Michael Restiano: Content Strategist & Freelance Writer

Name: Michael Restiano

Age: 22

College & Majors/Minors: Tufts University & University of Oxford, English

Current Location: New York, New York

Current Form of Employment: Content Strategist & Freelance Writer

Where do you work and what is your current position?

I currently work as a content strategist at SapientNitro, a global digital advertising agency. My job here at SapientNitro is to help brands get the right content (that being anything from web copy, to images, to long-form articles—like the thing you’re reading right now!) to the right audience member at the right time. Doing that work requires an equal mix of strategic planning and creative thinking—it’s a great exercise in using both halves of my brain!

When I’m not in the office, I’m working on my writing career. I currently freelance for two blogs: the Huffington Post and the SALT Blog, and I also have one short story and one short memoir in the works.

Tell us about how you found your first job, and how you found your current job (if different).

One of my acquaintances from Tufts in the year above me found a job at SapientNitro when she graduated. The company was looking to hire more entry-level folks right around when I had graduated, so my friend sent an email out to a marketing professor we had both had during our time at Tufts advertising the positions. Luckily, this professor keeps distribution lists for all of his past classes, so that email ended up reaching me.

I applied for one of the jobs, went through the process, and the rest is history! I have a friend, a lot of effort, and a ton of sheer luck to thank for how I ended up at my current position.

I think luck had a major role to play in my freelance gigs, too! I had been a content intern at SALT (which is actually a product created by American Student Assistance to help recent grads and college students with personal finance and student loan repayment) the summer after my sophomore year in college. They liked me so much they decided to let me keep writing for them on an independent contractor deal.

My senior year in college, I attended a marketing conference where Arianna Huffington was the keynote speaker. She shared some of her thoughts around the importance of sleep in a professional’s life. I agreed with most of her arguments, but had a few contending points. She had given the audience her email at the end of the presentation, and encouraged us to write to her with our thoughts. I did exactly that, never thinking she’d actually read the message. When I saw the response in my inbox, I remember nearly spilling my tea all over my laptop. That message ended up becoming my first Huffpost blog, “The Sleepless Generation.”

What was another writing-related job that was important in your career?

I had two writing heavy internships that I think heavily influenced where I am now.

The first was a part-time summer internship (my first one, in fact) at my college’s Advancement Communications office. My job there was to create digital stories and content based on current campus happenings that would appeal to Tufts graduates. It was my first lesson in how to write for a specific audience, and I also saw first-hand how technology has made marketing and editorial fuse more closely together than ever before. After that summer, I knew that I wanted to pursue marketing as a career path.

My content internship at SALT further solidified that notion. This time, I was tasked with writing personal finance stories (“creating content,” in marketing lingo) that would resonate with millennial college students and recent graduates. SALT was a unique challenge for me because I had to figure out how to make a typically “unsexy” topic appealing. During my time there, I learned that there’s a good story behind almost EVERYTHING—you might just have to look harder for it with some subjects.

What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life?

First off, on a strictly practical level, I interned A LOT. I’d say that by the time I graduated, I had done around 7 or 8 marketing internships. These experiences gave me the skills I needed to make the jump from student to young-professional, and made my senior-year job-search much easier.

On a more abstract level, I think one of the most important tendencies I had in college was that I constantly sought opportunities and experiences outside of my comfort zone. I think a lot of people close themselves off to new opportunities because they get comfy—they get caught up in their day-to-day, and can’t imagine what their lives would be like if their routine completely changed. Everybody ultimately wants comfort and stability (English major response coming at ya right here) in their lives, but the downside to being stable is that you never grow. Everything just stays the same, for better or worse.

When you’re a young person, you should not be getting “stuck” in anything—you simply do not know enough about the world or yourself yet. So when that opportunity to do something completely out there/not like you/ really random comes along, you take it. The space just outside your comfort zone is where you learn and grow the most.

For me, that opportunity was spending my entire junior-year abroad at the University of Oxford. Most of my friends were doing semester programs in more exotic locations, so initially I struggled with just following the crowd and doing the same. I decided to do something different, and looking back, I consider it to be the best decision I’ve made in my life thus far. I learned so much about myself, socially, academically, and professionally, that my life changed so much for the better.

