About Me

​​​

Career Bio Cliff Notes

I've spent the last 15 or so years proving an old man wrong. Creative Writing majors make powerhouse marketing communications, public relations, and social media managers. Natural storytellers know how to find a hook and captivate their audiences. Plus, they live for experiences that become stories.

​

On a personal level, I like big dogs, basketball driveway, and shade. Halloween makes me giddy. I'm in a committed relationship with my elliptical, and I have a lot of stamps in my passport. My family includes a partner in (traffic) crime, a sixth grader (who pretends not to know me in public), three rescue dogs, and a morbidly obese cat. 

​​

The David Copperfield Career Bio

My story starts in Wisconsin, where I was born and raised. (And yes, that means I have an accent and enjoy cheese in all of its forms.) Fast forward through many awkward years that included braces and low rise jeans, and I graduated from University of Wisconsin-Madison with a Bachelor of Arts in English, Creative Writing.  

​

I landed a summer internship in Chicago, as a media analyst at one of the biggest names in public relations. One of my accounts was the Galveston Island Tourism Bureau, and the coverage made me fall in love with an island that’s surrounded by tea-colored waves, which tells you how well PR works. Naturally, that summer kicked off my ongoing fascination with public relations and messaging.

​

My first real job was as a writer and editor at a financial services firm, where I learned the language of mergers and acquisitions, as well as an appreciation for the Oxford comma. That experience helped me secure a job at a rapidly-growing start-up that just had been listed on the Inc. 500. There, I filled several roles--public relations soothsayer, executive media coach, SEO specialist, website guru, copywriter, branding magician, hype woman, and event ninja.

​

A former colleague recruited me join a Madison-based healthcare design-build company, and I jumped at the chance to assist with its rebranding, public relations, and internal communications during tumultuous times (an acquisition and transition to a publicly held company). There, I started the company's first social media accounts, built an amazing marketing team, took on a leadership role, and worked extensively on a two-phase rebranding strategy with interim logo and interim company name. I was fortunate enough to have a wonderful mentor who gave me lots of opportunities to learn the latest in digital marketing, and his influence led me to seek my Master's degree in Communications - Mass Media.

​​

To facilitate my second year of grad school and thesis work, I left my full time position and began accepting freelance writing and marketing jobs in my spare time. I planned to return to the corporate world after graduation; however, there's something incredibly appealing about a one-minute commute to a home office. There's also something appealing about wearing a concert t-shirt while editing a 200-page 10-K. Since the jobs kept on coming, I kept on freelancing from my new home base in Houston. From writing commercials for international companies and offering SEO consultations to branding products and writing proposals for stadiums, you name it, I did it. 

​​

I was happy freelancing, but knowing that I’m the kind of person who stops and picks up strays, a friend encouraged me to apply for a marketing role at an animal shelter near Houston’s south side. If you know anything about the Houston area, you know the suffering of animals is incomparable. Still, nothing prepared me for the palpable desperation at the shelter. 

​

Dedicated people fought to save every animal that came through the shelter doors. But it was an impossible mission. How do you save 7,000 animals per year in a saturated market, with only basic marketing performed by volunteers? The animals and employees needed help on a scale that I had never seen. So I accepted the most challenging role of my life and started from zero creating a brand, developing comprehensive marketing programs, and convincing shelter leadership to radically change their daily operations.

​

Working with the shelter's shoestring budget and minimal support staff put me back in the role that I had at that Inc. 500 start-up. (Meaning, you name it, I did it: designing collateral materials, hosting community outreach events, creating online applications, managing crisis communications, forging relationships with media, applying for grants, taking photos, creating email campaigns, and managing social media accounts.)​ 

 

Social media turned out to be one of my greatest strengths and tools. I grew what started as a volunteer-run Facebook page into a page that currently has more than 50,000 followers and consistently reached between 750,000 to 1,000,000 people per month. Under my management, the shelter's Facebook page now outperformed national rescue organizations and big name shelters. And I am so proud of what those numbers meant for the abused, neglected, and unwanted animals that came through the doors.

 

After nearly five years at the animal shelter, I was ready for a new challenge, and I joined a legal technology company as a PR Manager Rather than continue down the wrong path, I'm seeking new opportunities where I can use my writing, communications strategy, and creative skills as intended.

​​

If you need someone with grit and heart and an entrepreneurial spirit who can roll up their sleeves and get a job done, let's talk. Please email or use the form to contact me; I get so many robocalls that I almost flinch when the phone rings. I'm a huge advocate of video meetings and will happily accept an invite!

​

—Carey