Jessica M. Collins: Web Copy Manager & Freelance Copywriter

Name: Jessica M. Collins

Age: 33

College & Majors/Minors: UW-Oshkosh, Bachelor of Science - English. Emphasis in Psychology.

Current Location: Rural Wisconsin

Current Form of Employment: Web Copy Manager and Freelance Copywriter

Where do you work and what is your current position?

I am the web copy manager at a promotional products company. Together, my team and I write copy for over 400 products for our website per month. I also write for our company blog and  produce some of our marketing emails. I started as the lone copywriter here and as our company and my responsibilities have grown, so has my crew. I knew I wasn't cut out to be a high school teacher, but I love teaching my employees in the training capacity. 

I am also building up my freelance writing portfolio right now, writing web copy for successful entrepreneurs, writing articles for websites like the Huff Post, and keeping up my own fitness lifestyle blog. And finally, I am a certified personal trainer working on getting my barre certification so I can teach fitness classes. My life motto is to live life with intensity and be a better person every day! After spending as much quality time with my family as possible, writing and fitness are what make me feel alive.

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

My first job after college was as an "Order Writer." It had "writer" in the description, but it was actually order entry, so I sort of felt like I was duped when I took the job. I knew that job wasn't what I was called to do, but it was the first job I was able to land after college, so I stuck with it for awhile. Then I sent out one, ONE, resume while working there and landed my dream job at the time at a local company that was only one mile from my and my husband's newlywed home. I had heard this was an excellent place to work and kept a casual eye on their job postings and one day a "web product copywriter" position was posted. It was absolutely perfect, just what I was looking for! During the interview process, I found out I was pregnant with my first child. It was really weird timing, but this job was absolutely, obviously meant to happen. I've been here for 8 years and 2 kids later!

Unlatched: The Guarded Poetry of Jessica M. Collins

By Jessica Collins

Buy on Amazon

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

My positions before this were absolutely random and not writing related at all, but they each gave me their own training for my life up to this point. I went from babysitting as a pre-teen to working at a flower shop and JC Penney as a teen. Then, I worked a security job through college right up until I took the order writer position. Each taught me a new level of responsibility and skill set.

I did try my hand at publishing poetry and short stories on the side during that time. I was always writing, whether my professional positions required it or not. I filled the backs of all my college notebooks and floppy disks and flash drives with my writing and journal entries. Some of the poetry that came out of those buried pages is in my new book Unlatched, which is on Amazon Kindle.

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

I was proactive and created my own volunteer positions for several local businesses. I was able to fill my portfolio with writing samples and help my community in a meaningful way at the same time. There are a lot of things I would probably do differently knowing what I know now, but didn't at the time. For example, the internet has created some epic opportunities for content marketing and online business building. I would have probably taken a few more public relations, journalism or website design classes in college. I'm still always learning though. I've taken several courses just for the thrill of it during my time in my current position including getting my copywriting certificate from Media Bistro and taking a Business and Marketing Writing course. The best thing you can do for yourself is to never quit being a student!

““The best thing you can do for yourself is to never quit being a student!””

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

There is SO much you can do with an English degree. You think your only two options  are to be a starving artist or a teacher, right? But that is so far from the truth, it makes me itch! There are so many beautiful things you can do as an English major in this world. Teachers are a true gift from God, but that doesn't mean we're all cut out to be one. In fact, I offer career strategy calls and a Getting Started Guide for recent English studies graduates to help you nail down a career action plan. I have such incredible resources to share and have acquired so much knowledge that I would love to impart to ambitious future leaders if you're searching for your way after graduation.

Whatever field you want to pursue, the best way to gain valuable experience is to volunteer in the field. This is the most direct route toward what you want, because it's a clear demonstration of your ambition to future employers and it gives you the most invaluable related experience to get you in the door.

I would also say you should always continue learning: read personal development books whenever you can, learn new writing techniques, acquire new skills, study influencers in your favorite field, join a mastermind group, etc. There's always something more to learn. In addition to writing and literature, I have found a reverberating passion in fitness and read everything fitness-related I can get my hands on. I've even published my own e-book titled Budget Fitness and have a few more fitness e-books in the works.

