Professional/Personal Overview
Some people live to write. I write to live, I've been doing it nearly 40 years (goodness!), and I'm darn good at it. Combining the skill of a veteran journalist with the lively, engaging style of a GenX blogger, I've filed eye-capturing stories on topics ranging from the Chicago Bears front office to the world's most expensive drum kit for magazines in the Midwest and nationwide. A 2011 kidney transplant recipient, my blog "JK Just Kidneying" chronicling my medical journey won an award from the Renal Network, Inc., for education and outreach. Entertainment and media are my long suits, but I've launched a fitness magazine, edited a how-to book for exotic dancers, penned features on nursing research and wrote a screenplay that was produced as a full-length motion picture. A great writer can dazzle on any subject. Allow me the opportunity to dazzle your readers.
Work Info
Expertise
Book Author
10 Years
Editor
14 Years
Writer
35 Years
Specialty
Entertainment
35 Years
Lifestyle
15 Years
Theater
11 Years
Total Media Industry Experience
38 Years
Media Client List (# assignments
last 2 yrs)
The Metro Times, Detroit (11+), HOUR Detroit magazine (11+), Deliver magazine (USPS) (6-10), The Men's Book Chicago (3-5), Wayne State magazine (3-5)
Corporate Client List (# assignments last 2 yrs)
Campbell-Ewald Advertising (3-5), Modern Luxury Publications (3-5)
Other Work History
Staff writer, The Detroit News, 16 years (pop music critic, TV columnist); staff writer, The (Detroit) Metro Times (media columnist); editorial supervisor, Campbell-Ewald Advertising, Warren, MI; editor, Metropolitan Avenue magazine, Detroit.
Computer Skills
Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, inDesign, Mac OS 10 (v. 10.5.6)
Equipment
MacBook Pro, digital and cassette recorders, Sony Handicam
Awards
Voted "Michigan's Best Rock Critic," Michigan Rock Awards; excellence in feature writing, the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC); Robert J. Felter Memorial Award, The Renal Network, Inc., for education and outreach (blog, "JK -- Just Kidneying")
Associations
member, Detroit chapter, National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ)
Freelancer Availability
I freelance full-time. I live near Chicago, IL. I am willing to travel anywhere. I have a driver's license. I have access to a car.
Work Samples
(The (Detroit) Metro Times , 12/21/2011)
A 2011 year-in-review edition of my television column for the weekly Metro Times, where I have served as TV critic since 2005.
(HOUR Detroit magazine , 4/1/2009)
A snapshot profile of Abdul "Duke" Fakir, last surviving member of Motown's immortal Four Tops, on the occasion of the group's 2009 Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award.
(HOUR Detroit magazine , 11/1/2008)
A fun, nostalgic look at 1980s Detroit, when the city's two daily papers carried competing gossip columns determined to dig dirt as possible on Motown's movers and shakers in the auto business and beyond. The feature may have led to the rebirth of a weekly gossip column in The Detroit News in 2009.
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June 4, 2013 | San Francisco
