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Comprehensive Communications
Delivering with authenticity, care, and creativity!
Writing and Project Samples
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There is no real day-to-day in communications. One needs to remain flexible and agile and have a willingness to switch gears as needed. Staying on the lookout constantly for stories that attract attention and facilitate audience expansion are areas in which we excel. Skills we bring to the table are patience, perseverance, excellent attention to detail and knowing what story is the right fit and for whom, while maintaining excellent customer service.
Areas of strength: Relationship building with colleagues, customers, and industry; process management; project management; organization; multi-tasking; providing project direction; story cultivation; story placement; story expansion, multi-platform media integration (earned, owned, acquired and social) and analytics. Relationships are at the core of everything we do and we protect and value them above anything.
Production Sample
Collab with Apple featuring the amazing Ohio State University Marching Band
Op-Ed Sample
Op-Ed Sample
Addressing Digital Literacy
Written for Goodwill Columbus President and CEO
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Our ancestors worked with wheels in fixed locations to spin pottery, process grain, etc. Rapid, in-place rotation saved time and allowed people to problem solve other issues. Eventually, someone got the idea to tip the wheel, add an axle and use this simple machine to move heavy objects more easily.
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That original great idea, the rotating wheel, produced the next great idea, the rolling wheel, which produced the next great idea, the chariot … you get the picture. So, the next time you hear, “You can’t reinvent the wheel,” you’ll know that’s not entirely true. You may not reinvent the shape, but you can reinvent the purpose.
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We are at one of those reinventing moments now with respect to the digital literacy of our workforce. A worldwide study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development found nearly 70 percent of American respondents rated themselves “poor or below” in basic computer skills.
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Training in Technology
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Digital literacy is a serious employment issue facing our country, but a solution is in front of us. Goodwill Industries International (GII) and Google.org have joined forces to create the Goodwill Digital Career Accelerator to help advance the technological knowledge of 1 million Americans in the next three years. Just like our clever ancestors repurposed the wheel, Google — through a $10 million nationwide investment — is helping repurpose GII’s strong workforce training infrastructure to make tech education free and accessible.
The target participants are youth, young adults, older workers, those with limited work experience, people with disabilities or disadvantages, veterans and military family members, and people transitioning from the corrections system back into the community. Through existing Goodwill programs, participants will learn about technology and computers, and have access to opportunities like coding and computer certification classes.
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For people with life barriers, a lack of tech skills is more than just a roadblock, it can be a full-stop to obtaining living-wage employment.
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A Call to Action
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We frequently hear how Columbus is a Smart City, but while we have many measurable strengths and assets, what makes a city truly smart is a place at the tech table for all citizens, including those with learning differences and other barriers.
That said, remember that technology is the tool and people are the drivers. When asked if he still had faith in technology, Steve Jobs said, in a 1994 Rolling Stone interview, “Oh, sure. It’s not a faith in technology. It’s faith in people.” I concur wholeheartedly. We need to be in this together to make it work.
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Do you have a job you could offer at-risk youth? Are your employees able to carve out time to help with job coaching or interview preparedness? Could you create an internship, so tech students have a reference and experience to go with their training? Could you be a mentor or friend to someone looking for a hand up? What resources do you have that could be reinvented? How can you repurpose your wheel?
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With a threefold mission of People, Planet and Prosperity, Goodwill is dedicated to helping people with disabilities and other barriers to employment find pathways to independence through the power of work.
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Making soup … with a lot of help from our friends
Written for Goodwill Columbus President and CEO
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I like to say that it takes a village to make a difference. It really takes a “prosocial” village, which reflects a framework in social psychology that has relevant application in business. This term reflects the act of helping, sharing, donating, cooperating or volunteering that contributes to the greater good and well being of others.
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Goodwill Columbus is fortunate to have many partners in human services, government, education and business, who live by this model and work together to fulfill a collective mission of helping individuals with disabilities and other barriers on a pathway toward securing meaningful and sustainable work.
Studies have shown companies that embrace a prosocial culture report a happier and more satisfied workforce. That could be something as simple as providing paid time to volunteer at a local nonprofit, a match for financial giving to employees’ charities of choice or a corporate commitment to a caring cause.
Based upon the generosity of many Central Ohio companies, businesses in our community have a keen awareness of this practice.
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Leveraging our Collective Impact
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There’s a new prosocial partnership that’s been launched, celebrating the community’s collective impact.
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Through the capable leadership of Ohio Means Jobs/Workforce Development Board of Central Ohio, our community’s one-stop Jobs Center is transitioning to a compelling partnership of three nonprofit agencies — Goodwill Columbus, Jewish Family Services and The Columbus Urban League — that provide a broad range of career services and support; along with ResCare, which will manage the operations of this center.
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Our vision of collective impact going forward is focused on providing a seamless, integrated workforce development network to meet the diverse employment needs of businesses and job seekers. This newly created partnership will support economic development in Central Ohio, leveraging our expertise to meet our ever-expanding economic growth.