You were put on this earth for a reason, so live your true meaning every single day.

To learn more about Jessica M. Collins visit flashfittrainer.com. You can also follow her on Instagram and connect with her on LinkedIn.

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John H. Alderman IV: Director of Executive Communications

Name: John H. Alderman IV

Age: 42, the Answer to the Ultimate Question

College & Majors/Minors: North Georgia College: B.A., English (Theater minor). Georgia State University: M.A., English.

Current Location: Atlanta, Ga.

Current Form of Employment: Full-time, corporate

Where do you work and what is your current position?

At a global town hall, on headset to coordinate with Production, at the laptop to drive speaking prompts, and seated with the internal comms lead to coordinate live Q&A.

Polishing a vital presentation for our company’s annual leadership meeting with Sandy Schwartz, the president of our company.

I’ve been the Director of Executive Communications at what is now Cox Automotive for going on four years. I’m on the corporate communications team and directly support the president of our company with internal and external communications. He’s a former newsman himself, and it’s a special kind of fun to work for a great writer. We co-write (or I edit) speaking points, emails, announcements, blog posts, and video scripts. We develop a lot of presentations together. I also write a weekly operational report for him that goes to the head of our parent company under his signature. In this role I have supported a number of our executives with everything from presentations to videos to emails to talking points to organizational announcements to communications strategy. The variety of communications styles, needs, and content makes this a lot of fun. The opportunities for true thought partnership are fantastic.

Working on a newsletter with the Japan Ground Self Defense Force, I make the only known successful bilingual copyediting joke ever! 

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

My first job was as a counselor at a therapeutic boarding school up in the mountains. I actually found that job in a newspaper, because in that small community that’s where the jobs were listed. I wasn’t the best counselor there, and wouldn’t want to do that sort of thing for a living; but it taught me a lot about empathy, and reading people, and meeting complex communications needs quickly in sometimes pretty intense situations. It was great to be part of a team trying to help kids grow up a bit in difficult circumstances.

Conducting a cordon and search in a palm grove south of Baghdad as Commander of Troop E, 108th Cavalry.

Finding my current position was charmingly serendipitous. A few years ago I was completing a stateside active duty tour with the Georgia National Guard as head of its Communications team. As I was about to transition back to my civilian job at UPS, one of my mentors introduced me to the VP of Communications here, who was looking for an executive communications person. While I had done some executive communications along the way, I had never considered focusing on that alone. Yet it made immediate, perfect sense to me and I’ve had a wonderful time growing into this role. It’s intricate, high-risk, often ambiguous work, but provides an amazing perspective on business. The company has grown from about $1B to $7B through mergers and acquisitions since I came aboard. Very. Exciting. Times.

Using an interpreter to plan a joint mission with our Iraqi Army counterparts. 

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

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Taking a spin on a Japanese tank with one of my videographers during an exercise on Hokkaido.

This may seem counterintuitive, but my time in the Army National Guard, specifically my eight years in command, was vital to me as a writer. In the first place, leaders lead through communication. There’s no way around this. Commanders write emails, policy letters, and speeches; we speak to groups large and small. Sadly, some of us give memorial speeches and write letters of condolence. I think it would surprise most people just how much rhetoric – written or otherwise – is expected of military leaders.

Moreover, leading 170 rough-and-tumble, delightfully blunt Cavalrymen forces one to communicate clearly, concisely, and with purpose. During our combat tour we helped rebuild a city council in Iraq, which involved some of the most exciting, rewarding, disappointing, complex, and even dangerous rhetorical situations one could ever encounter. It was wonderful. The Iraqis were very, very sharp in debate, and not above using outright trickery if it suited them. My English degrees were decisive in that environment, helping me to keep up with these men who grew up watching their fathers and uncles argue, and had themselves been arguing ever since. I think my language studies also were a big help communicating through an interpreter. There’s a pattern and a rhythm to using a ‘terp, and some really fun techniques of nonverbal communication you can employ during the give-and-take of translation. Fascinating work, and it taught me to simplify and prioritize in all new ways.

