Writers’ Roundtable: How Our Backgrounds Inform How We Write

Marketing encompasses lots of different types of work: from writing to web development, graphic design, U/X design, data science, video production, informatics—the list goes on and on.

Recently we sat down with four members of our content team (Content Director & Brand Strategist Maria Mora, Social Media Strategist and Content Writer Aviva Campbell, Big Sea Content Manager Dan O’Keefe, and Big Sea Senior Content Strategist Kerry Haze) to talk about the variety of experiences, both work and educational, that we bring to bear on the writing we do here at Big Sea. 

So first off, what did you study in college and what drew you to that field?

Maria: I initially attended the University of Florida to study journalism, but early on began to doubt my commitment to that career path. Switching gears to the English department felt intuitive. After taking a freshman poetry composition class, I decided to do a concentration in creative writing. I’d always been a big reader, but at the time I had little confidence in my writing skills or my ability to write anything longer than a handful of pages. Joke’s on me; I ended up writing books as an adult. 

I loved the close-knit English department community at UF. It allowed me to experience the benefits of a small liberal arts college at a massive state school. I took some fascinating literature classes on niche topics like Southern women’s lit and young adult lit. It taught me a lot about opening my mind to perspectives outside of my own.

Daniel: I had a similar experience with a first-year English class. I did not have a well-defined career path when I got to college. I was striving for some sort of secret knowledge to be attained through close reading, and I thought majoring in Philosophy would be the best way to get it. I eventually majored in English, though, largely because of that first-semester intro course. We read Paradise Lost, Dante, and the Odyssey, and the professor was just a virtuoso at drawing out and developing the most insightful kernels of thought from each students’ remarks in our class discussions. 

Kerry: I majored in journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. I was always drawn to writing and discovered I had a knack for it when I was younger. I took classes in everything from creative writing to on-air broadcast journalism. When I joined the student newspaper and eventually became the city editor, I began interviewing people in my local community and telling their stories in specific, intricate ways. It really still drives what I do today at our marketing agency when writing for our clients and telling their stories.

Aviva: I went to New York University and I studied videography and marketing. Very quickly after arriving in the city, I immersed myself in colorful internships with The Musebox (a Y2K-era indie music marketing company) and Vice Media in Brooklyn. I took off running with my internships, and in 2007, decided to halt my accumulating student debt and immerse myself fully in the marketing field; I left NYU after my sophomore year, and in my journey, on-the-job experiences have propelled me and paid off more than academic training. It’s a hot take, but in the creative industries, we see this story often. 

What other jobs did you have before working in marketing?

Kerry: I feel like most people kind of dip their toe into all the different parts of writing before finding something that feels like a solid fit. I had jobs where I worked for veterinary magazines and health magazines, jobs where I produced video content, jobs where I did freelancing work for local Asheville businesses (which could literally mean anything and everything), and jobs where I was writing ad copy for things as minuscule as fiber optic cables. It really ran the gamut before I found my footing working with marketing agencies. Now, with Big Sea, I get to combine my passion for telling stories with work for nonprofits and mission-driven companies.

Daniel: I worked in journalism and academia for a long time before I started in marketing. For several years after college I was a beat reporter for a local newspaper. Then around 2012, I went to grad school at Indiana University Bloomington and got my MA in Victorian British literature. That led me to teaching: I taught first-year writing, intro to fiction, and public speaking there at IU for several years after that.

Aviva: While I’ve spent most of my career in marketing, I gained valuable founder perspective early on by launching a regional vegan food brand. We successfully navigated the jump from boutique catering to regional retail presence in Whole Foods Markets across the Southeast. I credit my marketing expertise for giving our company the traction it needed to scale.

Maria: My first job out of college was actually a marketing job!

What are some professional habits that carry over from your education or from your previous (non-marketing) jobs?

Maria: In my poetry classes, I was often challenged to delete significant portions of poems, or to end them early. Learning to appreciate economy of language made me a better copywriter, especially for advertising copy and taglines. I also learned how to give and receive meaningful constructive criticism. It’s an underrated art form that builds talent and interpersonal skills. I wish more everyday job functions involved opportunities for peer review and feedback. Especially in these days of remote work!

Daniel: Working in journalism got me used to anticipating and answering the big bottom line questions about a topic: what’s new about this, why does it matter, who’s going to care? I try to bring that thinking to bear when it comes to structuring information on a blog or a landing page. You always need to have an eye on user experience. How do we deliver the key information people need in a way that’s easily grasped, digestible, and that speaks the same language they’re using when they search? I try to think carefully about what marketing works on me personally and why it was effective. 

Kerry: I learned so much about interviewing people (especially people who aren’t usually interviewed) during my time at The Daily Tarheel that I still use it to this day. That includes conducting research beforehand, crafting questions that shape the story, showing some of my personality to the interviewee, active listening, and just being someone to lean on if things get challenging or uncomfortable at all.

