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Spring arrives gently along the coast of North Carolina. As March fades and April unfolds, the Intracoastal Waterway begins to warm, waking up the quiet rhythms of winter and inviting paddlers like me back onto the water. My favorite time to launch my kayak is the early morning. There’s something uniquely peaceful about this time of day: the wind is usually calm, and a soft haze often lingers above the water’s surface, diffusing the colors of daybreak. All manner of seabirds circle overhead, scanning for breakfast, while the gentle dip of my paddle becomes part of the natural soundtrack as I slip into shallow tidal creeks and grassy marshes. By April, the increasing water temperatures in the ICW spark new life. Red drum, speckled trout, and flounder start to make their seasonal appearances – which draws dolphin pods, always a magical sight to behold from water level. Sometimes I put my NC coastal fishing license to good use, with every cast full of promise (more often than not unfulfil...

I'm proud to have been a part of the Duke University team winning the CASE Circle of Excellence award for comms/PR work on promoting the Duke iPod First-Year Experience that introduced personal electronic devices into the classroom environment back in 2004. I headed up the PR for that effort in my role as News and Information Manager for the Duke University Office of Information Technology. We landed substantive coverage across a wide spectrum of local/national/international outlets ranging from The Chronicle of Higher Education to ABC World News Tonight to MTV News. Press Release: Duke to Give Apple iPods to First-Year Students for Educational Use (Click for original Duke University press release by David Menzies)    — Duke University will distribute Apple iPods to its incoming freshmen, as part of an initiative to encourage creative uses of technology in education and campus life. The pocket-sized digital devices, which can download and make use of both audio and text m...

The annual Health Systems National Summit is the definitive event for the U.S. Pharmaceuticals & Animal Health division at Cencora (a Fortune 10 company), attracting leaders from some of the most influential health systems across the U.S. each year. Leadership wanted a hype video to kick off the 2025 Summit's general session in Austin, TX to help promote Accelerate Pharmacy Solutions, a portfolio of services helping health system pharmacies improve efficiency, drive revenue, and keep patient care within the health system ecosystem.  I began putting together a script based on some popular videos promoting Google AI, working to give a human face to a suite of technical solutions while reflecting Cencora's role as a leading global pharmaceutical logistics company. Coordinating efforts with a cross-functional team of Cencora leadership and video production vendor I went through several iterations of a script, landing on a hopeful, inspirational storyline highlighting the impact...

Rush marketing jobs are just as common in corporate settings as they are in agencies. The trick is juggling the various elements that go into producing a quality piece to get it to the finish line on time while not sacrificing competing timelines for additional projects. On September 15, 2025 a marketer at Cencora reached out with a high-priority request for a one-page flyer launching a patient assistance offering with a shift to an accelerated implementation date. Working through a handful of slides from a PowerPoint deck and a solution brief, I began crafting an outline while at the same time reaching out to the graphic designer assigned to the project to coordinate how much space we would have for content. Using the feedback from the designer, I began filling-out the outline and working toward a first draft. The initial ask was for a first round of content review by September 15, and a final draft of the designed marketing slick by September 26. Through proactive collaboration and p...

In late 2025 a marketer with Cencora's Health and Government Services group requested a long-form, 1,000+ word thought leadership article for community pharmacy customers. The only resource was a 45-slide PowerPoint deck, which was image and statistics-heavy and light on content. I held a discovery call with this marketer and a subject matter expert, digging into key points and messaging to stress within the piece. Utilizing this information and some detailed research, I produced a draft within a week, then guided stakeholders through internal review and compliance toward a final draft that was distributed via email to customers and prospects and hosted on Cencora.com. Click here for a draft of the article View the final article on Cencora.com

In late summer 2025, the marketing team for Cencora's specialty group purchasing organization (GPO) business unit requested a comprehensive, fully cited public policy article for Oncologistics, the company's membership magazine for specialty GPO customers (circ. 1,500 print, 15k digital). The original deadline was over a month away to give time for research, writing, and editing as well as proper vetting by multiple corporate stakeholders including the marketing team; individuals in the specialty GPO business unit; U.S. Public Policy team; and the company's compliance office. The original ask was for a 1,000-word piece on the Medicare Physician Self-Referral Law, commonly known as the Stark law, which prohibits physicians from referring Medicare patients to services in which they have a financial interest. I researched/wrote/edited a draft, then provided it to Cencora’s U.S. Public Policy team. Surprisingly (and without warning) they decided to table the article due to the ...