What is your advice for students and graduates with an English degree?

Intern your tiny liberal arts butt off. There’s definite value in an English or other liberal arts degree: it gives you the intellectual foundation you need to be a great critical thinker, analyst, and writer in a way that no business degree ever can.

But frankly, it’s not enough to get you hired at your dream job, assuming your dream job is anything even remotely corporate.

Employers hire based on skills, not potential to gain skills. You can only get those skills from pre-professional experiences like internships. Experience is the currency of any position, and in this job market, you need quite a bit of it even to just get your foot in the door.

I believe in this so much, that I’m willing to make a bet with you.

If you do an internship directly relevant to your desired career every summer after your freshman, sophomore, and junior years of college, you will not have a hard time finding a job after your senior year. If I’m wrong, feel free to send me hate mail at Mresti02@gmail.com

Outside of that, my advice would be don’t fear the unknown and remember to enjoy yourself! You only get to experience your 20s once, so make sure that you leave some time outside of work to do what you love and to see the people you care about.

Follow Michael on Twitter and connect with him on LinkedIn.

Lucas M. Peters: Freelance Writer & Lecturer

Name: Lucas M. Peters

Age: 36

College & Majors/Minors: UW ('03, BA, English Lit), Central Washington University ('07, MA, English Lit), Goddard College ('14, MFA, Creative Writing - Novel)

Current Location: Morocco

Current Form of Employment: Freelance Writer and Lecturer

Where do you work and what is your current position?

I teach World Literature, Moroccan Literature and English Composition at Al Akhawayn University (AUI) in Ifrane, Morocco. It's a small university (college, really, but they call themselves a university) of about 2,000 students. I've also been doing quite a bit of freelancing travel writing and just a couple of months ago signed a contract with Avalon Publishing to write their guidebook for Morocco under their "Moon" brand. The book will be titled "Moon Morocco" and should be out in the fall of 2015. Which means that my mornings, weekends and vacations are spent either writing or traveling around to weird little corners of Morocco. This weekend, I'll be in Larache, a little-visited fishing village where the notorious French writer, Jean Genet, is buried.

Tell us about how you found your first job, and how you found your current job (if different).

My first job was selling comic books and sport cards at a little kiosk in the middle of Southcenter Mall. I was 13 at the time. It was pretty great. When there weren't any customers, I could read the latest comics. I was really into Image at the time and tore through Spawn, Gen-13, Pitt and a bunch of their other titles.

I guess my first "real" job was in 2007. I just graduated from CWU with my MA and was tired of waiting tables and bar tending (something I had been doing for the better part of a decade to pay the rent). I scoured Craigslist, applying to jobs in Seattle, NYC, SF, Boston and a bunch of other places. I ended up interviewing with Business Wire in San Francisco for a position as an editor. On my application, I lied and said that I already lived in San Francisco. At the time, I had about $200 in my bank account. I used it to fly down for the interview and slept on my cousin's couch and kept my fingers crossed. They called me back, I interviewed again, and they offered me a job.

I loved SF, but I hated the fact that I only had three weeks of vacation a year, only three weeks to really get out of the city and explore. I have an insatiable travel bug and after two years of humdrum cubicle life at Business Wire, I was like, "Man... I gotta get outta here." I started looking around for teaching jobs thinking I might land a job at a Community College somewhere in California but what I got was a series of rejections. The only sort of full-time teaching work I found were in places in the middle of nowhere, like the Aleutian Islands or North Dakota. I figured that if I was going to have to move to teach, I might as well make it interesting. I started casting a wider net, looking at Southeast Asia, Europe, et cetera. I ended up getting a couple of offers and took the teaching job here in Morocco. It seemed like the most interesting place to live, the food was supposed to be really good and, to be frank, it was really close to Europe.

What was another writing-related job that was important in your career?

A couple of years ago, some friends of mine who run a tour company for Morocco (Journey Beyond Travel) were looking for someone to write brief city guides for their clients. They asked me if I was interested. I said yes. It didn't pay much, but it was the first "real" sort of travel writing that I did. This ended up opening up a few more doors. It's largely because of this that I got the job with Avalon to write the guidebook for Morocco.

What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life?

