Creating connections one story at a time.
I lead marketing and communications for Abide Omaha, a North Omaha nonprofit working to give every person every opportunity. I spent more than a decade in TV news at WOWT as a reporter, anchor and producer, and I bring that newsroom instinct to brand work: content strategy, executive messaging and media relations for Buildertrend, Scooter's Coffee and Papillion La Vista Community Schools.
Content plans and calendars across web, social, email, podcast and earned media, plus speeches and executive messaging written with CEOs and senior leaders.
National and local releases, media kits and pitches built the way reporters actually use them, with monitoring and reporting that show leadership what landed.
More than a decade of daily deadlines as a reporter, anchor and producer, including the 2022 Nebraska Broadcasters Association Gold Award for Best Newscast.
More and more, people ask AI for answers before they search, read the news or ask a friend. Here's how that changes the work, and what hasn't changed at all.
AI tools now answer the question before anyone clicks. Meltwater and LinkedIn's analysis of 9.5 million AI citations found the content that gets cited is specific, structured and written to answer a real question, not polished marketing copy. So I turn key messages into answers: clear claims, real numbers, plain language. At Abide, I led an audit of how we show up in AI-generated answers, and it's shaping our 2027 content plan.
The same research found three of every four LinkedIn citations in AI answers come from individual experts, not company pages, and niche experts often outperform big influencers. That matches what I've seen for years. I build stories around real voices: CEO thought leadership at Scooter's Coffee, executive messaging at Abide, and five Omaha leaders climbing Kilimanjaro instead of a logo asking for money.
The newsroom taught me what makes an assignment editor say yes: stakes, people and proof. A story built that way earns coverage a press release alone can't buy. That's how a nonprofit fundraising launch drew 30 stories in two weeks with zero negative coverage, and how Buildertrend's announcements earned $5.5M in media value.
I use AI every day to research, draft and build, including the live giving screens that showed guests give $200,000 in one night. But judgment, relationships and the final word stay human. And because AI answers shift as models update, I measure visibility every month, not once a year: citations, sentiment and which questions we own.
Research cited: Meltwater and LinkedIn, "How LinkedIn Content Wins in AI Search," an analysis of 9.5M citations across six AI models
Earned media and live giving screens for Abide Omaha, news releases I wrote for Buildertrend and Scooter's Coffee, articles and case studies, and reporting from my time at WOWT.
Five Omaha leaders are climbing Kilimanjaro to fund five new Lighthouse homes in North Omaha, toward a $775,000 goal. I wrote and managed the campaign, built around a launch press conference and a clear local angle: neighborhoods with a Lighthouse have seen crime and violence drop by up to 75%.
KETV, KMTV and WOWT covered it, along with the Omaha World-Herald, Courier Nebraska, the Lexington Clipper-Herald and the Midlands Business Journal, and stories were syndicated nationally through Yahoo News.
Source: media monitoring report, Aug 13–26, 2026
For Abide's Annual Dinner, I designed and built a live giving screen in Webflow, working with Claude, to run on the room's big screens all night. Guests scan a QR code to give, and the mountain in the photo fills with color while five climbers rise toward the summit as gifts come in. It pulls new gifts from Givebutter every 10 seconds with no one at the controls.
The room reached the $200,000 goal that night. A companion screen for the Kilimanjaro campaign tracks gifts toward its $775,000 goal at $3 per step.
Built for TVs and projectors · best viewed on a large screen
TV coverage of the campaign launch, with Abide's CEO and board members explaining how Lighthouse homes change a block.
Watch & read ↗Launch coverage introducing the five climbers and the $775,000 goal for new Lighthouse homes.
Watch & read ↗Follow-up feature on how Lighthouse leaders live alongside their neighbors, extending the campaign past its launch day.
Watch & read ↗Video story on the Lighthouse model and its link to safer North Omaha neighborhoods.
Watch ↗Launch coverage tying the climb to Abide's strategy for safer, stronger North Omaha neighborhoods.
Watch & read ↗Feature story explaining the Lighthouse program and the people behind the climb.
Read the story ↗TV coverage of Abide's Back to School Block Party, featuring families and Abide leadership on site.
Watch & read ↗Feature on Abide's $1.5 million purchase of the former Nebraska School for the Deaf campus and its plans for the 23-acre site.
