Holly Werner-Thomas

Washington, DC USA
Contact

Professional Experience

I have an M.A. in American history (with Honors), and expertise in doing deep background research for corporate, non-profit, and academic projects. As a journalist and oral historian, and I have interviewed professionals in many fields, such as Pulitzer Prize-winner Martin Sherwin, but also on diverse subjects, e.g., Gulf Coast residents whose homes were destroyed by or after Hurricane Katrina and people who have lost loved ones to gun violence. Having lived abroad three times, I have an international perspective that adds depth to many projects. I have written two books: a historical novel based on a police murder in 1890 New Orleans, and a work of narrative non-fiction that interweaves the personal story of my family’s recent two-year stint in Ankara, Turkey with current events and history relevant to Turkey and the Middle East. I am a creative researcher, a good listener/interviewer, and I know how to craft a narrative. I would be happy to send you samples of my work.

Expertise

Editor
15 Years
Researcher
12 Years
Writer
20 Years

Industries


Magazine - Trade magazines/publications (B2B)
10 Years
Academia Other
5 Years
Other
10 Years

Total Media Industry Experience

15 Years

Corporate Client List (# assignments last 2 yrs)

American Dietetic Association Foundation (1-2), Dimensional Fund Advisors (1-2), Edward Jones (1-2), National Building Museum (1-2)

Other Work History

On staff as a reporter and editor for several years at San Francisco Magazine, BOMB Magazine, Cahners, Fairchild Publications, Thomson Financial News

Technical Skills

Photo editing in Adobe Lightroom, some Photoshop, audio recording

Foreign Language Skills

Fluent in French; some Portuguese; have lived three times abroad (France, Brazil, Turkey), as well as in New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. (from Portland, Oregon)

Computer Skills

Mastery of Microsoft Office programs (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), Adobe Photoshop Lightroom; experience handling budgets for major projects; expertise in archival database research

Equipment

MacBook Pro; Canon EOS Rebel T2i (Digital SLR); Marantz Professional Solid State [audio] Recorder PMD 660

References

Beth Maser, president, SLA (bethmaser@gmail.com) Steven Ferretti, Ferretti Designs (s.ferretti@comcast.net) Jennifer Reed, former publisher at Thomson (jenniferleareed@gmail.com)

Awards

Professor Allan J. Lichtman, a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, acknowledged me in his book, White Protestant Nation: The Rise of the American Conservative Movement (2008), by saying: “My work has been enriched greatly by the research papers and dissertations produced by my students over many decades, notably the work of Holly Werner-Thomas on the National Association of Manufacturers and the John Birch Society.”

Showcase

Writing Samples

I wrote several stories on parents who have lost children to gun violence for Everytown for Gun Safety in 2013