Work Sample: Le « social media » … en français svp!

“Did anyone tweet our news release?” “Is anyone sharing these photos on Facebook? Maybe we should put them on Flickr?” “What about YouTube?!” These are just a tiny sample of the many questions communicators and public relations professionals ask themselves daily. Working in a bilingual environment, it can sometimes be a challenge to use the correct terms in your second language. To help clarify some social media terms in my workplace, I drafted and sent out the following article to my colleagues – enjoy! Continue reading →

Work Sample: News release for a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal recipient

As many Canadians have likely heard, 2012 is the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s accession to the throne. And along with the Royal Tour 2012 and other celebratory events, Canadians who have made significant contributions to their communities and nation are being awarded the Diamond Jubilee Medal. And one of those Canadians happens to be my grandmother. Read on for the news release I drafted… Continue reading →

Chitchat: Web Ownership

This debate has been likely happening since the importance of an online web presence skyrocketed: who owns websites? The answer is easy in the case of femmewithapen: I do. I determine that content that goes up and accept complete responsibility for it. But what about government websites? Particularly, in Canada’s federal government? The website is … Continue reading →

Chitchat: Eek! Close the door!

One of my top reasons for avoiding the blogosphere and social media world has been my irrational (or, perhaps, very rational) fear of public exposure. Which, I will add, may seem weird coming from someone with a PR background… Continue reading →

Work Sample: A Little French Never Hurt Anyone…

Bien que la langue anglaise me plaise, je me passionne pour la langue française. Pour démontrer ma capacité d’écrire et m’exprimer dans ma langue seconde, jetez un coup d’œil sur ma critique française du disque Comme de la musique de la chanteuse acadienne – Marie-Jo Thério… Continue reading →

Work Sample: Comparative Media Analysis

The news and its many forms is a passion of mine. I enjoy checking news sites multiple times per day to see what’s trending and I’m fascinated by how media outlets use different mediums to get the word out there. My comparative media analysis of two separate media reports shows how the same incident can incite anger and sympathy, although both reporting on the same story. Continue reading →

Work Sample: Speech – Valuing Diversity in the Workplace

Writing speeches and speaking notes is one of my favourite things to do in the PR industry. Here is a speech I drafted about the importance of diversity in the workplace. Designed as part of a professional development workshop, the objective of this presentation is to raise awareness of the benefits of and promote a diverse workforce. Continue reading →

Work Sample: Linguistic Duality Day

Every year in September, Canada celebrates Linguistic Duality Day – a day to commemorate our many years of being an officially bilingual country. Read on for an article I wrote for an internal newsletter/intranet site to mark the day. Continue reading →

Work Sample: Vote for the Bay of Fundy!

As editor of an inter-provincial corporate newsletter/intranet site, I coordinated and oversaw the approval and publication of many articles – over 200 actually. I also drafted many of these articles myself. Some were more in-depth pieces about new workplace policies, directives or announcements. Others were shorter, promotional blurbs for work-related events or campaigns, like this … Continue reading →

Work Sample: Success Story for the Web

Upon getting hired with the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), one of my first assignments was to draft an article about one of their funding recipients. The recipient – a faculty of medicine from an Atlantic Canadian university – has been working to reduce the high instance of colorectal cancer in the Canadian province of … Continue reading →