I started at the UW in 1996 and I was a really bad student as an undergraduate, especially my first year or two. I rarely went to classes. I even skipped a midterm for Italian. I was too busy trying to figure out how to balance working and the social life with school. It wasn't until I figured out how to study, how to show up to class, how to really take advantage of being a student that I started to have some measure of success. In 2001, I signed up for a study abroad trip to London. This was the first time I had been out of the U.S. and it was eye-opening. I remember enjoying the classes. We went to see performances by the Royal Shakespeare Company and had a class that met at a different corner of London every week and we toured some specific part of the city. However, it wasn't the classes so much as what I was learning about myself. Being away from everything you know does that. There was a sense of independence, a sense of solitude, a sense of being lost, and a sense of discovery that was all wrapped up in the seven months or so I spent there. More than anything, this was the thing that probably has prepared me the most for post-grad life, though to be fair, I did have four different majors (Business, Music, Art and finally, English) and the ability to float from major to major aided this discovery process.

What is your advice for students and graduates with an English degree?

In this economy, you can't be afraid to move. I know too many people that have wrapped their minds around living in one place and they end up struggling. They compromise career goals and take some other types of jobs just so they can continue living in a place that is comfortable, with their family or friends or whatever.

My advice is to get out of the comfort zone and start looking not so much as where you want to live, but what you want to do. In the end, I feel this is the thing that makes people happier. If you can do the thing that you love... that's the secret.

Visit Lucas M. Peters on his website & follow him on Twitter.

Nicole Wayland: Freelance Copyeditor & Proofreader

Photo courtesy of Fairfield Grace Photography

Name: Nicole Wayland

Age: 29

College & Majors/Minors: Cornell University, B.S. in Communication

Current Location: Washington, DC

Current Form of Employment: Freelance Copyeditor/Proofreader at Ford Editing

Where do you work and what is your current position?

I am a freelance copyeditor/proofreader and operator of Ford Editing. As a freelancer, I have the luxury of working anywhere as long as I have my laptop and an Internet connection, but I spend most of my time working from my cozy corner apartment just north of Washington, DC. I am very passionate about what I do, and I love that I am always learning something new. I edit for several publishers (both academic and trade), as well as businesses and individual authors. I also have a wellness blog called Healthy Happy Sound that I update weekly.

Tell us about how you found your first job, and how you found your current job (if different).

After graduation, I moved to Buffalo, NY. I knew the chances of finding a publishing job (my dream career) immediately were pretty slim, so I took a waitressing job while I searched. At the restaurant, I worked with over one hundred servers, bartenders, cooks, and managers, so I was able to network, learn about the area, and ask around for leads on publishing work. I also looked online. I signed up for several job announcement websites and scanned pages upon pages for the perfect position.

About six months after relocating, I found a job posting for an editorial assistant at an academic press (on Craigslist of all places). Although initially I didn’t see myself in academic publishing, I knew the position would give me the experience I needed to get a start in the field. I interviewed over the phone a few times and then in person, and by the beginning of March 2008, I was working in my dream field. I knew I wanted to work in publishing since I wrote my entrance essay for Cornell, and it had become a reality.

I worked at the press for just about three years before relocating to Washington, DC, in 2011. After arriving in DC, I took a position at Cornell University’s Washington DC semester program. Working for Cornell felt like home, and part of the job required writing and editing, so I thought it would be a good fit, at least until I got my bearings in a new city. But it didn’t take long for me to realize how much I missed the publishing world. I started to take a few editing projects in my spare time (my commute to DC alone provided over two hours per day for editing), and it picked up rather quickly. Within a few short months, I had to make a choice—my office job or freelancing. I took the leap to full-time freelancing in October 2012 (with the full support of my coworkers at Cornell and a goodbye/good luck card from all the students that semester) and haven’t looked back.

Photo courtesy of Fairfield Grace Photography

What was another writing-related job that was important in your career?

My time at the press (my first job out of college) undeniably set me up for my current freelance position. Because the company was relatively new and small, the team was very close. I worked alongside the director of the press on a daily basis and learned a lot from her. I started as an editorial assistant, then moved to assistant editorial manager, and then finished my time there in the publications manager post. I learned about operations, management, marketing, design, human resources, purchasing and sales, and customer service. I also traveled to represent the company at several conferences throughout the year. Having the responsibility of wearing many hats while at the press gave me the experience needed to operate my own business, and I’m still learning every day.

