Behind Fine Point

It always trips me up a little bit when I'm asked about how long I've been a writer because I can answer that question in two ways.

From a personal perspective, I’d have to take you back to about 1997, when I can distinctly remember my second grade teacher marveling over my use of the word “glimpse.” Or I would have to tell you that musicians like Alanis Morissette and Roger Waters were the earliest influences of my use of words and my obsession with syntax and cadence. But we’re all very busy with lots to do, so I’ll refrain.

Professionally speaking, my first paid copywriting job started as an internship at a small, local digital marketing agency toward the tail end of my college career. I have few fond memories of it, but I do have this, which I wrote and still include in my portfolio to this very day.

In 2015, I made a hard left into a C-level Executive & Personal Assistant role at Rifle Paper Co. Among many (many) other things, it’s where I learned what it meant to anticipate someone else’s needs, to speak the language of the person you’re talking to, and to be ferociously detail oriented. It’s where I experienced my first panic attack — but it’s also where I uncovered my now deeply rooted love of branding, aesthetics, and the customer experience.