentation
- WordCamp Portland, Nov. 3, 2018, “DIY Content Strategy” lightning talk
- WordCamp Vancouver, Oct. 13, 2018, “DIY Content Strategy” presentation
- Seattle Startup Week, Oct. 9, 2018, “How Events Can Build Community around Your Startup’s Brand Story” presentation
- WordCamp NYC, Sept. 15, 2018, “DIY Content Strategy” workshop
- Impact Hub Seattle, Aug. 22, 2018, “DIY Content Strategy” lunch + learn
- American Industrial Hygiene Association/Tennessee Valley Section, Oct. 5, 2016, “The Active Office” full-day professional development course
- Spark Weekend Seattle, Feb. 1, 2014, “The 3 R’s of Habit Formation” presentation at lifehacking conference
- Ignite Seattle, Nov. 8, 2012, “Build Your Own Standing Desk” 5-minute lightning talk
Other Experience
Community Event Organizer, Volunteer, and Promoter
1998-present
Plan, produce, manage, and promote educational, arts, and charity events, from 10 to 10,000+ attendees.
- Content Strategy Seattle meetup, Co-Organizer, 2018-present
- Larry’s Events, published weekly Seattle community events announcement list, 2017-2020
- WordPress Open-Source Community
- Content Strategy and Curriculum Development for diversity-and-inclusion speaker outreach training, 2018-2019
- Planning Team, Global Community Sponsor program, 2017-2019
- Community Deputy for WordCamps and WordPress meetups, 2017-2019
- WordCamp Seattle 2017, Co-Lead Organizer for annual gathering of WordPress enthusiasts; led large group of volunteer organizers producing two-day, four-track, 500-attendee conference
- WordCamp Seattle 2016, Sponsor Wrangler
- WordCamp Seattle 2011-15, Volunteer
- Ignite Seattle, community quick-talk event
- Editing and Content Strategy, 2018-2019
- Organizer and Slide Wrangler, 2015-2018
- Dent Conference, statement of values steering committee, 2017
- TEDxRainier (now TEDxSeattle)
- Stage Manager, 2012
- Production Manager, 2011
- Moisture Festival, Lighting, Stage Management, and Security Volunteer for world’s largest comedy/variety/vaudeville festival, 2008-present
- Seeds of Compassion, “Compassion Ambassador” Concierge, event planning and customer support for high-level (>$10K) event sponsors, 2008
- World Rhythm Festival (Seattle World Percussion Society), Board Member and Organizer for annual music, dance, and culture event that drew as many as 10,000 attendees, 2001-03
- Fremont Noodle House Group, Founder, business networking lunch, 1998-2013
Massage Therapist and Educator
January 1999-March 2020
Part-time professional massage practice focusing on injury treatment and wellness.
- taught popular couples massage class, 2003-2018
- assistant teacher for orthopedic-massage continuing-education classes, 2006-2010
- teaching assistant for massage-school business classes, 2004-2006
Education
- B.A., University of Oregon, summa cum laude. Magazine journalism major; English minor. Phi Beta Kappa.
- Radcliffe Publishing Procedures Course, Harvard University. The Radcliffe Publishing Course was an intensive six-week program on book and magazine publishing.
Skills
See my T-shaped UX professional page for a summary of my skills.
Tools
- Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Google docs, and other business tools
- Google Analytics and other web analytics tools
- Asana, Trello, HelpScout, GitHub, and other team productivity tools
- Slack and Meetup community administration tools
- Zoom, Miro, and other virtual collaboration tools
- Things, Zapier, IFTTT, and other personal productivity tools
- mmhmm, 3Play (Zoom integration), Canva, Gimp, Audacity, iMovie, and other media production tools
- MailChimp and other CRM/email systems
- Buffer, Hootsuite, and other social-media tools