What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life?

Unfortunately, I didn’t do as much preparing as I wish I had (I feel like that’s a common theme among most college graduates). Because I paid for college on my own, I was constantly working to pay for my car, books, and other bills, which didn’t leave a lot of time for clubs, studying abroad, or networking. My primary focus was on getting the best grades I could while working to pay for school, a balancing act that turned out to be very helpful in strengthening my organizational and time management skills.

That being said, I do remember taking a class on résumé and cover letter writing, which I found very helpful when applying for jobs after graduation. I was told by the director of the press I worked for that my cover letter really stood out to her—it put me on the list of top contenders and eventually helped me land the job. 

I think my choice of school also helped to prepare me for post-grad life. Being at Cornell showed me that you have to work hard for what you want. As Theodore Roosevelt said, “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty. . . . I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.” I worked very hard to do well there, and that work ethic is something I’ve carried with me.

What is your advice for students and graduates with an English degree?

First, as a student, talk to your university career center. Tell them what you would like to do with your degree, and they can tell you if you’re on the right track. Once you’ve confirmed that your degree program aligns with your career goals, do everything you can to boost your knowledge and experience in that field. Take internships, talk to professors, and, when given the choice, tailor your classes to bolster your résumé (i.e., put some thought into elective classes and try to get the most out of them). The sooner you test the waters, the sooner you will know if what you’re doing is what you want to do when you get out of school.

Be true to yourself. If you want to be a writer (or one of the many other careers you can have with an English degree), do it regardless of what others think. In the end, you are the one who has to be passionate about and love what you do. You can be successful at anything if you work hard. I have been teased for getting a degree in communication (some argue that it’s a useless major), and now I own my own business. I absolutely love what I do, and I am happy that I stood up for what I wanted and didn’t listen to the naysayers.

Be patient and don’t give up. I really believe that we make our own luck. Good things happen to those who are willing to work hard and seize opportunities. As a freelancer, I have contacted publishers in the past who either didn’t need help at the time or just plain weren’t interested who have been delighted to add me to their roster six months later. The key is to be patient and do what you can to build your portfolio in the meantime.

Visit Nicole Wayland's business website, FordEditing.com and check out her blog, Healthy Happy Sound. Follow her business on Facebook and Twitter and connect with Nicole on LinkedIn. 

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Summer Fanous: Freelance Writer

Name: Summer Fanous

Age: 27

College & Majors/Minors: Northeastern Illinois University – Majored in English, Minored in Sociology

Current Location: Toronto, Canada

Current Form of Employment: Freelance Writer

Where do you work and what is your current position?

As a freelance writer, I have the luxury of working anywhere with my MacBook and an Internet connection. Nevertheless, I write out of the comfort of my home office (oftentimes in my pjs). I am currently working on projects for a number of clients in a variety of sectors, but I specialize in creating content for professionals in the real estate industry.

One of the main jobs I am focused on now is helping to build a comprehensive website which provides information on all of the new and recently completed condo/townhouse developments across Canada. I also create, edit and manage news articles, which are also featured on the site. The goal of this website is to be a one stop destination for potential homebuyers to access all the information they need to make an educated decision.

Tell us about how you found your first job, and how you found your current job (if different).

I didn’t really “find” my first job; I was enlisted to help out in the family business, Top Value Auto Repair in Chicago. No, I wasn’t changing spark plugs or rotating tires, though my dad has been doing so longer than I’ve been alive. I worked in the office, answering phones, ordering parts, talking to customers, creating fliers, etc.

This experience ultimately helped me get a job working as an administrative assistant at two prestigious Chicago real estate firms. Subsequently, I learned a lot about the industry but it’d be a while before I got to take advantage of all that knowledge.

What was another job that was important in your career?

Once I moved to Canada I started writing for a number of websites including Searching Toronto for free so that I could gain some more experience and build my writing portfolio. This was very important to my career, as it is how I earned my stripes.

