Appliance Palace (2025)

Having worked at established online retailers before, I found that my role at Appliance Palace would prove to be one of my most challenging roles. As part of a small team that included graphic designers and back-end programmers, I was tasked with completely revamping their website from the ground up — and not just in terms of content.

As the resident Website Optimization and Brand Content Specialist, a large chunk of my time was spent working hand in hand with web developers to brainstorm category search strategies. Not only would they have to be easily navigable to consumers, but they would also have to stand up to our competitors who would be working with far more expansive teams. Before this role, I had only dipped my toes in UI/UX design, but now I was hitting the ground running. After many months jumping between Figma artboards and video calls with my team, we had completely refreshed the look of the site and expanded its contents to offer visitors all the information they would need during their shopping experience with us.

Once that was complete, I was primarily focused on two long but necessary tasks: creating a learning center from scratch, and establishing a consistent naming convention for 10,000+ kitchen, laundry, and outdoor products. The first part was in my wheelhouse since I had been producing educational appliance content for years prior. The second would be a far more detail-oriented affair. Every item had to have key info in its title without being cut off by the display a site visitor was using, be it desktop or mobile. Additionally, every attribute had to be meticulously added for items to filter properly in our search feed. Not many people would be equipped for this solo undertaking, unless you’re someone like me who can tell if a Viking range is a 5 Series or a 7 Series just by the SKU.

My time at Appliance Palace gave me new and essential insights into how e-commerce websites are built, providing a well-rounded perspective on developer workflows that I can carry into future roles.

AjMadison (2024)

After years of solo projects at Appliances Connection, AjMadison was my first opportunity to engage in large-scale content production with a sharp team of marketing professionals. As the Lead Copy & SEO Writer (a title singularly created by company management for my particular skill set), I did much more than manage AjMadison’s Learning Center. UI/UX design, asset database management, social media, Google analytics, meta data — I was immersed in it all. Most importantly, when I was taken under the wing of veteran appliance aficionado and the Director of Trade Engagement and Education, Jessica Petrino Ball, my expertise in copywriting expanded beyond the digital sphere.

Writing for Google algorithms to improve your rankings is one thing, but generating engagement with a live audience is an entirely different beast. Under Jessica’s tutelage, I not only gained vast insights into SEO management, but also observed her in numerous public settings socializing with industry experts. At first, I was managing the chat of her livestreamed educational seminars, analyzing her strategy for effectively communicating her appliance knowledge to sales professionals. At events hosted in AjMadison’s showroom, I observed her moderating discussion panels to an audience of lauded interior designers. Before long, we were walking the floor of the 2024 NECO Fall Expo together at Mohegan Sun Casino and Resort, networking with representatives from all the brands we sold. Working with Jessica and the rest of AjMadison’s marketing team gave me firsthand knowledge about campaign management from ideation to completion. The wisdom I gained from my tenure there makes me feel prepared to tackle any project, both independently and in a corporate environment.

Appliances Connection (2019-2024)

Appliances Connection was where my professional experience had its greatest expansion to date. Initially hired as a graphic designer, my manager quickly transitioned me into a role shadowing the company’s senior blog editor when he discovered my affinity for copywriting. I spent almost a year diving head first into researching the world of appliances and researching all there is to know about these essential home goods. At first, I was simply writing educational content for consumers looking for deals, buying tips, and top picks from experts like myself. However, after the editor’s departure from the company, management springboarded me into the role of lead copywriter for the e-commerce appliance giant. Intimidating, to say the least.

In spite of my cold feet, the effort I put into filling my predecessor’s shoes quickly bolstered my knowledge of e-commerce operations as a whole. Each day had me addressing the copy needs of a different department, not just our blog. On one day, I was helping the sales team reword product descriptions to get Amazon to approve our listings. On another, I was prepping print proofs of magazine covers while our graphic designers were preoccupied. Even data entry personnel consulted my encyclopedic appliance knowledge to determine which appliance styles should be categorized under which search filters. I could have retired if I had a dollar for every time I received a Slack message with a screenshot asking “Is this oven handle professional, minimalist, or transitional?” My diligence eventually earned me the opportunity to work alongside “Chopped” champion, Jackie Rothong, to produce educational content at the Middleby showroom in Manhattan!

Working across such a breadth of departments allowed me to cultivate top-tier time management skills. If the team wanted to know when certain keywords, products, or other info was featured on our blogs, I only had to pull up my dedicated spreadsheets to do a quick search. Need an image from a particular brand? I had log-ins ready to go for various asset portals. Even SEO content production at scale proved no match for me. While only sparingly adapting AI to our content production, I was able to negate the need for third party content writing platforms to assist me, saving over $40,000 of our marketing budget year over year. While Appliances Connection may not have lasted as a company, all that I learned helped me seamlessly transition into a new role at AjMadison a short time later.

Moving Picture Institute (2018-2020)

After earning a week-long comedy writing residency with We The Internet TV, an online comedy sketch series sponsored by the Moving Picture Institute, I was taken on as a freelancer. Collaborating directly with We The Internet TV’s executive producer, Lou Perez, I helped create a variety of content for their comedy sketch videos which reached their 150,000+ YouTube subscribers. This content included but was not limited to logos, fake book covers, newspaper parodies, title cards, doctored photos, infographics, and lower-thirds.

Check out some of their comedy videos below that I produced graphics for, co-wrote, and even starred in!

Mobster Bernie Bros (The Irishman Parody)

The Truth about Eddie Murphy’s “Coming to America”

Russell Simmons’ Def Apology Jam

Zoni Language Centers (2017-2018)

Zoni Language Centers was my first full-time job in marketing after several graphic design internships spanning beauty startups, pond manufacturers, and performing arts non-profits. As Zoni’s sole graphic designer for most of my tenure, I was tasked with designing an abundance of marketing collateral including international brochures, promotional flyers, and information packages for educational programs in the U.S. and abroad. I was also responsible for coordinating with third-party vendors in the production of large-scale mass transit prints, window decals, and other outdoor installations.

What made working at Zoni such an invaluable work experience for me was learning how to adapt to a fast-paced corporate environment that required me to wear many hats. My work necessitated communicating across multiple departments to ensure project completion on any given week. I was responsible for acquiring design approvals from supervisors, archiving receipts for accounting staff, coordinating with outside print vendors, and managing graphics databases for future use, among other tasks. The essential time and project management skills I acquired at Zoni prepared me immensely for the e-commerce industry I would soon find myself in at Appliances Connection.

DIGIMARCON (2016)

My first highly-demanding internship focused on creating all signage for DIGIMARCON, a premier digital marketing, media, and advertising exhibition series with over 40 conferences held annually around the world, across 18 countries. Coordinating via Skype with the CEO, Aaron Polmeer, I managed extensive asset databases to create banners, badges, table markers, stickers and all other print collateral for the events.

The hands-on design experience I received over my various internships gave me invaluable insights into the workflow of the the various marketing professionals I now work with as a copywriter. Knowing what is (and isn’t) possible allows me to easily adapt my copy to the needs of whatever medium a graphic designer uses to present information to target audiences.