Features & Sponsored Content

Writing is hard.

I went to school to be a teacher. For all of my pedagogical tendencies, I still cut quite a striking figure as an absolute dolt. I speak to people on a daily basis who have highly specialized, highly technical, and often deceptively wide-ranging job responsibilities. I’ve found success by being upfront about my curiosity, my naïveté, and my willingness to do the homework required to forge a connection.

Monday I might be speaking with a culture-company CEO whose own culture needed revamping, Tuesday might be the now incarcerated Robert Menendez (the senator) or Grind Junky Gary V, and Wednesday could be an IP attorney whose bark is imperceptible but whose bite is notorious or an in-house lawyer who has declared all-out war on an energy-drink competitor.

If there is one motivator that drives my work, it’s the desire to find the person behind the role. The idea behind the initiative. The thru-line in the disjointed. That’s more than one motivator. Oh, well.

I’ve written over 1,200 features and sponsored stories for nearly a dozen outlets and publications. Since 2015, I’ve had to do deep research into law, healthcare, construction, technology, and executive leadership. Not once have I ever failed to find the pulse of the feature. It’s always there, you just have to find it.