We’re excited to put Shawna’s strategic approach to writing to work for our valued clients. Shawna loves helping people tell their unique brand stories and bringing those stories to life with sharp writing and consistent voice and tone. She believes good copy has the power to inspire, to make complex topics digestible, and to change minds. She is motivated by the challenges that come with copywriting today, which is to stand out above all the noise and connect human beings to each other—to make us feel something. She has worked as an independent brand consultant and digital content creator, and as part of a creative team at McMillan where she was Senior Copywriter. She contributed to the development of new verbal identities for several local and national brands including the Investment Planning Counsel (IPC) and BEING Studio, as well as global B2B client Donnelley Financial Solutions (DFIN) with its new brand identity and content strategy. Shawna’s clients benefit from her skillful approach to messaging which is built around empathy for the audience. She likes to say that smart brands are the ones that make the audience—not the brand—the hero of the story.
Shawna’s writing and idea generating skills are grounded in her background in journalism and fundraising communications. She asks a lot of questions so she can focus on people’s needs, desires and anxieties. She has helped many non-profits —including Interval House, The Kidney Foundation and Canadian Blood Services—use the universal power of stories to build relationships, and inspire people to care about the organization and take action.
An award-winning journalist, Shawna spent two decades writing for Canada’s top magazines and newspapers including The Globe & Mail, Chatelaine, Canadian Business, EnRoute, and Canadian Geographic. She was also the food editor and columnist at OTTAWA Magazine where she documented the city’s food scene and the stories of its farmers, bakers, baristas and brewers.
We are thrilled to welcome Shawna, with her experience and good taste, to our creative team.
