Magazine & Writing Samples

South Hills Living Magazine was one of the biggest projects I got to be a part of during my internship. It’s published every other month by the Observer-Reporter, and for the July edition, I had the chance to take the lead on a lot of pieces. I took the photo for the cover and designed the layout in InDesign, and I also created the Sapling Press story from start to finish, including the interview, writing, and layout. On top of that, I designed the layouts for the Toastique and Sunshine Kids Childcare Center features, helping tie the whole issue together visually. After seeing the final product, the Digital Operations Director, Trista, was really pleased with my work and invited me to assist on several other magazine projects throughout the rest of my internship.

The Washington County Agricultural Fair Magazine was another really fun project I got to be a part of during my internship. I wrote and laid out two stories for this issue. The first one focused on the recent improvements being made to the fairgrounds, and the second was all about how the School Bus Demolition Derby got its start in Washington. I interviewed the people involved in both stories, wrote the articles, and designed the layouts in InDesign. The client loved the stories and had minimal corrections.

I was asked to create an 11x17 mailer for Patti Amato, a local insurance broker, to send out in July. Her target audience is adults around 65 who are eligible for Medicare. Everyone receiving this mailer has either worked with Patti before or signed up for her mailing list. In addition to designing the layout, I was responsible for writing the content in a clear and friendly tone that reflects Patti’s approachable personality. The goal was to keep her audience informed, remind them of key Medicare deadlines, and encourage them to reach out if they had questions about their coverage or upcoming benefits.

Every month, RMS is tasked with writing a blog for the Washington Fairgrounds. I was asked to write the May blog, which covered all of the ways that the community can help support the Washington County Agricultural Fair in August. I used resources from the website and sent it to the fairgrounds team for approval. After a few minor changes the blog was posted to their website.

For the June blog, I was asked to highlight the ongoing improvements at the Washington County Agricultural Fairgrounds, both the changes that have taken place over the years and the exciting plans still to come. I gathered details from the fair’s website and previous press materials to shape the content, then submitted it to the fairgrounds team for review. After a few small edits, the final version was published on their website.

Reimagine Main Street has a blog on their website that they update periodically discussing what small businesses can do to improve their marketing strategy. I was asked to create a post on a topic of my choice. I chose to write about photography and what techniques work best for social media posts and product photography. The content was posted to the RMS website on June 4.