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Better Together
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Prosocial partnerships like these remind me of the fable “Stone Soup,” where villagers start with a cooking pot containing just water and a stone. Each villager then adds a little something tasty and edible to the mix so that the whole village dines on a delicious communal meal. That is truly “The Columbus Way.”
We have a rich tapestry of human services organizations, corporate and private donors, invested and engaged government officials, educational institutions, passionate staff and generous volunteers, who together create an elegant fabric of support for individuals looking for guidance and a path to self-sufficiency.
Central Ohio will achieve its highest state when we work together to assure that every individual in our community has an opportunity to thrive. It really does take a village.
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With a threefold mission of People, Planet and Prosperity, Goodwill is dedicated to helping people with disabilities and other barriers to employment find pathways to independence through the power of work.
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Reporting Sample
Ohio State ‘Ribbon-Joining’ ceremony to open National Collegiate Substance Misuse Prevention, Recovery Center
Center will serve as the premier alcohol and drug misuse prevention and recovery resource for colleges and universities across the nation
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By: Jane Carroll
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State University President Michael V. Drake, along with leadership representatives from the College of Social Work, Student Life and the Student Wellness Center and the College of Pharmacy, will celebrate the opening of the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Drug Misuse Prevention and Recovery (HECAOD) with a “ribbon-joining” ceremony April 6.
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“While many new endeavors kick off with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, our prevention and recovery center will feature a ribbon-joining ceremony to visually illustrate how these areas tie together to the benefit of students across the nation,” said Drake. “The center will be a crucial resource in preventing and controlling substance misuse, which can easily derail the promising lives of our students.”
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HECAOD, made possible by a $2 million gift from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, will replace a federal center lost to budget cuts in 2012. The center will help college and community leaders develop, implement and evaluate programs and policies to reduce problems experienced by students who misuse alcohol and other drugs.
“It is well established that substance use on college campuses leads to a number of negative outcomes and can interfere with the academic success of students,” said Steven M. Hilton, chairman, president and CEO of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. “We are pleased to support the launch of a new national center at Ohio State to ensure colleges and universities across the country are equipped with the information and resources they need to support prevention, early intervention and recovery.”
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To celebrate the opening of HECAOD, located in Stillman Hall on the Columbus campus, there will be a weeklong series of drug and alcohol awareness activities at Ohio State and on the Web:
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Monday, April 6: HECAOD opening and ribbon-joining ceremony featuring Vice President for Student Life Javaune Adams-Gaston, College of Social Work Dean Thomas Gregoire, College of Pharmacy Dean Henry Mann and HECAOD Director John Clapp; 9-11 a.m., with ribbon joining at 10 a.m., Stillman Hall, 1947 College Road.
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Tuesday, April 7: Free screening of the film The Anonymous People, Stillman Hall, Room 100. 6:30-8:30 p.m. Food will be provided, and CEUs are available.
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Wednesday, April 8: Collegiate Recovery webinar with John Kelly, associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard University Medical School, 3 p.m.
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According to the National Institutes of Health, more than 1,800 college students nationwide between the ages of 18 and 24 die each year from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, including motor vehicle crashes, and more than 690,000 students nationwide between the ages of 18 and 24 are assaulted by another student who has been drinking. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports unintentional drug overdose as the leading cause of accidental death in the U.S., and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reports the average age of prescription drug abuse onset is 22. Students who engage in heavy alcohol and drug use often fail academically, which has long-term consequences.
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HECAOD will be guided by John Clapp, who is also a professor and associate dean for research at Ohio State’s College of Social Work. Clapp, who served as director of the former Department of Education’s Higher Education Center for Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Violence Prevention is a member of the National Advisory Council for the U.S. Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. Clapp is also an expert in Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) and has managed more than $8 million in SBIRT-related projects.
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The HECAOD will have two associate directors, Connie Boehm and Kenneth M. Hale. Boehm is the director of the Student Life Student Wellness Center at Ohio State and currently serves as the national co-chair for the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Wellness and Health Promotion Knowledge Community. Hale is the co-founder of The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy’s Generation Rx initiative, widely recognized as the nation’s leading prevention program for prescription drug misuse among college students. Sarah Nerad, program manager for Ohio State’s Collegiate Recovery Community and recognized nationally for her participation in furthering recovery programs on college campuses, will serve as the director of recovery.
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Reporting Sample
Black History Month Reflections on a Social Revolution
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Ohio State President Michael V. Drake presents “Reaching for the Top: Music of the Civil Rights Era,” a complex story of social change movements and the role music played in them.
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By: Jane Carroll
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The role that music plays in social change took center stage on Tuesday as The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center welcomed Ohio State President Michael V. Drake as its Black History Month keynote speaker at University Hospital East and the Ross Heart Hospital.
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Drake drew on his expertise in music and history to deliver his talk, “Reaching for the Top: Music of the Civil Rights Era,” a complex story of social change movements and the role music played in them. The lecture was based on a class that he taught to undergraduate students for several years when he was Chancellor of the University of California, Irvine.
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Drake demonstrated how music could be used in an anthropological sense to evaluate and reflect on the long journey to civil rights, and how it served as a device to take the social temperature of the time.
