If you are communicating with humans, you need a digital strategy.

Often, organizations think about content and strategy as part of “execution.” It really needs to be a part of the strategic planning and goal-setting processes for the organization or group itself. It’s not separate from the work — communications and content strategy is an expression of it.

You do not want to spend on execution (vendors, software, contractors, design, production) without having a plan; doing so is a recipe for a headache and for spending more money and time than you need.

I take into account everything you have going for you, and identify what you will need to be effective. Depending on the scope and scale of your initiative, I will recommend how to staff, what systems and workflows will be useful, find the right software and partners, and deliver project- and organizational-level digital strategies. I can also develop implementation plans and oversee the work for you.

I will also help you to shift messaging so that audiences see that you understand their needs and were born to fulfill them.

Content needs to “work” on multiple levels and across an organization’s portfolio. I was brought on as Senior Manager, Digital Content Curation to help Harvard Business Publishing to help develop a new digital product targeting L&D professionals that leveraged 40,000 digital assets. This product was launched as Leading Edge. It is now known as the Harvard Business Collection.

These assets had been published by several different business units, for different subscribers, users, and customers, and were being managed by several different content and e-commerce methodologies.

The company needed to:

• Sunset an obsolete digital archive platform

• Design and deploy a new product which would power content curation for L&D clients AND which would integrate with 3rd party L&D curation platforms

I led the following:

• Initiated and fostered all of the relationships that were vital to the mission, yet didn’t yet exist with:

  • Content system team (IT)

  • Finance teams releasing and tracking content products

  • HBR.com editorial, product, and technology teams

  • HigherEd product and taxonomy teams

  • Knowledge and Library Services team at Baker Library (taxonomists and cataloguers)

• Brought in an SEO consultant on the project, (who wound up getting hired to work on HBR.org, too)

• Initiated a community of practice where interdependent projects and tasks could be identified, prioritized, and integrated into the shared IT services workflow

• Served as a member of an 8-person Agile Scrum team:

  • Managed the cataloging, description, and intake of all assets

  • Worked with marketing and product management to devise product launch timelines and strategies, socializing the product internally and externally

  • Worked with UX and UI to design, test, and implement product design

  • Worked with QA and back-end developers to enable metadata dependent navigation and curation elements

  • Managed the development of a new taxonomy for this product with subject matter and cataloging experts

Writing sample:

Leaders at All Levels Means Learning Content for All Levels, November 2015, Harvard Business Publishing

I have also developed digital products for organizations such as DDB Worldwide, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, and Lifetime Arts.

• As Manager, Corporate Public Relations, at DDB, I was part of a cross-functional team that designed a web-based profile and knowledge sharing site designed to link 10,000 employees working out of 200 offices in 99 countries. This pre-Facebook product featured personal profiles, portfolio space, and case studies written especially for this platform. Tribal Worldwide (London) was the agency of record.

• As the Digital Strategist at the JFK Library, I inherited a project in process, the development of the JFK Challenge App for kids. Blue Cadet was the agency of record. I led the following on the client side:

  • Content development, historical accuracy

  • UX testing and revision

  • Image and video assets

  • Content for all owned, earned, and paid media

• At Lifetime Arts, I identified several opportunities to move beyond the expected “dissemination of information” standards of the national initiatives and grants that we administered and instead developed an ecosystem of digital content that would provide practical support to those serving older adults across the U.S. and in other developed countries.

  • The Creative Aging Toolkit for Public Libraries (a $500 project funded by the Museum of Library and Information Services)

  • The Creative Aging Resource (funded in part by a $1.5MM grant from EA Michelson Philanthropy)

  • The NYC Creative Aging Initiative (a $600K project funded by The New York Community Trust)

  • beagefriendly.org | Creative Aging Foundations On Demand** (course) (funded in part by a $1.5MM grant from EA Michelson Philanthropy)

  • Creative Aging News (Substack Newsletter)

  • Creative Aging Portal
    
    In addition to partnering on the above with my Lifetime Arts colleagues, Diantha Dow Schull provided subject matter expertise and editorial content, and Saul Baizman provided web design and development.
    
