Hi, I’m Laura.
The short story
I’m a former trade magazine editor in the ag and horticulture industries who primarily writes content for B2B and alumni magazines. I use my journalism skills to craft engaging content for B2B companies that showcases their expertise while connecting with their audience.
The long story
My writing career really began when I was working at McDonald’s at 16.
It was a gorgeous sunny Saturday in the suburbs of Cincinnati, and I was resentful of the fact that I was spending it in front of the drive-thru cash register, waiting for the next car to roll through so I could ask “Welcome to McDonalds, may I take your order?”
As the minutes ticked by, I began to plot. I didn’t want to end up here, forever. So what did I want to do? What was the plan?
I always liked writing and I was good at it—according to my English teachers, at least. But I was also passionate about music and thought a career in the industry sounded cool. What if I combined the two? I thought. Become a music journalist, interview rock stars, get my byline in Rolling Stone? Now that was a plan I could get behind.
So I studied at Ball State University and earned a degree in Magazine Journalism. By the time I graduated the Rolling Stone dream had died, but my desire to write full-time was still very much alive. I got my first bylines in Running Times and Cincinnati Magazine before eventually landing a job with the B2B magazine Greenhouse Management in Cleveland. I knew nothing about horticulture and didn’t have much of a green thumb, but the focus of the publication was on the business side of things: how to market, manage employees, and run a successful greenhouse operation. I fell in love with writing about business, which is why my favorite assignments are customer case studies and success stories.
I later left the magazine to join my future husband in Milwaukee as he pursued his Doctoral degree in Math. There I made the transition from writing about flowers to writing about crops by becoming a staff writer for No-Till Farmer magazine. By the time I left as managing editor, I had visited dozens of farms and conducted hundreds of interviews with scientists and experts in the field (pun intended), which gave me a wealth of knowledge about farming and the ag industry.
I am now in upstate South Carolina and about to complete my seventh year of full-time freelancing. I spend my days primarily writing content for B2B companies that is not all that different from the work I used to do as an editor. I help my clients identify the information their potential customers want and need, conduct research, interview their subject matter experts and happy customers to create unique content tailored specifically for their market.
When I’m not at my desk, you can probably find me on a run (I’m on a never-ending quest to qualify for the Boston Marathon), watching an IndyCar or IMSA race, enjoying a locally brewed beer, planning my next travel adventure, or rewatching Seinfeld for the hundredth time.
