Professional Summary & Career Highlights

Writer, Editor, Narrative Designer, and Comms Professional with 11 years of experience; gaming and XR expert; best-selling author of The Ultimate Roblox Book; seasoned game consultant and designer for AAA and indie studios; award-winning narrative designer and writer; narrative strategist comfortable planning, executing, and analyzing projects; obsessive attention to detail; relentless ambition and drive; podcast co-host; occasional livestreamer; excellent networking and communication skills; adept world-builder and character writer with a specialization in emotionally-charged stories and engaging dialogue

For more, please reference my LinkedIn page.

Relevant Employment History

Strategic Communications Manager & Writer

First Contact Entertainment, January 2023 - Present

I work with studio leadership to define a communications roadmap for the studio by identifying project, technology, and business goals to build awareness of our games. I am also a credited ‘Writer’ on Firewall Ultra responsible for tutorial messaging, UI descriptions, game flow, NPC dialogue, character background bios, and more.

In addition, I must:

  • Develop and drive a content update plan for FCE website and social channels.

  • Establish and maintain key relationships with critical external sites and partners.

  • Build PR and marketing plans from launch to ongoing live operations that effectively elevate and promote our games.

  • Lead communication with external partners and publishers.

  • Assist with worldbuilding, lore writing, character biographies, map lore, live service planning and buildout, as well as overall narrative design and NPC dialogue across a variety of game modes.

  • Collaborate with other creators and writers at the studio to ensure all written output is of a professional standard -- among other duties and responsibilities as assigned.

Freelance Writer & independent consultant

april 2011 - present

  • Wrote a best-selling book about Roblox targeted at young kids interested in building their own game worlds, published by Simon & Schuster in Jan. 2018, plus a 2nd Edition

  • Conducted mock reviews for several video games prior to release for AAA, mid-tier, and independent game studios to help gauge reception and improve games during development.

  • Advised on marketing, positioning, and PR endeavors for upcoming game releases.

  • Wrote for several prominent print and web publications such as Forbes, IGN, Android Central, Polygon, PCGamer, PCGamesN, VG24/7, Paste, GamesMaster Magazine, Gamecrate, Playboy, Motherboard, Tabletop Gaming Mag, CGM, and others.

Technology Communications Manager, Editorial

Meta / Reality Labs, April 2021 - November 2022

I advised on and coordinated PR & marketing plans, wrote and managed the network of tech blogs at Meta including Oculus, VR, AR, AI, and more, and provided consulting and feedback on in-development VR content. I also co-hosted an interview-focused gaming podcast.

Full responsibilities included:

  • Wrote and edited content daily for the Oculus blog, Dev blog, Tech@ blog, and more.

  • Collaborated with partners across PR, marketing, creative,dev relations,  engineering, and external developers to develop an engaging variety of content around all VR/AR products.

  • Helped with video production in the form of feature interviews and writing scripts.

  • Managed communication and positioning for dozens of VR game releases on the VR market-leading Meta Quest 2 platform garnering millions of copies sold.

  • Performed internal mock review analysis on in-development VR games and hardware to provide detailed reports to developers and engineers prior to public launch.

  • Provided product and development teams with feedback on early game builds and hardware prototypes, including credits on Resident Evil 4 VR and Lone Echo II.

  • Led creation of an original podcast series and multiple themed article series.

Senior editor

Uploadvr, march 2016 - April 2021

  • Coordinated all gaming coverage on a revolving daily basis from freelance writers, staff writers, and colleagues for UploadVR.

  • Helped grow site traffic over 50x and establish the site as the #1 media outlet focused on VR/AR.

  • Launched alternative coverage initiatives such as VR live streaming, podcasts, and more.

  • Created a strong social media presence with engaging copy and market awareness.

  • Managed a revolving editorial calendar to plan out coverage for news, events, game releases, reviews, and more across the team.

  • Maintained positive personal relationships with developers and publishers around the world, including Sony, Oculus, EA, Bethesda, Bandai Namco, and many others.

Technical Writer

Workday, November 2015 - march 2016

  • Synthesizing complex materials and writing easy-to-understand content for audiences.

  • Working closely with development, customer support, product management, and various other teams to develop high-quality documentation for a targeted audience.

  • Drafting, editing, and publishing content for release notes on a weekly basis.

  • Maintaining content for multiple products simultaneously, learning the Workday products, and working as an integral part of the Release Notes team.

  • Preparing content for online delivery.

 

Writer II, content development

Guidespark, May 2014 - present

  • Established self as go-to writer on every customer and became the preferred writer for all project managers across departments.

  • Worked with various brands including Bank of America, PepsiCo, Facebook, Morgan Stanley, Twitter, Riot Games, and more.

  • Led training of all new writers at the company across multiple locations.

  • Authored engaging, conversational video scripts on HR communications and training topics.

  • Collaborated with designers and other writers to ensure highest quality videos.

  • Assisted other writers on projects, taking on script edits, updates, or other tasks.

  • Adhered to customers’ brand and voice guidelines, following creative direction.

 

Business Plan Writer and Analyst

Plan-It Business, July 2013 - May 2014

I worked as a full-time, on-site business planning analyst, consultant and writer. My typical day-to-day operations consisted of helping clients write and plan out their businesses in terms of vision, operations, and even full financial projections. I also ran the company's blog and performed ancillary document design and graphics-based projects such as the creation of newsletters, promotional material, and investor presentations. Industries I worked with to develop business plans and other related content include: 

  • Startup companies in all industries 

  • Mobile applications, 

  • Independent video game startups, 

  • Large restaurants, food trucks, and small family food establishments, 

  • Brick-and-mortar manufacturing companies, 

  • Web-based product development companies, 

  • Most other business and industries.

 

Copywriter and editor

The Beryl Institute, February 2012 - november 2012

  • Conducted full-edits of internal and external company communications including emails, website content, blogs, medical white papers and more

  • Wrote content for website, blogs, emails, press releases, white papers and research reports

  • Liaison with Communications Manager and company Vice Presidents for content planning and strategy on a weekly basis

  • Performed internal report documentation and assisted in the management of large conferences

Professional Skills & accomplishments

  • Approximately 85 word-per-minute typing speed on average.

  • Deep Rolodex of game industry contacts in VR, AR, development, and content publishing.

  • Experienced with adhering to tight deadlines and quick turnarounds.

  • Serenity Forge Game Jam award-winning Twine writer for interactive story Moments.

  • Intermediate knowledge of using RPG Maker, Game Maker / GML, and Twine.

  • Intermediate knowledge of using Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, XHTML/HTML, and CSS.

  • High levels of mastery in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and WordPress CMS, as well as the Google suite of products such as Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, and more.

  • Experienced with live streaming, video recording & editing, and audio recording & editing.

  • Basic experience creating web pages using HTML, Squarespace, Weebly, and WordPress.

  • Experience with managing writers, editors, and comms professionals as part of a team including cross-functional relationships.