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Music also functioned as an early tool for covert communication and, later, as an outlet for frustration, he said.
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“Messages and stories about repression have been historically carried through song because people were not allowed to learn to write or read,” said Drake. “In many cases it was not safe to speak openly about personal rights issues, so they needed to use innuendo.”
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Drake cited Go Down Moses, commonly known by its refrain, “Let my people go.” The song was ostensibly about God commanding Moses to demand the release of the Israelites, but in the context sung by Paul Robeson in 1958, it was about the need for equality and justice for people of African descent.
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“Just as one can look at the art of any era and tell what the culture was like, so can you with music,” Drake said.
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In the 1950s, due in part to increasing social integration, what was once knows as “race music” started to cross over into the mainstream and become Rhythm and Blues, or R&B. Drake noted that TV pioneer and entertainer Ed Sullivan was an unlikely agent of this social change.
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When no one else in mainstream media would, Sullivan broke through cultural divides, promoting artists like Nat King Cole, Marian Anderson, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Louie Armstrong, The Supremes, The Temptations and dozens of others over the course of the show’s 23-year run. He also created the space for “crossover” artists like Chuck Berry and Ray Charles on a national stage.
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Songs of protest and organization came into the national spotlight during the 1960s. Drake described a touching example of how two artists—Sam Cooke and Bob Dylan, without every speaking to each other—further solidified the national consciousness through their music.
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In 1962, Bob Dylan recorded Blowin’ in the Wind, which seeks solutions to race relations, war and peace.
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“Dylan says that the answers are floating out there, just blowing in the wind without an anchor,” said Drake. “This was a sentiment musician Sam Cooke found particularly profound. As an African-American man of great esteem and fame, he was having a particularly hard time with segregation and how it impacted him. He heard Dylan’s song and was so moved by that song that in 1964 he wrote Change Gonna Come as an answer to it. Dylan countered with encouragement and hope that same year with the song The Times They Are a Changin’.”
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“In 1964, the country was also going through a real spasm of emotion,” said Drake. “The president had recently been assassinated and the nation was looking for relief. Ed Sullivan looked around and found the Beatles and got them here, to great fanfare.”
That same year also brought more complicated and even aggressive music onto the scene. The Rolling Stones echoed the sentiment of a generation with (I Can’t Get no) Satisfaction at a time when people were wrestling with the collective consciousness and past the mop-top balm and distraction the Beatles provided.
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The end of 1968 was a time of great turmoil with the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in April and Robert F. Kennedy in June, but it was also a time of great empowerment. Drake cited several examples: James Brown focused on what it meant to be black and proud. U.S. gold and bronze Olympians gave the black power salute on the podium. The notoriously politics-shy Barry Gordy agreed to let Marvin Gaye record a political album, the iconic What’s Going On. Slowly, change was happening, and it could be seen over time through the music, Drake said.
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“Maybe you don’t remember all of a song, but you can remember the feeling it evoked," said Drake. "Our brains are amazing things and they tie us to emotion and how we are feeling as people. The music of this era is a reflection of what we as individuals and as a country were going through at the time, and that is not something any of us should ever forget.”
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Creative Media
Integration Sample
Watterson Analytics
Analytics on the Bill Watterson posting: The line leading up to first spike is normal library internet traffic. The big spike is the response to our social and earned media efforts as described above. The dip after happened because the above plan worked so well, it, well, broke the internet, and the page where we were driving media and readers to was diverted to another server to handle the volume. The smaller spike days later is when we were back up and running on the Cartoon Library server.
Rescued Segment Sample
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Drum Major Production with ESPN featuring The Ohio State University Marching Band. ESPN wanted to do a promo piece on the marching band for hits leading up to the bowl game, the only problem was everyone in the Marching Band was home on break during ESPN's scheduled filming time. No way was I going to lose this opportunity, so knowing our drum major lived in town, I pitched the idea of him getting ready for the big game just as a traditional athlete does and lucky enough ESPN liked the idea. I showed the producer and director around to some behind the scenes locations like the Band locker room and instrument storage and they crafted the narrative from there.
Source: janescarroll
Relationships Matter Sample
I had the privilege of supporting sports reporter Laken Litman from USA Today for several days to show off The Ohio State University Marching Band. You can't underestimate the value of great customer service and relationship building. A big part of that is helping a reporter figure out how you can help them write the story they want to write and make it as fun and easy as possible. Laken had a great time and we got full page article in USA Today after her visit, which she told me was one of the most fun times she has ever had reporting.
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And relationships matter. When I later moved on to media relations manager for Goodwill Columbus, I had the opportunity to work with Laken/USAToday again when I pitched her on a very cool story about how Goodwill Columbus works with the Columbus Marathon to pick up runners discarded garments/hats/gloves for either recycle or resale. USAToday liked the pitch so much, they kicked the story up to the New York Marathon where NY affiliate Goodwill stores do the same marathon pickup. And the best part is that Goodwill Columbus still got a great mention in the NY article!