My second command was of a Public Affairs unit comprised of 20 journalists and videographers. Being in charge of writers was an adventure in itself, and uniquely challenging. We developed a relentless focus on products that were directly tied to a strategic communications plan supporting the higher command’s operational strategy. The trick was linking ideas and communications tightly enough across media and people that they supported a common goal, yet loosely enough to encourage and enable creativity and motivation in the teams. It was also a ton of fun to coach young writers to tell their stories better and better both from a personal and an organizational point of view.

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

I was your prototypical over-engaged undergrad, and not nearly concerned enough about my grades. I don’t recommend this. But I do recommend aggressive pursuit of extra- and co-curricular activities. I was twice on the national champion precision drill team, an amazing experience that instilled relentless attention to detail, unmatched pursuit of perfection, and unreal levels of teamwork. In our theater program, I learned practical, highly technical ways to present a wide range of emotions and non-verbal messages as well as how to read these things in others. Extremely valuable. I also learned leadership and management as an ROTC cadet, faced political inanities on the Student Activity Board, and sucked the marrow out of life by starting a chapter of the Dead Poets Society. (Yes, at a military school.)

As a graduate student, I eventually got my act together and started studying properly. Since I’m not teaching, my most important classes probably were Ancient Rhetoric, Bibliography & Research Methods, Advanced Composition, and Shakespeare in Film. Why the latter? It not only taught me about another medium, but how to apply my craft to another field. And that’s often the trick for us English majors. isn’t it?

Serving time in the writing lab might sound like a prison sentence, but it taught me how to help people write, which isn’t something that can be learned only among English majors. It’s not just the level of technical competence required to identify, analyze, and help someone solve a problem. It’s building relationships and trust in students on the fly when they’re frustrated, wary of our word magic, or both. Quite valuable to me later as a professional communicator.

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

I wouldn’t give up my degrees in English for anything. Two main areas of advice: business and philosophy.

When we are at our best, we English majors have a perspective on people, thought, leadership, and communicating that’s hard to beat. Our studies immerse us in the human condition and teach us about people with a scope and intensity that enables us to assimilate, synthesize, and communicate ideas like no one else. Our ability to simplify the complex is priceless and makes us immediately stand out from those around us. So I’d say English majors (especially those veering into the business world) should practice climbing up and down that ladder of abstraction. Get comfortable helping others express simply the whirlwind of thoughts roiling them. They’ll love you for it.

Second, at heart I’m a literature, not composition, guy. Certainly I could have chosen more practical writing courses and fewer literature courses, but I’m glad I didn’t. The writers from my studies – Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Dickinson, Tennyson, Eliot, Ovid, Homer – are windows on the soul and dear, dear friends. Countless times in very dark spaces (including in combat), a passage from one of these writers would illuminate the incomprehensible, or reinvigorate my faith, or simply serve as a touchstone of sanity in an insane world. More than once I repeated Tennyson as a mantra: “Be near me when my light is low, be near me when my light is low.” Great literature can seep into us, change us deep inside and help balance us as thinkers, leaders, friends, and workers. Beauty for the bad times, levity for the grim times, balance for the giddy times, words for the important times. We should revel in this and let it shape our perspectives and our work.

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Kirsi Dahl: Brand Communications Manager

Name: Kirsi Dahl

Age: 48

College & Majors/Minors: St. Cloud State University English/Education

Current Location: Minnesota

Current Form of Employment: Brand Communications

Where do you work and what is your current position?

3M is a global company based in Minnesota. At 3M, we take science and apply it to life. It’s often said that you’re never more than few feet from a 3M product (whether you know it or not!). While a large majority of 3M’s business is industrial, some of its most famous products come from the consumer business: Scotch® and Post-it® brands, for example. I’m the Brand Communications Manager for the Scotch-Brite™ Brand. Whether in your kitchen, bathroom or even your clothing, if you’ve ever cleaned anything, you’ve probably used a Scotch-Brite™ brand product!