    My work helped Lifetime Arts train over 5,000 teaching artists, librarians, museum professionals

    and senior service providers in implementing over 1,000 creative aging programs across 47 states which

    served 12,000+ older adults.

I have worked on internal and external communications initiatives in a variety of professional settings and sectors.

Advertising

Over 8 years at global advertising agency DDB, I held two major roles: Manager, Corporate Public Relations and Communications and Development Planner for DDB’s people, culture/learning and development group, DDB University.

In the PR role, I supported the SVP, Global Public Relations in managing external affairs (including investor relations) and media relations for both DDB and parent company, Omnicom. Internally, I edited and produced a print-based global company newsletter, organized conferences and events, developed DDB Connect, a pre-Facebook, web-based global intranet, and ran special programs with partners such as the AAAA and the Miami Ad School.

When DDB University was launched, I proposed that I join the team charged with bringing the Doyle Dane Bernbach brand to newly acquired agencies around the world. I worked on developing and disseminating custom, proprietary simulation-based online learning; helped organize and deliver nearly 100 in-person learning and networking events; continued to build out DDB Connect, now run by DDBU, and managed all promotional media and information related to our offerings, programs and events.

Publishing

As Internal Communications Manager at Condé Nast (corporate), I managed day-to-day operations of the corporate intranet; partnered with PR to draft and issue internal and external executive communications about acquisitions, placement of publishers and editors-in-chief, new business units, revenue streams, special events, and awards. I also partnered with others in the HR and IT functions to launch a new HRIS platform and a professional development framework for HR professionals.

Higher Education

The Communication Office at Harvard Law School managed all internal and external communications and publications for the institution. As Associate Director of Online Strategy & Support, I managed the day-to-day operations of law.harvard.edu; worked with clinics, centers, and administration to provide digital strategy for a variety of web properties and support including UX, testing, and authoring best practices. I also initiated the work to redesign and relaunch the News site and associated content authoring and workflows. Finally, I created a community of practice and internal website to post and share best practices for the campus community.

Nonprofit/Arts

At Lifetime Arts, I led all communications and marketing whether communicating with partners, funders, grantees, trainees, and staff.

Under my supervision, Lifetime Arts went from an organization with one hand-coded brochure website, to a WordPress shop featuring several digital products, a Substack newsletter, a SoundCloud for audio, and an active, managed social media presence.

We published hundreds of articles chronicling the successes achieved by the thousands of community programmers we trained in over 40 states, and started managing grants and delivering services digitally after several years of manual, email, and in-person only transactions.

Writing sample:

Social Distancing Doesn’t Have to Equal Social Isolation for Older Adults, May 2020, American Alliance of Museums

My work has required that I understand how entire organizations work, their culture, their systems, their financials, and whether or not there are resources and frameworks in place to get the work done, scale, add value, and win new business.

I have had the great benefit of being part of teams who take organizational strategy, development, and change seriously, making time for planning, goal-setting, revision, and retroactively assessing operations and making improvements.

Where that hasn’t been in place, I have worked to introduce and implement it:

“Shannon's contributions went beyond work product and creativity. They include challenging assumptions to long-standing ways of operating. She is like a one-person professional development seminar for management. They also include caring about the welfare of everyone on the team and putting actions behind that care."

— Ed Friedman, Co-founder, Lifetime Arts

"Shannon puts a high priority on planning, knowing that any effort here will pay dividends in the long run. In every engagement with the general community, she has served as an advisor, offering smart long- term strategies based on discussions with project owners. She is careful to understand the needs of each group, and to guide them in discussions around audiences, goals, and defining and measuring success."

— Keith McCluskey, Director of Marketing and Communications at Northeastern’s College of Arts, Media and Design (former supervisor at Harvard Law School)