American Heart Association

When the American Heart Association came to me, they were in the process of re-thinking how they talked to consumers. They needed someone with a strong background in health writing for consumers who could help them develop just the right voice: friendly, informative, but very down-to-earth and accessible. I worked with them to develop the profile for this new voice, and wrote numerous articles about nutrition, making healthy choices, and figuring out how to move more for their main site in this freshened-up voice. I’ve also worked on print pieces for them, including The Cold Weather Fitness Guide and The Warm Weather Fitness Guide. It’s the same voice, just tweaked for print.

“At the AHA, we decided to change the way we talk to consumers in order to reach them in a meaningful way and encourage them to adopt healthier behaviors. Instead of a clinical, authoritative tone, we opted to present our health recommendations with a more succinct, conversational, friend-to-friend manner of speaking.

“On the surface it may seem easy, but it was a challenge to find the writer who could grasp just the right tone and style; we were asking writers to go against everything they’d ever learned in school. Instead of whipping out the thesaurus to replace everyday language with complex words, long sentences/paragraphs, and romance language, we wanted the opposite. Although Judi could easily write to a more advanced level, she understood that the AHA would never really reach consumers without being relatable or relevant on our most prominent communication vehicle–our website.

“Judi’s been a great partner. She’s friendly, accommodating and, most importantly, meets deadlines. We’ll continue to count on her in the future. “

— Jacy Cochran, Marketing Manager, Nutrition & Obesity Strategies, American Heart Association [note: Jacy was in this position when she wrote this for me; she’s since moved on]