Thanks to this, I became introduced to SkyViewSuites, the first furnished rental company that hired me to blog for them. It wasn’t long before I actively sought out similar companies to write for. Today, I manage numerous blogs for apartment rental companies and provide copy for a multitude of clients in various professions.

What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life?

Honestly, I wasn’t really prepared for college going in, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to be when I “grew up.” I started my academic career in community college and transferred to university after I obtained my associates degree. Initially, I’d planned on getting a business degree with the hopes of becoming an entrepreneur. However, it just didn’t work out that way—life has a way of pushing and pulling you around, and the trick is to move with the forces, not against them.

I’ve always loved reading literature, writing poetry and thought becoming an English teacher would allow me to be close to what I loved. Plans changed, however and I decided to continue on with my courses, but dropped the teaching idea. I figured I could do plenty with an English degree and if I changed my mind back to becoming a teacher, all I’d need to do was become certified.

All of the classes that were required for a major in English really did help me out after graduation. Not only did I learn how to be a better reader and writer, but also how to work efficiently and effectively with others. I was focused on graduating and didn’t take advantage of all of the resources that are available to students.

What is your advice for students and graduates with an English degree?

Before you graduate with a degree in English, make sure you learn about all of the resources offered at your particular school. Talk to your advisor, don’t be afraid or ashamed of asking for help if you need it, that’s what they’re there for.

If you’re a poet, go out there and read your pieces in front of people, it’ll give you a rush and help boost your confidence. Submit your work—be it short stories, prose, whatever—to as many publications as you can. It's unlikely that it’ll be accepted everywhere, so don’t stress out if you’re work wasn’t chosen.

If you’re on a high horse, come down. There will always be someone out there who has more connections, knows more about your field of expertise, or is just “luckier” than you. There’s no need to kick yourself about it, just keep trying different things and something is bound to work.

Create strong friendships with your peers and professors and keep in touch with them even after you graduate. The more people you know, the better chance you have that one of them will consider you when an opportunity you might be suited for arises. Likewise, network as much as you can at job fairs, industry parties, whatever.

Finally, there are so many graduates out there who are either unemployed, or working in a completely different field, so don’t expect to get a job that pays $100k right after graduation. You might have to work for free for a while. Volunteering is an excellent way to gain experience, meet new people and it looks great on your resume.

Whatever it is that you want to do, put it in your mind and it will happen.

Visit Summer at SummerFanous.com and connect with her on LinkedIn!

Emily Ladau: Freelance Writer & Disability Rights Advocate

Name: Emily Ladau

Age: 22

College & Majors/Minors: B.A. in English, Adelphi University

Current Location: Long Island, NY

Current Form of Employment: Freelance Writer and Disability Rights Advocate

Where do you work and what is your current position?

I work from my favorite blue armchair in my living room, writing, researching, and emailing my heart out. I am a freelance writer, blogger, social media professional, and most importantly, a disability rights advocate.

Tell us about how you found your first job, and how you found your current job (if different).

Emily on Sesame Street.

If you want to get technical, my first job wasn’t writing-related at all. I appeared in several episodes of season 33 of Sesame Street when I was just ten years old. In the years since hanging out with Big Bird and Elmo, I focused on developing my voice as an advocate. For quite some time, my goal was to become an English teacher and incorporate embracing diversity and an attitude of acceptance in my classroom. However, mid-way through college, I found myself gravitating toward the idea of pursuing disability advocacy as a fulltime career.

Majoring in English certainly provided an ideal foundation because it gave me the opportunity to hone my writing and communication skills, both of which are huge facets of being a successful advocate. My skill sets and passion for activism led me to apply for a summer internship in Washington, D.C. with the American Association of People with Disabilities, through which I was placed to work at the Association of University Centers on Disabilities. Not only did this internship prove to be one of the most amazing experiences of my life, but also it set me on my current career path. I was matched with a wonderful mentor who shared her wisdom on blogging with me, ultimately inspiring me to begin my own blog, Words I Wheel By. I’ve been blogging for nearly a year, and it has opened the door for all of the paid writing and social media opportunities that comprise my current work.

You've been published in so many places. How did you go about submitting your work? Did these publications seek out your writing? 

