Marjie O'Connor's Page

Title:

writer and editor

Company:

The Wordwright Company

Media Type:

Publishing, eMedia

Media Realm:

Consumer Media, Business Media

Home Region:

South

Past Companies & Brands

Scripps Networks; Reed Business Information; Cahners Publishing

I'm Looking For:

Friends, Networking, Jobs

Professional Background: (Resume)

Talented, experienced professional with a background in business-to-business publishing, marketing communications and public relations in diverse industries: remodeling; wholesale distribution; residential security; health care; and academia.

Professional experience
2004 to present: Scripps Networks, Knoxville, Tenn.
HGTVPro.com, editor, original content
As the first business-to-business publishing venture for Scripps Networks, HGTVPro.com provides video on demand as well as flat content covering best practices, industry news, products and design for professional contractors in residential building and remodeling. As the primary editor since the site's launch, my accomplishments include the following:
-- Establishing and maintaining excellent working relationships with top freelance writers
-- Researching and generating story ideas and assigning articles to the appropriate writers
-- Writing original content as necessary
-- Working closely with the core team to produce packages including both video and flat content and to create new ways to present content
-- Editing submitted articles for accuracy, style, spelling and clarity
-- Uploading the finished articles through the company's content management tool
-- Working with other members of the editorial team on special projects and packages
-- Managing an editorial budget for original content
-- Apprising site director of new original content weekly
-- Establishing and maintaining excellent relationships with experts within the home-improvement and residential construction industries
-- Working closely with other Scripps Networks employees to establish new processes for a site that was unique within the company at its launch

1993 to 2002: Reed Business Information (formerly Cahners Publishing), Oak Brook, Ill.
Professional Remodeler, senior editor, January 2001 to December 2002
The target audience for this monthly magazine (circulation 60,000+) is remodelers with $500,000 or more in annual revenues and who have been in business at least three years. The magazine’s mission is to raise the level of professionalism in the industry and to educate readers about management techniques to build profitable, sustainable companies. My responsibilities included:
-- Generating ideas, researching and writing feature stories for the magazine and its website
-- Creating and editing monthly departments, including the Remodelers’ Exchange, one of the magazine’s most popular
-- Recruiting contributing editors for monthly columns for the magazine and website and editing their work

Supply House Times, managing editor, 1996-2001; associate editor, 1994-1996
Readers of this monthly publication (circulation 31,000) are wholesale distributors of plumbing, heating and air conditioning, and industrial piping materials. Supply House Times, which features news and articles on business management, is widely acknowledged as the authoritative publication in its niche.
-- Complete responsibility for coverage of the industrial pipe, valve and fitting (PVF) segment of the industry, including features and news with photography and other art
-- Sole responsibility for the annual Premier 150 for the last five years with the magazine: managing data for a 400-firm database, analyzing the new data and writing the cover story featuring the impact the 150 largest companies have on the industry overall
-- Laying out pages to accommodate advertising and editorial requirements and ratios
-- Establishment of close relationships with industry leaders by developing a thorough understanding of the issues and challenges facing them
-- Mentoring and training associate editors

Security Distributing & Marketing, full-time freelance writer and editor, 1993-1994
Published for owners of electronic-security dealerships, this magazine features technical and business-management topics.
-- Wrote new-product items based on press releases from manufacturers
-- Edited news items and letters to the editor
-- Edited articles submitted by columnists

1990-1993: The Business Word Inc., Chicago, Ill.
Copywriter and editor
This small, privately owned publishing company (now located in the Denver area) specializes in health-care-related publications.
-- Analyzed large tables of data and wrote explanatory copy for statistical digests
-- Copyedited several other health-care-management newsletters: Hospital Materials Management, Health Industry Today and Healthcare Strategic Management
-- Wrote a feature story for a custom-published magazine

1989-1990: The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Full-time freelance writer in the university relations office
Temporary position during final semester of college and the months following graduation resulted from a successful internship a year earlier.
-- Was one of two writers for an annual report that won the highest honor available to publications of educational institutions. Researched stories, interviewed subjects and suggested photography
-- Wrote press releases for local and national media
-- Wrote and edited copy for alumni publications for both the Chattanooga campus and the main Knoxville campus

Education
1989, cum laude graduate of The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, B.A., English major (writing emphasis), communications minor
Also attended Miami-Dade Community College; named Student of the Year in the English Department

Professional awards
-- 2001 Jesse H. Neal Award, the most prestigious award in business-to-business journalism
-- 1998 and 1999 PVF Roundtable Public Relations Awards (only winner of this honor in the history of the organization)
-- 1994 Cahners Medal of Excellence for best single article
-- 1989 Gold Award from the Council for

Personal Interests

Reading; family and friends; dogs and cats; travel; interior design; music; gardening

Education:

U. of Tennessee, B.A. in English (writing concentration)

Relationship Status:

Married