Strategic Communications Editor / Writer

AMY L. ALEXANDER

*********@*****.***; Twitter @amyalex63

Website: https://www.amyalexanderink.com/

(m) 202-***-****

SUMMARY

Digital and Print Strategic Communications, Media and Public Relations

●Subject-matter expertise: Education, media, energy; technology sectors; workforce innovation, professional development, and continuous learning concepts; B2B communications; government relations/communications alignment.

●Technical Expertise, Editing/Writing/Content Strategy/Digital & Print Communications: executive communications, including speechwriting (remarks), Talking Points, message-framing, thought-leadership content; publications development (writing, editing, proofreading, web, video, photo direction and collaboration); technical and business writing; internal/employee or membership communications; crisis communications; pitching and placement to regional/national media outlets; digital and email content marketing.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Pepco Holdings, Inc./Exelon Energy

Corporate Communications Consultant

(June 2017--January 2018)

Contracted via Rangam Management Consulting

Located on-site at Pepco HQ, successfully collaborated in-house on daily editing of internal and external communications, including writing, editing digital and print primary and collateral content (blogs and website content.) Improved overall voice and style internal workforce communications, including newsletters and employee profiles; secondary writing and editing of executive communications, including remarks, Talking Points, internal staff memos, media statements, PowerPoint presentations; drafting and editing press releases, media advisories, stakeholder newsletters, and strategic communications plans.

National Public Radio (NPR)

Contributor

(February 2017--July 2017)

Conceived, researched, reported, and wrote features and opinion essays and articles on contemporary cultural politics for NPR’s Code Switch unit. Samples here and here.

U.S. Department of Commerce

Lead Speechwriter and Editor

(February 2016 January 20, 2017)

Worked on-site at the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C., to successfully complete a year-long Professional Services contract. Obtained Federal Public Trust level security clearance. Researched, wrote, and edited speeches, op-Eds, talking points for National Director, Deputy National Director, and head of Legislative Affairs at MBDA, a Commerce bureau focusing on minority business development. Engaged in media outreach on behalf of Principals, successfully placed stories in national digital and broadcast outlets; wrote media advisories, stakeholder communications, briefing materials. Retained via FM Talent Source, an 8A Federal contracting firm in Silver Spring, Maryland.

A sample Op-Ed on manufacturing, trade, and technological innovation, written on behalf of the agency National Director, is here.

A sample speech written in collaboration with the National Director, the 2016 Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Askwith Forum Alumni Students of Color Annual Keynote Address, is available here: Start video at 27:30 mark.

National Journal/Atlantic Media: Next America

Contributing Writer

(October 2015 February 2016)

Researched, reported, wrote policy coverage of mass incarceration and criminal justice issues in the U.S. Samples: “The Gaping Hole in the Prison Early Release Program: Mental Healthcare.” And, “Why Children with Parents in Prison Are Especially Burdened.”

Additional Consulting Roles

(2011-2015)

As a trusted MarComms Consultant, developed writing, editing, and digital content distribution plans, products and counsel for a range of confidential clients in an array of sectors, including nonprofits specializing in healthcare, union organizing, and for corporate media, market research, and business development firms.

Staff, Contributor, and Fellowship Roles

1990-2011

Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities (APSCU)

(Jan.2010-Dec. 2011)

Editorial Director:

■Edited The Link, quarterly magazine covering more than 1,700 US vocational education colleges; aligned Government Relations team content with association legislative goals.

■Led graphic redesign and content upgrade of The Link. Increased readership by 20 percent between year one and year two within the association membership. Ungraded all content and design components of member publications, including assigning, writing and editing Feature Articles and Departments (columns), and supervising photography and design contractors.

■Managed production calendar and budgets for all APSCU publications; supervised three full-time staffers, two part-time staffers, and freelance photographers based throughout US; Co-produced Web Content from The Link for the APSCU website, apscu.org.

Alfred Knobler Fellow, The Nation Institute; Contributing Writer, The Nation Magazine, 2008

Covered cultural politics and the 2008 presidential nomination race for The Nation, a leading national magazine covering politics and culture, as recipient of the year-long Alfred Knobler Fellowship. Conceived, researched, reported, and wrote national stories with a focus on gender and race, for The Nation.com, and The Nation. (Position was funded by The Nation Institute and The Nation.)

National Public Radio, Washington, D.C., 2006--2008

Contributing Editor/Associate Producer, Launch Team, Tell Me More, with Michel Martin

Developed and co-produced one-hour, daily national talk program at NPR. Researched, wrote, edited, and produced interviews and reports for air; conducted pre-interviews of guests; edited host's blog for NPR website; conceived and produced standing segments, including The Washington Post Sunday Magazine, a semi-regular Tell Me More feature.

Published (Nonfiction) Books

Author, Uncovering Race: A Black Journalist’s Story of Reporting and Reinvention (Beacon Press, 2011).

Co-author, with Alvin Poussaint, M.D., of Lay My Burden Down: Suicide and the Mental Health Crisis Among African Americans (Beacon Press, 2000; paperback, 2001).

Author, Fifty Black Women Who Changed America (Kensington Press, 1999).

Editor, The Farrakhan Factor: African-American Writers on Leadership, Nationhood, and Minister Louis Farrakhan. (Grove Press, 1998) Conceived, commissioned, and edited 15 nonfiction essays by prominent black intellectuals and writers; authored the Introduction.

Newspaper Career 1988-2003

The Boston Globe, Contributing Writer, Op-Ed, Living/Arts, Book Review sections, 1997-2003

The Miami Herald, Staff Writer, Metro Desk, 1993--1997

The Fresno Bee, Staff Writer, Metro Desk, 1990--1993

The San Francisco Examiner, Campus Correspondent; Staff Writer, Metro Desk, 1988--1990

AWARDS

2012 – Honoree, Alumna of the Year, San Francisco State University Department of Journalism, May, 2012, San Francisco, California.

2001 – Recipient, Investigative Reporting Grant, Theodore Edson Parker Foundation; Boston, Massachusetts.

2001 – Recipient, Survivor Award, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, May 1, 2001, for the nonfiction book, Lay My Burden Down, co-authored with Alvin Poussaint, M.D. (Beacon Press 2000).

1992 – Recipient, California Newspaper Publishers Association Award for spot coverage and deadline writing during the Los Angeles riots (newspapers 100,000 – 150,000 circ. category; was a staff writer at The Fresno Bee).

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Arts Degree, Magazine Journalism

San Francisco State University, 1989

1995 – Nieman Foundation Affiliate, Harvard University, Sept. 1995 – July 1996. As a Nieman spouse, participated in all Fellowship programs at Walter Lippmann House, as well as audited courses in theatre arts, sociology, creative writing, African-American studies, and U.S. women's history, during full academic year at Harvard.

Contact this candidate