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

When I graduated from college with my English teaching degree (grades 7-12), there were significant cuts in education budgets in my area and the school district referendums had failed. I wasn’t able to get a job in my home state. So I substitute taught for several years and then having started my family realized I would need a more reliable job. My English degree got me a position as an Office Manager at a small company. In this role, I was able to wear many different hats: finance, sales, marketing, and PR. I learned what I liked (marketing/PR) and what was less desirable (finance!) From there I moved to a design agency and worked with clients at 3M for many years helping them build their brands. When one of my long-term clients moved on to a new role, I knew I’d want to move to the client side where I’d have the opportunity to develop and influence the strategy vs. executing against it.

““In my office manager role, I was responsible for not only strategizing the marketing and press material content, but also writing it, distributing and following-through with press contacts.””

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

In my office manager role, I was responsible for not only strategizing the marketing and press material content, but also writing it, distributing and following-through with press contacts. This experience was an important foundation builder for me, particularly in realizing the importance of knowing your audience and crafting content appropriately.

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

As part of my Education degree, there was a lot of rigor around teaching methodologies. Cooperative learning and lesson planning in particular standout as preparatory course work of which the basic principles are something that I still leverage today.

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

No matter what career English degree graduates go into, I think that we all have something in common: a passion for clear and effective communications (written or spoken.) It is hard to believe how rare these skills are in the workplace. If you do nothing but bring these passions and skills, you will stand out.

You can connect with Kirsi on LinkedIn and follow her on Twitter.

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Christina Gil: Self-employed

Name: Christina Gil

Age: 41

College & Majors/Minors: English, no minor though I took lots of Spanish classes and studied abroad in Spain

Current Location: Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, Rutledge MO

Current Form of Employment: Self employed

Where do you work and what is your current position?

I was a teacher for seventeen years but I recently left the classroom to follow a dream and move with my family to a rural ecovillage in Missouri. My current position is entrepreneur, I guess! I am selling products on Teachers Pay Teachers. I am also guest blogging for a few websites. 

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

I found my first teaching job by searching the Sunday education section in the Boston globe. I got married August 14, and I started looking for jobs after we got back from our honeymoon. I ended up getting a last-minute job teaching Spanish which I did for a year before I (happily) switched to teaching English. I am currently self employed, trying to sell products on Teachers Pay Teachers.  It’s lots of fun, but sometimes I miss that regular paycheck.

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

I worked as an intern at The New York Review of Books during college, and after college I worked at a paying job there for a year (so I guess that’s technically my first job out of college). It was in advertising, though, so I wasn’t doing much writing beyond emails to booksellers, and there was very little of that for me. (Mostly, my job involved moving boxes and data entry, also lots of stuffing of envelopes.)

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

I learned how to write, read, and think for myself. Really, I have never taken an education class in my life, and yet I taught for a long time (and considered myself to be a pretty great teacher). I am a pretty firm believer that learning is about the skills so much more than the content—at least for English majors.

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

Just be glad that you didn't have to read as many history or philosophy texts (but you still got all those great ideas and historical context). Take challenging classes that get you reading difficult texts and writing lots and lots of hard papers. After that, other elements of your life will seem easy. Once you graduate, you’ll be able to write and read—which is actually a pretty rare skill.

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Lericka “Elle” Bryant-Henry: Business Owner, Writer, & English Tutor

Name: Lericka “Elle” Bryant-Henry

Age: 35

College & Majors/Minors: Southern New Hampshire University, B.A. English Literature and Creative Writing with a concentration in Non-fiction writing/ M.A. in English and Creative Writing 

Current Location: Laureldale, PA

Current Form of Employment: Business owner, Writer, and English Tutor. For published works, I’m professionally known by my pseudonym Elle Henry.  

Where do you work and what is your current position?

Currently, I’m juggling many roles! I’m a full-time writer working on my fourth book, I’m a blogger for a local newspaper, and I recently opened an editing service assisting new and established self-published authors with editing and proofreading help named Tres Chic Edits.

