My portfolio
Communications and content strategy professional with 15+ years of experience in the US and Asia
Need an editor who thinks like a marketer and imagines like a writer?
Don’t let the peacock feather fool you. This page may be where I show off my work, but I prefer not to draw attention to myself. The anonymity of corporate communications suits me.
After more than five years as a Director of Marketing, I’m currently searching for my next opportunity in an editorial or communications leadership role.
I’m a communications and content strategy professional with 15+ years of experience leading cross-functional teams in the US and Asia.
If you’re looking for a leader who can transform words into business outcomes, collaborate with executive and board stakeholders, and manage crisis communications with poise, let’s connect.
I’m open to remote and hybrid roles as an employee or contractor and will relocate for the right opportunity.
If you are interested in hiring me, please email me at jean@jeanburkespraker.com.
Learn more about how I transform words into business outcomes
Transform your nonprofit's message without sacrificing your mission
The Pew Research Center recently stated that “nearly 47,000 people died of gun-related injuries in the United States in 2023.” First Person Arts was fortunate to have generous funders for our TRIGGER program. So when the Fitler Club said we could use their spectacular ballroom to host a screening of our documentary TRIGGER, we were thrilled. But, then I did the walk-thru and realized we had a lot of space to fill.
That's the power of story.
But, I needed a solution worthy of the space that wouldn’t break the bank. I decided that we would create pop-up banners for the event. They offer portability and flexibility for the layout depending on the space. We had many screenings happening soon, so the banners would get a lot of love.
But what should we put on the banners? Our storytellers, of course—all 16 of them! Each banner included a quote and photo from each storyteller plus a QR code to get more information. I even had enough money left in the budget to print bookmarks with the TRIGGER logo and 988 helpline information.
Gun violence prevention work is difficult and draining. Sharing stories of that violence helps so many people, but I had seen how difficult our talkback sessions could be. So, I wanted the audience, and the team, to have a space that offered words of reflection, insight, and hope. On the night of the event, the space did exactly that. The layout guided the attendees through the space, giving them time to read as they mingled. Not only did the attendees engage with the exhibit—the storytellers did, too. I teared up watching them beam with pride as they took photos with their banners.
That’s the power of story.
Make your audience the story
How do I describe the Philadelphia Revealed project? The coolest thing I’ve ever done? Possibly.
A magical, multi-organizational journey into the depths of Philly history—and the Atwater Kent Collection? Certainly.
Story is a verb.
See that really cool bus shelter in the second image? It was my idea to highlight our storytellers and their objects to promote the podcast. That’s content strategy, especially if you put this bus shelter next to a TRIGGER banner.
When I started at First Person Arts, I put our storytellers at the center of our content strategy. In many ways, the bus shelter series is an extension of that. The storyteller in that poster is Yayha Moore. His episode, No Time to Grieve, tells the story of how he won his release from prison. After a wrongful conviction, Moore spent 25 years incarcerated. So, when he saw John Brown’s handcuffs, he connected deeply to Brown’s own sense of “fighting a good fight.” I encourage you to listen to all the stories.
Now, I want you to imagine you’re an elementary school student, and your teacher has taken you to a museum on Broad Street. You know the one. You tour this Philadelphia history exhibit with lots of cool, old objects. At the end, your teacher asks you if you want to tell your Philly history story. But you can’t write much yet. But, you can draw! That’s why I asked our graphic designer Amy to create the Action Packed version of our story game. That meant even our youngest Philadelphians could tell their stories.
And that’s why I say story is a verb.
Trust your brand to an innovative project manager
I never expected to make the phone call that I did. Sure, I had led the team that created the client’s new brand identity. But, I was in charge of marketing, not back-end development.
We needed a workaround.
So there I was on the phone with the client and the third-party web developer whose website we were trying to connect to. The endpoints we needed weren’t available in their API. And we needed a workaround—fast!
Did I know what an API was? Yes, it’s an application programming interface. Years as a technical editor taught me that. Did I know how it worked? Sort of. I imagined it like a bridge between two rival countries, like Philly and New Jersey. The API helps those two countries communicate with each other.
But none of that mattered in that moment. The client needed to present the redesigned website to a national industry conference filled with other car wash owners from across the United States. So, I hopped on the call, reassured the client that we would hit her critical deadline, and communicated the changes to our internal team. She presented the website the next day at the keynote event as promised.
Share your nonprofit's impact with a global audience
“Meet me at Arthur Road Jail,” she said.
I was there to visit the Foundation for Mother and Child Health clinic and write my monthly Making a Difference column for Mumbai Connexions magazine. My friend and I met at Arthur Road Jail and walked the rest of the way to the clinic in Dhobi Ghat. I count these excursions around Mumbai among my most cherished memories of the city I called home.
FMCH had one problem.
I needed to demonstrate the impact our donations had on local charities. Every month, I would venture to a different charity and write a 500-word column about how they were using our donation. Occasionally, I would visit to learn about volunteer opportunities.
The Foundation for Mother and Child Health’s mission was to “work in economically underprivileged communities to provide full access to preventive health and balanced nutrition.” In Mumbai, that meant holding clinics in Dhobi Ghat. Every week, they would meet with malnourished women and children, record their measurements, and track their progress.
But FMCH had one problem. Recording the measurements at the clinic by hand and then transferring them to an Excel worksheet was error prone and time consuming. They needed a laptop and asked for a donation. I was there to see the laptops in action and share my findings. I reported that the Apple iPads streamlined the team’s recordkeeping and improved outcomes.
It’s a truth universally acknowledged that writers hate blurbs. By the time you’ve written the book, you’ve had it. You don’t want to write one more word—let alone 250 words of “marketing nonsense.”
I challenged a writer to a duel.
I got my start writing blurbs by challenging a writer to a duel. He liked his version. I thought mine was better. We put it to a vote. I won 4 to 3. But, I am first and foremost an editor. Yet, too often self-published authors must create their own marketing, and I am happy to apply my marketing skills, keeping in mind their often too tight and nonexistent budgets.
I began my book editing career serving as Developmental Editor, Copyeditor, and Marketing Manager for bestselling Indian fiction writer Ketan Bhagat. My latest editorial work was the bestselling The Good Indian Employee’s Guide to Surviving a Lala Company by Rajiv Gupta, and published by HarperCollins India. Rajiv came to me through a referral from Ketan and very graciously listened when I said the book needed to be shorter—much shorter. All those cuts paid off though because the book was shortlisted for Best Business Book in India in 2023.