My first digital office was a closet. Literally.
At Travel Holiday, there was only one modem in the entire office. It was in a closet, which became my office. I can still hear that dial-up connection.
Launch.
Grow.
Reinvent.
A little about me.
I've always been fascinated by creating something from nothing, which is probably why I jumped at the chance to be one of the first people in the dot-com industry in the early 1990s, and why I've been a serial entrepreneur my whole life. I'm at my best when I'm rallying people behind a common vision and bringing new ideas to life.
Who I work with: consumer and B2B brands, startups, healthcare, media, nonprofits, membership associations, and universities. My deepest category expertise is health, medical, and wellness, plus lifestyle: food and wine, beauty, home, and pets.
I'm also the Executive Director of IRC for CRPS, and yes, I have other ventures. Ask me about the Halloween one.
You might need me if:
- Your messaging isn't landing or your website isn't converting
- You're getting lost in a crowded market
- You have a complicated story that needs to be made approachable
- You're launching, relaunching, or changing direction
- You're being asked to do more with less
I've been trusted by some pretty great organizations.
Nonprofit, Education
& Research
Media
& Consumer Brands
Healthcare
Start-ups
5 reasons people call me. For starters.
- 01
You're not getting the results you expected.
Maybe your messaging isn't connecting. Maybe your website isn't converting visitors. Or maybe something else is getting in the way. I help figure out what's not working—and what to do about it before you spend more money.
- 02
You're getting lost in the crowd.
You don't need more noise. You need to understand what your audience values, what's already out there, and why people should choose you. Then give them a reason to remember you—and come back.
- 03
You have a complicated story to tell.
Healthcare, research, technology, institutional communications—I've worked with plenty of subjects that aren't exactly easy to explain. I know how to make them approachable, relatable, and worth paying attention to without sacrificing substance.
- 04
You've got an idea. Now what?
A new business, a new product, a new direction. I love a blank page, but I also know the value of asking the hard questions before you start filling it.
- 05
You're being asked to do more with less.
A small team. A tight budget. A mile-long to-do list. I've been there. I know how to optimize, prioritize, and focus on what will actually move the needle—from content creation and marketing efforts to in-house resources and workflows.
- See what people say about me on LinkedIn →
My approach
The thinking behind my work.
Anyone who's worked with me knows I'm an unusual combination of creative thinker and numbers junkie. Always have been—even back in the early days of digital, when “analytics” meant counting clicks manually in a humungous Excel spreadsheet and tallying them by hand.The tools have changed quite a bit since then. My approach hasn't.
Whether the audience is a consumer, a business, a doctor, or a donor, my starting point is finding your “why” and your “how.”
Because it's crowded out there. Every minute online:
- 16,000TikTok uploads
- 5.9MGoogle searches
- 138.9MReels played
- 251.1MEmails sent
Source: Domo, Data Never Sleeps 12.0 (2024)
Fact is, people have more choices than ever before. Why should people care about your brand, product, or service? And how does it stand apart from what's already out there?
First, I look at the numbers—from your website and social media to third-party research and listening tools.
Then I layer in what I've learned from experience.
And add a whole lot of creative thinking.
The result? Every recommendation I make—from big-picture strategy to the smallest word choice—is grounded in thinking I can explain and justify.
A Few of My Favorite (Work-Related) Things
I was named Hearst's “Real Beauty Queen.” No, really.
And it had nothing to do with the way I looked. That unexpected Observer headline came from a feature on the launch of RealBeauty.com, where I was founding editor. It went on to win a Webby Award and become a top-five beauty destination.
I tripled website engagement by slimming down and optimizing a disorganized content library.
At the National Center on Improving Literacy, I revamped the user experience, improved SEO, and optimized content to make topics easier to find and better serve its audiences. After the website relaunch, average engagement time grew from 44 seconds to more than two minutes.
I found the white space in a crowded food market.
When Hearst asked me to develop a new food website, I questioned whether the world needed another recipe database. So I studied nearly every food site out there to find what was missing. My idea? Cover food the way People covered celebrities, add a searchable database of 10,000+ recipes, and give it a casual but authoritative voice. That became Delish.com, a top-three food website within six months of launch.
I was letting data guide my editorial decisions before it was cool.
When I launched Substance, iVillage and Unilever's personalized beauty site, we had just 13 articles about African-American hair. I noticed visitors were averaging 13 pageviews per visit in that section. Clearly, they wanted more. So we gave them more—and it quickly became one of the site's most popular sections.
I had my own shopping segment before online shopping was a thing.
In the late ’90s, I appeared on morning TV with “Nicole's Finds,” sharing great products, deals, and discoveries from around the web. Sometimes the discovery was simply announcing that Gap or Nordstrom even had a website!
My conference rebrand led to its first sellout in 20 years.
At the Academy of Integrative Pain Management, I rethought everything from the annual conference's positioning and name to pricing, branding, and marketing. Tickets sold out a month early, and the organization's social media following quadrupled.
I relaunched GoodHousekeeping.com—and doubled its traffic.
More than 2,000 pieces of content, a modernized digital experience, and traffic that doubled in a little over a year. And yes, I also dreamed up a two-week Thanksgiving countdown.
How I can help.
Bring me in for a specific project, an ongoing advisory role, fractional leadership, or hands-on content work. I can help set the direction, guide the team, or roll up my sleeves and get it done.
And yes, I still write.
- Communications
- Content strategy
- Branding
- Marketplace positioning
- Site and content audits
- User experience
- Creative direction
- Copywriting
- Launches and relaunches
- Team optimization & workflows
- And more.
Good relationships last.
- 98%of my clients come through word of mouth and referrals
- 90%stay with me for three years or longer
Many bring me in as an outside consultant and end up making me an integral part of their team. That's exactly how I like to work.