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

I saw my purpose in life, and it was writing. I left a very lucrative government job to focus on school and writing full-time. Everyone thought I was insane. But I wasn’t happy in that civil service position and it was reflecting negativity in my personal life. For those who know me well they will tell you that I eat, sleep, dream, and breathe the written word. I love writing so much; I'm working on my second English Literature degree. My life was stagnant before I joined the English major community. One day I woke up looking down two different paths… (paraphrasing Robert Frost, roll with me). 

I needed a change, but I didn’t know which way I wanted to go. I’ve always carried a journal. I was always encouraged to write; however, creatively I was still silent. Determined, I persevered by believing in myself—I finished my B.A. in English and Creative Writing and my first book of poetry and stories Pieces of Me. I could have chosen the easier route continuing to work for the government with everything handed to me. Instead, I chose the road less traveled, working hard for a career I was passionate about only to flourish. I haven't stopped writing since dedicating myself to this dream full-time. I love the written word so much that it's my desire to one day influence young girls to write creatively. I was always the girl with glasses who read books, now look at me… the girl with glasses who writes books!

After leaving my life as a civil servant, I started my writing career as a book reviewer and blogger on my Avid Writer Elle site. This site is also dedicated to my life as writer struggling to publish and find autonomy in this huge literary community. From there, I heard about a blogging community called Hype Orlando, a subsidiary of the Orlando Sentinel in Orlando, Florida. I submitted my proposal for “Candidly Elle,” a blog describing not only my life as a writer, but my candid take on popular culture and current events.

Deciding to take my English education and focus on editing was a chance I’ve battled back and forth with for a while. I remember when I first started out—no one really wanted to provide any insight on self-publishing to an English major. I felt the community was a little exclusive, and they looked down on those who pursued a higher education in English or Creative Writing. Deciding to flip that, I opened Tres Chic Edits, and now I not only provide editing services, but I also provide writing consultations to those struggling to find their footing in the publishing world. 

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

In my pre-English major position, I was an Executive Assistant at two Naval hospitals. This position required a lot of attention to detail because I was the voice for all outgoing correspondence and evaluations for military and civilian personnel. It was a very daunting position because I was the assistant to a department head that housed 500+ people. Having a strong background in English was very important. I incorporate that attention to detail into my current writing and editing jobs. 

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

I didn’t participate in any internships (which I now regret) due to being a military spouse with a deployed husband at the time. So, I definitely encourage internships—they help you transition easier into your chosen profession. 

I did find a few likeminded individuals who encouraged my writing. We formed a group holding weekly meetings to catch up on school topics, while working on writing prompts in the group to further enhance our writing. This not only helped in terms of preparing me for certain creative writing courses; I was more exposed to constructive criticism of my work. 

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

As English majors, we are already subjected to the “you can’t find a job in that major…” line. I believe as a writer, we tend to be the most judgmental, harboring the most uncertainty when it comes to our work. There’s a quote I put in my first book, Pieces of Me, specifically to inspire writers with self-doubt. “Just grab a pen and write, don’t stress about the critics. When it’s all said and done someone will love it.” The same could be applied to an English major pursuing a different profession outside of writing. Believe enough in yourself to follow your dreams, and if you stay true to that motto, everything else in life will fall into place. 

You can find Lericka “Elle” Bryant-Henry on AuthorElleHenry.com, on HyperOrlando.com, and on Facebook here and here. 

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Nicole Danielle Chinn: Copywriter

Name: Nicole Danielle Chinn

Age: 22

College & Majors: I graduated from The University of Texas at Dallas with a Bachelor of Arts in Literary Studies

Current Location: Dallas, Texas

Current Form of Employment: Copywriter

Where do you work and what is your current position? 

I'm currently a self-employed freelance copywriter. 

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

My first couple of jobs were fairly easy to get; they were all either in retail, fast food, or lifeguarding, so the process was pretty simple. Walk in, ask for an application, and wait for a callback. 