The first paid writing gig I landed was all thanks to a series of fortunate events. Soon after I began blogging, I delved into the professional side of social media as a means of sharing my work. After a couple months of connecting and interacting with other writers and disability rights advocates, a blog coordinator reached out to ask if I’d be interested in a volunteer opportunity writing a guest post on disability in the media. That process went so well that the coordinator put me in touch with one of his freelance bosses and recommended me to be a writer.

Once my first paid piece went live, I started to build up the confidence I needed to officially consider myself a writer. Since then, getting published in different places has been the result of both submitting my work for consideration and having people approach me. I’ve spent a lot of time perfecting my pitching skills, and it’s still something I work on refining whenever I can. I’ve learned that the trick to a successful pitch email is to get right to the point, keeping it short and sweet rather than filling the page with flowery compliments.

So far, persistence has been key – with pitches, with tweets, with Facebook posts, with networking emails, with every aspect of writing. Everything I’ve done, successful or not, has been worth it just for the experience and connections. My favorite example of the pay-off so far is that I was offered an opportunity to write for The New York Times website via Twitter. The end result of that exchange is one of my favorite things I’ve written to date: “One Daughter, One Mother, Two Wheelchairs and Nothing Remarkable.”

What was another writing-related job that was important in your career?

I was offered my first writing-related job by chance during my freshman year of college. There was a book response essay contest for the entire freshman class and I won. Part of my prize was dinner with the author and some faculty members, one of whom happened to be the director of my university’s Writing Center. We chatted throughout the meal and hit it off, so she approached me a few days later to let me know she had read my essay and wanted to hire me as a writing tutor.

Following a semester-long intensive tutor training course, I got to work with students from all over my school during tutoring sessions several days per week. I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world, because it gave me exposure to immense diversity in writing habits that stemmed from different cultural backgrounds and learning styles. By reading the writing of others through a critical lens, offering guidance, and doing my best to help people comprehend an incredibly wide-range of grammatical and writing-related concepts, I was constantly motivated to consider my own writing and my understanding of the writing process in new ways.

What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life? 

I’ll be honest: since I changed career plans right in the middle of college, the real world intimidated me a bit. However, one of my primary goals was to make sure I graduated college with an already full resumé. All the clubs I joined, volunteering I did, and employment experiences I had during my time as an undergrad made it easier to transition to working after I graduated.

Also, once I realized that I wanted to shift my focus to advocacy, I began to explore possible options in case I decided to go to graduate school. As it happened, I took a year following graduation to focus on building my career, and just recently applied to a program that I learned about while I was still an undergrad. I’ll be pursuing an M.A. in Disability Studies starting Fall 2014 at the CUNY School of Professional Studies, and the program will allow me to continue my writing work as I earn my degree.

What is your advice for students and graduates with an English degree? 

My first thought is, who am I to be spouting advice? Everyone will find a path that works best for them. That being said, I worry that far too many people make negative assumptions about what can be accomplished with an English degree, and I want anyone who’s ever doubted their decision to be an English major to know that there really is a world of potential out there.

In terms of practical advice, there are a few things I can’t stress enough:

• If your goal is to write, put yourself out there. Create a blog, pitch material, develop a writing portfolio. It doesn’t matter if you’re still a student; the earlier you work towards making a name for yourself, the better. Even if you begin by doing lots of writing for free, you’ll be paid in the form of a wealth of writing clips to show off to potential employers. My blog serves as one big writing sample that I can easily present to anyone who may be interested, and I also have a separate portfolio page with a list of pieces I’ve written for other publications. This gives me credibility as an experienced writer, and provides Google with plenty of material in case anyone searches my name.
• Social media can be a total rabbit hole, but it can also be your best friend. Some of my favorite work opportunities have come from simple online connections. It’s important not to focus only on one platform, though. I actively maintain accounts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and several other useful platforms (shameless plugs, I know). But the real point here is to diversify your social media outlets, because you never know where someone might stumble across your writing or you’ll find your niche.
• Learn your limits. I find myself constantly wanting to say yes to everyone, but spreading myself too thin is just not fair to anyone. Saying no always makes me feel as though I’m being unfair to people when I have to do it, but when I have more time, I can write pieces and do work that I’m genuinely proud to call my own.
• Most importantly, have faith in yourself. It’s super cheesy, cliché, and probably something you’ve heard a million times before, but it’s the advice that gets me through every day. Whenever self-doubt starts to creep in, acknowledge it, shake it off, and keep moving forward.