Aviva: The spirit of entrepreneurship and self agency that shaped my young adulthood now guides my career and allows me to empathize with my clients, as well as take calculated risks. I also use my videography skills to push the envelope with short-form storytelling, particularly on social media platforms.

What are some of the most challenging, complicated, or sensitive subject matter you’ve ever written about? How did you approach it? What problems needed to be solved in the writing process?

Aviva: For many years, I worked in-house at animal welfare and rescue nonprofit organizations as a marketing and communications director, and I grappled with the challenges of exposing injustice and maltreatment without alienating audiences or being unfairly accusatory. Sometimes bad things happen because people don’t have the knowledge or resources to do better, and those people often need to be welcomed to the table, not banned from it. When working on behalf of nonprofits, it’s so important to honor all of the reasons particular social issues exist, and to mobilize people to invest in solutions.

Maria: Healthcare writing is some of the most complicated and challenging work I’ve done. A healthcare copywriter must balance clarity, voice and legal regulations. Oftentimes a copywriter must also collaborate with clinical staff, who typically look for the most straightforward way of communicating. At the same time, marketing and patient experience staff are often looking to soften language and show more empathy. While I love serving patients and their families, it’s my least favorite knot to untangle. The only way to approach it, in my experience, is to bake in quite a bit of time for revisions.

Kerry: There was a hate crime incident while I was in college, and the paper needed to cover it. It was my beat as the city editor. We went out to the scene and had to learn quickly how to handle such a sensitive situation. I had to personally interview family members and delicately tell the students’ stories with kindness and grace. It showed me that writing really is a balancing act no matter what you’re writing about. There are so many moving parts and so many different people involved that you might not even realize. It takes slowing down and connecting to the words to ensure what you’re trying to say comes through wholeheartedly.

Daniel: In the past few years I’ve written stories for some of our nonprofit clients about people who are unhoused or who have faced serious issues with substance use. Most folks understand that these issues are sensitive to write about. But the task is all the more complicated when you approach it from the standpoint of marketing a nonprofit: the language needs to respectfully and ethically tell someone’s story, yet it needs to be powerful and evocative enough enough to grab people’s attention and compel them to take action—and to do so in multiple formats. When you have a full 1,500 word blog, there’s room for nuance. Keeping that nuance intact while boiling it down to a headline or a call-to-action takes care and consistency. 

What’s a piece of non-marketing-related writing that significantly affected how you think about the writing you do as a marketer?

Maria: My first novel, Fragile Remedy, went through multiple significant rounds of developmental edits. Essentially this means rewriting a whole book. Over and over. It was a rewarding process, but I can’t say it wasn’t grueling. I like to think it brings a certain amount of resilience to the way I approach client feedback. Once you get a 16-page edit letter, it’s pretty hard to take a few negative Google Docs comments to heart. 

Aviva: I absolutely love Ijeoma Oluo’s So You Want to Talk About Race, which breaks down sensitive issues like white privilege, intersectionality, micro-aggressions, and systemic injustice. These issues are central to many of the organizations Big Sea represents, and writing on behalf of them requires our team to be informed, to build brand voices that are genuinely inclusive, and to be adept at noticing subtle, coded biases in copy before it gets published.

Also, there’s a specific poetic form I draw on when I need to write high-impact, low-word-count copy: the Haiku. I transpose that same minimalist precision into meta descriptions and email subject lines, where every single character has to inspire action. In fact, I’d argue that the meta description is simply the Haiku of the digital era.

Kerry: It’s not a single piece of writing, but something that really affected me and my writing was the listicle boom of the 2010s. I truly hated how that type of writing became so popular, and I’m holding onto hope that we don’t go back to it (even though some people say we’re headed that way because of LLMs). I prefer heartfelt stories, quotes, conversations about overcoming challenges, and personal anecdotes you just can’t write in a choppy listicle form.

What draws you to working with mission-driven organizations?

Kerry: Just about everything. Most of us have worked soul-crushing corporate jobs at one point in our lives. For me, working a corporate job drew me to the complete opposite as I grew in my career. Working with companies that align with my personal values and goals just makes coming to work a more sustainable, fulfilling, and rewarding experience. I love supporting people doing good things, and I don’t think I’ll ever go back to those previous types of jobs.

Daniel: Coming from the years I spent in higher ed, I always particularly enjoy the work we do with museums and universities. Research-based institutions play such an essential role in advancing the public good, and I feel like it’s especially critical in today’s environment to help them make the strongest case possible for the value of the work they do. 

Maria: I’ve been working in marketing, web and product for over 22 years. The way I see it, I’ve earned the ability to be highly discerning about where I apply my talent and experience. Big Sea has given me the opportunity to work with nonprofits and mission-driven organizations across so many different areas that I care about, from global LGBTQ human rights to substance use disorder recovery. I also get to work with museums and aquariums which, frankly, is a lot of fun. 

Aviva: Our world is ailing, and the more people who care, the better off we’ll be. Using my marketing skills to further the exposure and impact of the organizations on the frontlines of the best fights is a privilege and an honor. I can’t think of anything better to do with my time and expertise.