In corporate communications and public relations, I have conceived and written the following:

  • Brochures
  • Flyers
  • Speeches
  • Promotional Booklets
  • Press Releases
  • Annual Reports
  • Newspaper and Magazine Advertisements

Read my feature The Economics of Embracing Workplace Diversity in the July 2012 issue of BC Business magazine.

GREEN BUSINESSES IN B.C.

What does the new face of corporate social responsibility look like with green-minded organizations in British Columbia? Find out about the organic products, visionary leadership, and sustainability education of Vancouver’s Rocky Mountain Flatbread Company. Learn about the certified organic wines and conservation strategies of Kelowna’s Summerhill Pyramid Winery.

Read about the B.C. Institute of Technology’s dedication to stewardship and sustainable construction and their status as the greenest campuses in Canada. Discover what environmental practices have made the City of Dawson Creek a Green Cities Award winner. I mention all four organizations in my cover story “Corporate Social Opportunity” in the winter 2009 issue of PeopleTalk magazine. Click here to read this feature.

This is a tiny sampling of my corporate writing (lots more to come):

“HR Highly Valued by Canadian Businesses, Survey Shows” (scroll to page 15, Network magazine, Alberta, winter 2009): www.hria.ca/HRIA/Files/NetworkMag/Winter2009NetworkPDF.pdf

HR Metrics 101: Doing the Math, Finding the Path (PeopleTalk magazine cover story, fall 2008)

BC HRMA: The Hub of Human Resources (BC Business magazine, February 2007)

Storytelling Boosts Morale and Business at EDS Corporation (HR Voice, November 2005)

Tamara Erickson: Retire retirement — Beat the coming shortage of skills and talent (PeopleTalk magazine)

Storytelling in the Workplace? Emotions rule
http://hrvoice.org/story.aspx?&storyid=2233&issueid=731
People with disabilities: Ready and eager to work
http://hrvoice.org/story.aspx?&storyid=2696&issueid=690

Hostages? Derailment? Fire? SkyTrain’s ready for ’em all
http://hrvoice.org/story.aspx?&storyid=1424&issueid=732

BCHRMA 45th Annual Conference: A sold-out success
http://hrvoice.org/story.aspx?&storyid=4605&issueid=690

While an editor with a Southam trade magazine, I twice won Southam Communications’ Lighthouse Award for writing clarity.

As the manager who organized BC Transit’s 50th Anniversary of electric trolley buses in Vancouver, BC, Canada, I created and wrote the colour, souvenir book Vancouver’s Trolley Buses 1948-1998: Celebrating a Half-century of Service. With a team of about ten, we hosted a public event in Stanley Park with archival films, historic photos and buses, an exhibition of drawings, speeches, and free cake. We created commemorative T-shirts, postcards and bookmarks, plus event merchandise such as keychains and mugs.

Within my first month on the job as Corporate Communications Manager at BC Transit, I researched and wrote a 3,000-word cover story on Vancouver’s multi-modal transit system for the U.S. publication Passenger Terminal World. BC Transit’s president reprinted the article and put a copy on the chair of each manager who attended the company’s annual general meeting.

In that position, I oversaw employee communications and edited the company-wide newsletter Transit Exchange. Besides writing media articles and conducting interviews, I took photos for many publications and hired contractors for design work and research consulting.

Click here to read “Theatre Street Youth Society” in Working Dollars, VanCity Credit Union’s former promotional magazine

My strengths

Based on Gallup’s Strengths Finder, these are my signature themes and areas of strength:

  • Activator – “People strong in the Activator theme can make things happen by turning thoughts into action.”
  • Ideation – “People strong in the Ideation theme are fascinated by ideas. They are able to find connections between seemingly disparate phenomena.”
  • Maximizer – “People strong in the Maximizer theme focus on strengths as a way to stimulate personal and group excellence. They seek to transform something strong into something superb.”
  • Strategic – “People strong in the Strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.”

  • Command – “People strong in the Command theme have presence. They can take control of a situation and make decisions.”

Here are some of the organizations I have had as clients or employers:

MEDIA/COMMUNICATIONS/PUBLISHING

Alive Magazine

Canada Wide Media Ltd. (BC Business)

Century Communications Group

Formac Publishing, Halifax, NS

Source Media Group, Calgary, AB (Western Canadian Resorts)

Southam Communications

Whitecap Books

ARTS & CULTURE

Corporate Arts Inc.

Demeter Music Inc. (Scottsdale, AZ)

Design Dimension Inc.

Steve Rosenberg, Film Director, Vancouver, BC

Vancouver Arts and Cultures Forum

ENVIRONMENT

Atlantic Center for the Environment (Ipswich, Mass.)

EcoPlan International Inc.

Ministry of Natural Resources (Ontario)

Pacific Wild

Quebec-Labrador Foundation

Sierra Magazine, Sierra Club, San Francisco, CA

Sustainability Television, Vancouver, BC

EDUCATION

Capilano University (Sechelt, BC)

Faculty of Dentistry, University of British Columbia

Kootenay School of Writing (Vancouver)

Selkirk College, Castlegar, B.C.

Simon Fraser University at Harbour Centre, Continuing Education,

Vancouver, BC

Vancouver Coastal Health Authority (Sechelt, BC)

Vancouver School Board

OTHER BUSINESSES

BC Human Resources Management Association

BC Transit

Canadian Council of Human Resources Associations (CCHRA)

Coast Mountain Bus Company

G. F. Strong Centre

Kermode Trading, Terrace, BC

Seaview Villa Estates

AWARDS

2009 Runner-up, Chris White Award for best memoir excerpt, Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction Writing, Graduating Class, Goucher College, Maryland

2001 Member of Winning Team, Dalton Pen Communications Award (international)   

For three-panel historic photo wall at Coast Mountain Bus Company head office; won this award “based on   the highest standards and expectations for communication materials.”

1998 Winner, Writers’ Union of Canada Prose Contest (1 of 11 finalists)

1996  Surrey Writers’ Conference, Honourable Mention, Creative Nonfiction

1995 BC Festival of the Arts Writing Competition

1985 Two-time Winner, Lighthouse Award for Writing Clarity, Southam Communications Inc.

MEMBERSHIPS

Association of Writers and Writing Programs

B.C. Federation of Writers

Praxis Centre for Screenwriters

Workplace Centre for Spiritual and Ethical Development (board member)