I am a skilled, creative content professional with over 20 years of content, communications, and UX experience. I love and respect the written word and all of its nuances and capabilities to engage my audience. The strategic use of in-product content, information architecture, and creating simple, straightforward, and human content are what I love to do most.
CONTACT: shaharazade@gmail.com
EXPERIENCE
SENIOR CONTENT STRATEGIST AND UX DESIGNER
Facebook Inc., Menlo Park, CA – 2016
I am currently a senior Content Strategist within the Facebook Design team, where I work on creating Privacy experiences that provide people with greater transparency and control of their data and information on the Facebook platform.
CONTENT STRATEGIST AND SENIOR EDITOR
BOLD, San Francisco, CA – 2015
I wear many content hats at BOLD. I develop strategy for and write in-product content, microcopy, and UX/UI content for new features and products. I design strategies for custom segmentation content to be implemented in our current products, and I manage the in-product content for 5 consumer products. I design and execute content marketing campaigns for new products, as well as develop editorial calendars, blog strategies, and social media content for new products. I manage the production of large-scale SEO content projects, create landing page copy, and write and edit tailored content, presentations, and articles for our various customer segments. In addition, I perform A/B tests and analyze user data to determine the success of our product content.
Key Projects:
+In 2016, I developed the structure for and created all in-product content, navigational content, and microcopy for the company's first-ever native app product.
+In 2015, I designed the curriculum for a large-scale eLearning product; I implemented instructional design principles to create 95 lessons, 25 videos, and 50 interactive worksheets.
CONTENT ARCHITECT
Inkling, San Francisco, CA 2011 – 2014
I translated flat print content into interactive, reflowable digital content for web, mobile, the Inkling reader for iOS and Android, ePub, and standalone apps. This process included structuring text for web; adding UX content; curating and placing interactive elements (audio, video); and designing new methods of using images, such as adding text in pop-up boxes, creating slideshows, and adding animation. In three years, I managed the teams (4 internal, ~25 external team members) and content structure for over 50 content projects with a total budget of $4M. Three of my favorite projects are listed below.
+ Frank H. Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy suite:
Challenge: Create a learning tool that anatomy students can use inside the lab and as a study aid.
Solution: Optimized ebook for tablet and web use with expandable images; added ability to toggle labels of anatomical diagrams “on and off” so all images could be used as a self-testing study tool. Translated flat ancillary collection into interactive Learning Resources module, which is now the product’s top selling point.
Key Result: Largest deliverable for $1M+ deal. Managed 24 people (clients, internal team, service providers).
+ Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home
Challenge: Create a digital recipe book to be used for planning and in-kitchen use.
Solution: Optimized ebook for tablet use; transferred all appendix recipes and extra information to point-of-use within main recipes; added editable Notes section to all recipes for planning purposes.
+ Rick Steves’ Pocket Guides: Paris, London, Rome
Challenge: Create an on-the-ground digital travel guide.
Solution: Optimized ebooks for mobile; digitally annotated maps with curated information; added audio snippets to tours to created a guided tour experience; enhanced listing locations to automatically open within device map and phone apps.
EDITOR AND SERIES MANAGER
Avalon Travel Publishing / Perseus Books Group, Berkeley, CA, 2006 – 2011
As an editor for the Moon travel guide series, I collaborated with authors to create guides consistent with the Moon ethos and target audience. I managed manuscripts through their production life cycles (editing, proof passes, style guides, image acquisition). As the Series Manager for the Dog Lover’s Companion series, I set style guides and best practices to ensure consistency across the series. As a Web Editor, I designed a workflow process to curate and publish content for www.moon.com.
+ Exposure: Over 100 travel guides ranging from city guides to outdoors guides, 30,000+ pages in total across entire line.
+ Key Project: developed grep script to convert content in Word files into html-ready files for web
COMMUNICATIONS AND SOCIAL MEDIA CONSULTANT
Episcopal Community Services (Homeless Support), San Francisco, CA, 2010 —2011
I became a volunteer communications consultant at ECS to gain tangible experience in this field. I created all marketing, email, print, and social media content for this nonprofit for over a year. I was also the Communications Manager for their annual fundraiser, SummerTini.
+ Audience: 100+ corporate donors including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, United Way, SalesForce, and Kaiser
+ SummerTini 2011: record attendance and successful auction raised over $150,000 for the CHEFs program
FREELANCE PROJECT MANAGER, EDITOR, AND WRITER
San Francisco, CA, Jan 2005 — Aug 2011
I provided project management services, subject matter expertise, and editorial support to clients on product development projects, specializing in Science publications.
+ Key Role: Translated technical copy into coherently structured, well-written content for target audiences; 7+ years, 7,000+ pages, for clients such as Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Pearson, Bill Smith Group, and McGraw-Hill.
SCIENCE EDITOR AND ASSOCIATE SCIENCE EDITOR
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Austin, TX Dec 1999 — Jan 2005
I provided project leadership, editorial support, and subject matter expertise for large-scale products such as the Holt Science & Technology and Holt Environmental Science product lines. I created and edited accurate and engaging educational materials for academic science programs, including text, labs, assessments, activities, and teacher’s materials.
+ Key Project: Science Standards Correlations Database: Managed a team of editors and IT developers to create a web-based database tool designed to track correlation of science content to government-driven standards.
+ Key Project: Holt Environmental Science Ancillary Program: Managed an external editorial team to create a 37-title product.
SKILLS
Content Management/Project Management: Asana, Cornerstone, Apache SVN (Subversion), Cyberduck, Amazon S3, GoogleDocs, Inkling Habitat
Web/Photography: HTML/CSS/SASS working knowledge, Sublime, TextWrangler, RedMine, Adobe Acrobat & Photoshop, Apple Aperture, VSCO Cam
EDUCATION
B.S. Biology: Evolution, Ecology, and Conservation, The University of Texas at Austin