Maria Goodavage

**** **** ******

San Francisco, CA 94122

***/***-****

e: acwoq9@r.postjobfree.com

Summary of Qualifications

• Successful career as a newspaper reporter and book author

• Excel in writing clear, concise, interesting copy on deadline regardless of a topic’s complexity

• Work well in both independent and collaborative situations

• Very organized and detail oriented

• Enthusiastic, energetic, hard working, and fun to work with

• Highly creative, with strong track record of originating and completing unique, successful projects

Professional Experience

Author, The Dog Lover’s Companion to the Bay Area and The Dog Lover’s Companion to California (Avalon Travel Publishing, Emeryville, 6th editions upcoming in spring 2008; books first published in 1992) and The Dog Lover’s Companion to Los Angeles (ATP, 2005)

• Originated and developed framework and style for The Dog Lover’s Companion series, which now features a dozen titles nationwide

• Interview hundreds of people per edition

• Keep track of thousands of new details per edition, turning in manuscripts well before deadline

Founder and Media Relations Director, The Canine Film Festival, 2006, Castro Theatre, San Francisco

• Conceptualized this fundraiser (for PAWS)

• Directed marketing and public relations, created website, and wrote copy for press releases and festival program

• Solicited sponsorships, kept track of budget, obtained films, scheduled celebrities, and coddled drag queen contestants Co-producer and writer, Here’s Looking at You, Kid! video/DVD (Eye to Eye Entertainment, San Francisco, 2002)

• Researched, wrote, and helped coordinate production of award-winning children’s video

• Hired talent, including Ed Asner, to do voiceovers Co-author, Good Nights (St. Martin’s Press, New York, 2002)

• Wrote 95 percent of the book

• Developed, distributed, and analyzed results of 400 multi-page questionnaires on the sleep of babies and young children

• Interviewed hundreds of parents, scientists, and medical doctors

• Coordinated supplemental publicity campaign after publication Co-author, The Doctors Book of Home Remedies for Dogs and Cats

(Rodale Press, 1996)

• Wrote introduction and more than half of book’s chapters

• Interviewed university veterinarians from around the U.S. Reporter, USA Today, San Francisco, 1989-1996

• Covered significant new stories – everything from earthquakes to elections – as the newspaper’s main reporter in Northern California

• Wrote entertaining features on diverse subjects

Education

Northwestern University, Bachelor of Science in Journalism, 1984 References

Available upon request

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