Visit Emily on her professional website and blog, Words I Wheel By. Connect with her on her Facebook and Twitter, too!

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Jan Couture: Self-Employed Writer

Name: Jan Couture

Age: 47

College & Majors/Minors: University of Puget Sound, English Major with Professional Writing Emphasis, Economics Minor

Current Location: Derry, New Hampshire

Current Form of Employment: Self-employed

Where do you work and what is your current position?

I just started my own freelance writing business called Content by Couture. I specialize in writing marketing material for insurance and financial services companies. I've been writing printed and digital content for financial services companies for almost 25 years, so I'm a bit of a specialist in this area. I'm really excited to be on my own!

Tell us about how you found your first job, and how you found your current job (if different).  

My first job was an internship with Weyerhaeuser Company, in their Engineered Wood Products division. I got it through the writing program at the University of Puget Sound. What a great experience it was! I was able to write marketing copy and see how marketing material was put together, working with designers and printers.

I didn't find my current job, I made it myself. I have been writing marketing material in the financial services industry for a long time and have friends at different companies—and I wanted to work for all of them. So, I decided to freelance, so I could do just that!

What was another writing-related job that was important?

All of my jobs have been writing-related, and each have been important to me.  I've had some excellent mentors and bosses who were amazing marketers and writers themselves and I learned a lot from each of them.

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Melissa Kravitz: Freelance Writer

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Erik Hanberg: Self-Employed/Writer

Melissa Kravitz: Freelance Writer

Name: Melissa Kravitz

Age: 23

College & Majors/Minors: Creative Writing, Concentration in Fiction at Columbia University and Modern Jewish Studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America

Current Location: New York, NY

Current Form of Employment: Freelance Writer

Where do you work and what is your current position?

I work at coffee shops. I work for local papers and national websites including Bustle, Brokelyn, Brooklyn Paper, Thrillist, and many more. (See left hand column for examples and links to Melissa's work online.)

Tell us about how you found your first job, and how you found your current job.

By my junior year in college, I was running my own publication, Inside New York. It was a ton of fun but also a huge amount of work. When I graduated, I decided that I wanted to spend more time writing rather than on the management and business side of things. I wrote to editors at publications I liked, bragged about my accomplishments, and begged for assignments. It worked, sometimes. I'm constantly finding new jobs through my network of media professionals and writers, and I've learned to be a bit pushy in offering my writing talents. Have a business card, even if you're not part of a business. It helps.

What was another writing-related job that was important in your career? 

Almost all of my writing has been freelance. I worked as a content creator at a well-known web brand and hated it! Everything was about key words and click-bait and offered no room for creativity. I like to express myself through writing and hopefully produce something that helps, if not entertains, other people. SEO is my enemy.  

Though my dream career is writing fiction all day, I know that's not financially feasible, but I also know that I can still be creative and write meaningful pieces without compromising my mind or my values. 

What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life?

As I mentioned earlier, I ran a publication, which had both print and digital content and became my best friend/roommate for approximately 700 days of my life. Between working and sometimes studying, my extracurricular was sleeping occasionally. I also read a ton of books for my writing classes and always challenged myself with sociology and philosophy classes, which I believe contribute to my way of seeing the world and reporting what I see.

What is your advice for students and graduates with an English degree?

Remember why you chose your major! And don't say it was to make a fortune, because you should have transferred to engineering school. You may not know what you're doing after graduation or even a few years out, but you'll figure it out. Plus, you always have books to keep you company. I love reading memoirs by young writers, like And the Heart Says Whatever by Emily Gould, Wild by Cheryl Strayed, and Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling to encourage me that success is possible, even if I don't know what the hell I'm really doing with my life.

Visit Melissa's website, melissabethkravitz.com, and follow her on twitter!