Finding my current job took a bit more work. I stumbled accross the opportunity when I was job searching back in November of 2015 and applied for it and didn't hear back. That's when I got my job as a Content Strategist/Copywriter and Social Media Manager at a local digital marketing agency in Dallas. A few months later I found out that I had a friend who knew someone that worked at the company I hadn't heard back from and and was able to put me in contact with the Editor-in-Chief. About a month later, I was offered the option to come on board as a freelance copywriter.  

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

Before I decided to go freelance, I worked as a Content Strategist/Copywriter and Social Media Manager for a digital marketing company during my final semester of my senior year. During that time I was able to really immerse myself in my writing and I was able to refine my writing skills in many different areas thanks to my time in this position. 

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

Pretend that post-grad life didn't exist and that I'd never have to become an adult? In all seriousness though, I spent my extra electives throughout college dabbling in different subjects that seemed interesting to me. This allowed me to see if maybe there was something out there I wanted to do other than write. In the end, I learned a lot from those classes, but nothing ever trumped my love for writing. 

After I made certain that I really wanted to write, I started looking for careers that would allow me to hone my abilities to the fullest. I tried the whole 'corporate America' desk job thing for awhile, but I ended up feeling very stifled. So, I looked for other ways I could support myself by writing that wouldn't make me resent my craft. Freelancing is the perfect opportunity to do exactly that. 

““ Don’t settle because it seems like the only option. Find your passion and do what you love.””

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

Don't settle. Don't settle for a dead-end job that doesn't allow you to utilize your English degree and everything you've learned and practiced and perfected over the years. I know that when I was in school, I would get a lot of weird looks and chuckles when I told people what I was majoring in, which can feel a little discouraging. I was told I would never be able to find a job with my degree. However, when I was growing up, I was always told to go after what I enjoyed and what made me happy, so I did and I don't regret it for a second. Don't settle because it seems like the only option. Find your passion and do what you love. 

You can connect with Nicole on LinkedIn and follow her on Twitter. 

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Irene Etzkorn: Chief Clarity Officer

Name: Irene Etzkorn

Age: 56

College & Majors/Minors: Undergrad: C.W. Post College, B.A. double major in English and Biology, Graduate: Carnegie-Mellon University, Master of Arts in Professional Writing

Current Location: New York City

Current Form of Employment: Branding and Simplification Consulting firm

Where do you work and what is your current position?

Chief Clarity Officer, Siegelvision in New York City

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

I was in graduate school at CMU in Pittsburgh and heard Alan Siegel from NYC come to campus to speak about his then brand new firm, Siegel+Gale. He had just been on the cover of People Magazine as “Mr. Plain English” and I was fascinated to learn that he was making a business of simplifying complex communications for government and commercial clients. Having worked for the IRS and US Census Bureau while in college, I recognized the need for simplification in many facets of daily life. I was hired for a summer writing internship at Siegel+Gale and worked there for 30 years, leaving there 3 years ago to follow the founder and CEO when he moved to form another similar, smaller firm, Siegelvision.

By Alan Siegel, Irene Etzkorn

Buy on Amazon

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

I co-wrote a book titled, Simple: Conquering the Crisis of Complexity, that was published in 2013 (for sale on Amazon so you can find more about it there). Seeing it translated into Korean, Mandarin, Russian and Hungarian made me realize how universal the desire for simplicity really is. Cognitive fluency has only recently begun to be studied and understood by psychologists. Because ease of interaction and understanding affect believability and comprehension, people gravitate towards clarity.

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

Working while in college helped me to realize I didn’t want to go to medical school (the path I was on). A summer in a hospital cured me of that desire, while working at the IRS gave me a sense that there were many areas I hadn’t considered that would benefit from clear writing and that I actually loved business.  

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

Don’t shy away from being an English major because you envision perpetual unemployment. Couple your writing ability with a minor or double major in another area and you will find many employment opportunities. Also, the skills associated with English majors—curiosity, interviewing, clear expression—are valuable in many types of jobs.

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