A life unplanned,
but surprisingly consistent.
Portrait by Sue McFadden Photo
“Spell independence!”
I grew up in a tough part of Philadelphia.
OK, that’s redundant — all of Philly is tough. But I had a rep. Not for my scrapping ability or street smarts, because I had neither. Book smarts, though, were another matter.
One day, as I walked home from school, two huge older kids emerged from nowhere and cornered me. They loomed overhead, a wall of intimidation.
One of them snarled, “Spell independence!” The other one snickered. I was doomed.
But I spelled the word. Slowly, carefully, as if my life depended on it.
The kid who challenged me looked at his partner and smiled. “See?” he said. “Told you.”
—::—
Every experience leaves its mark.
Each of us is a mosaic of our experiences, interests, and beliefs. The picture they form determines how we see the world and how we interact with others. But also how we approach our work.
In my case, that includes an oblique career that started in book production, then detoured through online news, academic journals, and nonprofits. Different media, different settings, different rhythms, but all centered around the power of words to change the world, to save lives, or just to make people a little happier.
Eventually, I moved from content management to marketing. I spent six years evangelizing the self-publishing revolution at Blurb and seven more helping people “remember everything and accomplish anything” with Evernote. Now I build brands and help them talk about what matters.
Again, the power of ideas. The potential of words. I love all the wonderful things they can do. And I recoil when they’re misused.
Today, that also means thoughtfully integrating AI tools and workflows, knowing when they can sharpen thinking or streamline a process, and when they’re not worth the broader costs.
Because the words matter. Clarity matters. And above all, integrity and intent matter.
—::—
Recent work history
Freelancer
Brand & Content
2025–
All Turtles
Sr. Director, Brand & Content
2023-2025
Evernote
Content Director / Creative Director
2015-2023
Blurb
Sr Content Strategist
2009-2015
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A promo spot for my KZSU radio show starring Hepcat & Rudy, a pair of 1950s beatniks I created for audio skits. I perform both voices.
Work, life — balanced.
Of course, what we do away from the daily grind matters, too. I have a lot of obsessions: art, old movies, comic books, cats. But if you really want to get me going, put on some jazz.
I spent 20 years spinning jazz, blues, and world music at Stanford University’s KZSU-FM. Branching out into journalism, I wrote features and reviews for jazz magazines, tried and failed to start my own, and even live-blogged from music festivals (this was years before Twitter and Instagram made that a normal thing).
But it’s not all words. My street photography has hung in galleries, though I mostly keep it to myself. I gravitate toward black and white because it strips away distractions and focuses everything on the essence of the subject: light, form, texture, and emotion.
See the pattern? I treat images the same way I treat text. It’s just how I am.
And that gets to the heart of it — I may not have planned any of this journey, but it’s all been surprisingly consistent. And it all comes into play when we work together.
—::—
Want to team up?
I’m available for fractional creative director roles, one-off brand strategy projects, and copywriting engagements of any size. I’m based in the San Francisco Bay Area, but collaborate remotely with teams from Arkansas to Zürich. And I’m always up for a new challenge, so long as it adds something of value to the world.