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READ MORE:

Erik Hanberg: Self-Employed/Writer

Kelsey Wiseman: Freelance Editor

Katie Plumb: Freelance Writer

Pamela Patton: Owner, Operator & Chief Wordsmith @ Paragraph Writing Services

Name: Pamela Patton

Age: 55

College & Majors/Minors: Grand Valley State University, B.S. Communications, Aquinas College, MM (Masters in Management with an emphasis on Marketing)

Current Location: Grand Rapids, MI

Current Form of Employment: Owner, operator and chief wordsmith, Paragraph Writing Services

Since 1991, I have been incorporated as Paragraph Writing Services. Here, I do it all, from writing and editing to bookkeeping and petting the cat (a very important responsibility, as she can tell you with her little “pet me” nips).

But I didn’t start out as a writer. I started college as a vocal music major. I knew things weren’t going to turn out well when I couldn’t master the piano, and my voice teacher told me my nose was too small to properly sing in French. So, my then-boyfriend got me a work-study job at the campus-affiliated PBS station, where I discovered I loved to write promotional copy.

But did I immediately switch majors to accommodate my new passion? No! The promotion director got fired, and I landed the position—at the age of 19.

And she lived (and wrote) happily ever after, right? Wrong! New management at the station decreed that anyone in a management position had to have a college degree, which I did not. So I began on a career path that eventually lead me back to college. (It involved a cross-dresser, cocaine, and cleaning toilets.)

Older and wiser, I returned to Grand Valley State University, this time as a communications major. I took copywriting classes, public relations writing classes, business writing classes, and advertising classes, while working part-time at Opera Grand Rapids as promotion director. As my capstone project, I had a wonderful opportunity: To produce a marketing video to raise funds for the opera. I wrote the script, was the voice talent, and worked with a professional video production company.

Two things happened: Fundraising went through the roof, and I was promoted to full-time upon graduation. At the opera, the board president who checked my press releases was also the editor of the local paper, and I received marketing advice guidance from another board member who was the head of marketing for a local furniture manufacturer. Both of these people were great mentors, and I am friends with them to this day.

From the performing arts, I went to banking. I wrote for the holding company and the lead bank where I learned a lot about investments, finance, estate planning, 401(k) s, and just about anything else related to managing money. There, I wrote everything from statement stuffers to annual reports. (Yet I still can't manually balance my checkbook.) It was about this time that I decided to do a little freelance work on the side, and opened Paragraph.

From banking, I went to a multi-level marketing company. I won’t mention the name, but you’ve heard about it, I’m sure. There, I contributed to one monthly publication, three quarterly publications, and a website in need of constant updating. That equals approximately 60 unique ad concepts with clever headlines, multiple articles and mucho web content per month. Topics? Home care, water treatment, health and nutrition, and beauty, cosmetics and skin care. I came out of there as one versatile writer.

The Gregg Reference Manual: A Manual of Style, Grammar, Usage, and Formatting Tribute Edition

$90.42

By William Sabin

But then, I was “globalized. (Laid off.) So I decided to try the freelance life full-time, and here I am today.

One thing I learned during my hiatus from college was the importance of a portfolio, even as a student. Therefore, I volunteered to write wherever I got a chance. I wrote a newsletter for the local ballet company. I continued to write as a volunteer for the PBS station’s annual televised auction. I collected letters of recommendation from my supervisors. Because I was an older student, I made friends with many of my instructors, and would go out for coffee with them and have them critique my work and give me advice.

I have a confession: I wish I had taken more English classes. I wish I had paid closer attention to sentence structure and grammar. You need to know that I began my career before word processing. Before the Internet. Before spell check. Before desktop publishing. I made mistakes along the way and learned the rules on the job. (I worship the ground that proofreaders walk on.) And those rules are important, because you need to know them in order to break them, as we often do in advertising headlines and copy.

So my advice to you is this: Know the rules. (The Gregg Reference Manual is my bible.) Read. A lot. Especially writing in print. Check your facts and then check them again. Don’t believe everything autocorrect tells you. Find a proofreader to worship and an editor who will make your writing better. Develop your own voice. Be versatile. And know that advertising is nothing like “Mad Men” or “The Crazy Ones.”

Pamela has won several awards for her work, including Public Relations Society of America Gold Spectrum Award and Best of Show Award, Apex Award, International Council of Shopping Centers MAXI Award, and numerous ADDY Awards. Check out her fantastic business website, paragraphwriting.com, and connect with her on LinkedIn.