Read the story ↗Launch announcement timed to day one of the International Builders' Show, framing late subcontractor payments as an industry-wide cost. Distributed nationally through Newsfile.
Read the release ↗Anniversary release tracing how builders moved from paper to process-driven operations, tied to a celebration at the International Builders' Show.
Read the release ↗Year-in-review of customer-driven features, including AI-generated client updates, mobile e-signatures and modernized payments.
Read the release ↗Customer recognition story on a California remodeler using strong systems to take on community projects and train young workers.
Read the release ↗Announced Buildertrend's win in PR Daily's 2025 Content Marketing Awards (Branded Content Series, B2B) for a contractor-led webinar series.
Read the release ↗Advance announcement of the company's 20th anniversary event in Orlando during the International Builders' Show.
Read the release ↗Feature announcement explaining how builders can collect client payments faster without adding back-office work.
Read the release ↗Product launch for a peer-to-peer network for builders and remodelers. Later distributed nationally and picked up by outlets including The Globe and Mail.
Read the release ↗Milestone grand opening with giveaways, a one-day-only drink, and 20% of net sales donated to Home of the Innocents.
Read the release ↗Cause-marketing results from the Courage Cookie campaign, supporting breast cancer awareness and research.
Read the release ↗Wrap-up of the monthlong DOGust campaign, with the donation presented at the rescue group's New York City event.
Read the release ↗Brand recognition release: first among coffee companies and second overall on Yelp's annual growth ranking.
Read the release ↗Created a new branded national day from scratch, launched with a limited-edition sticker giveaway.
Read the release ↗Executive announcement for an internal promotion to the C-suite.
Read the release ↗Customer turnaround story: a remodeler that nearly closed went from a $268K loss to a $357K profit in a year.
Read ↗Profile of an award-winning North Carolina builder that uses nearly 80% of the network's national contracts.
Read ↗How a small Atlanta design-build firm uses national contracts and price locks to control material costs.
Read ↗Why composite and PVC decking make sense for builders, and how members get access through the network.
Read ↗Three-part series on the supplier rebate money builders leave unclaimed and how to collect it. Read Part 2 here.
Read ↗Introducing a new partnership that gives member builders easier access to Silestone and Dekton surfaces.
Read ↗How a high-end Atlanta builder pairs disciplined execution with group purchasing to protect margins.
Read ↗A nine-point checklist covering purchasing, vendor management, cost tracking and rebates.
Read ↗How peer groups, shared data and collective purchasing help builders handle spring pressure.
Read ↗Explains how group purchasing improves pricing while builders keep their suppliers and independence.
Read ↗Annual recognition of 30 independent builders for leadership and collaboration across the network.
Read ↗Uses Buildertrend's 2026 State of Residential Construction data to explain why independent builders plateau.
Read ↗Turned a podcast episode with a builder, a supplier and CBUSA leaders into an article on handling tariffs and volatility.
Read ↗Practical guidance on purchasing, supplier partnerships and rebates as costs rise.
Read ↗Year-end guide for home builders on controlling material spend.
Read ↗A UNO social work graduate who lost mobility below the waist crosses the commencement stage with the help of an exoskeleton.
Read the story ↗Blind and visually impaired teens hit the slopes at Mt. Crescent, paired with experienced adaptive ski guides.
Read the story ↗Accountability story comparing preliminary assessments across neighborhoods and pressing the county assessor for answers.
Read the story ↗Volunteers behind the Westside Clothing Closet work to meet student needs that often go unseen in the classroom.
Read the story ↗A young patient at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital gets new mobility after a brain injury at birth.
Read the story ↗Omaha 360 and the Empowerment Network lead a prayer walk and neighborhood meeting in North Omaha.
Read the story ↗Legislative coverage of LB947, which passed 33–11 over the governor's opposition.
Read the story ↗Omaha clarifies that its main street honors Union Gen. Grenville Dodge, not a pro-slavery senator.
Read the story ↗My WOWT reporting also ran on Gray Television stations including KCRG in Cedar Rapids, WEAU in Eau Claire, KOTA in Rapid City and KGWN in Cheyenne.
I still believe the best stories start with a call. I'm open to conversations about communications, marketing and content leadership roles, as well as writing and media relations projects.
