Hello! I’m Laura, and I’m glad you’re here.
I am passionate about collaboration, connection, and wild creativity. My primary interest is interpersonal communication, in whatever form that takes: I am a designer, a poet, a teacher, a writer, an editor.
Currently, I work as a lecturer in writing at two colleges, one in person and one remotely. My job is more than lecturing and grading: I’m responsible for breaking my students out of the rote systematic writing and thought patterns they learned in high school. I get to show them the power of their own ideas, and help them discover new ways to share their original thoughts with the world. I do this by showing them how to keep their audience in mind in every writing situation. Students leave my classes with the understanding that the goal is not perfection or conformity, because there is no one “correct” way to write: The goal is connection through communication. (I also teach them that feedback is a gift, because I truly believe it is.)
Across my 20-plus-year career, I have led and contributed to remote, in-person, freelance, and hybrid teams. I find there are benefits to each type of team, and technology is continually advancing in ways that allow even 100% remote workers to engage fully in the processes and cultures of their workplaces. My ideal work culture is creative and collaborative, with leaders and team members who value exploration, learning, and innovation.
That’s because I myself am constantly learning. In 2022, I received a Master of Fine Arts in poetry from UMass Amherst, where I also worked as a teaching associate and a Social Justice Fellow in the Writing Program; before that, I earned a Master of Education degree from Elms College in 2019, with a focus on writing pedagogy and social justice. My bachelor’s degree was in linguistics, earned at Queen’s University in Canada. I even completed the Google UX Design Certificate program in December 2023.
My varied educational and professional experiences have given me invaluable insights into language, communication, community building, access and inclusion, and the importance of generosity and clarity when giving and receiving feedback on any project.
Over the past 20+ years, I have worked on a wide variety of projects, from website and newspaper redesigns to capital campaigns to higher-ed social justice initiatives and beyond. At The Berkshire Eagle newspaper, I worked as senior editor in charge of special sections on health, education, and home, as well as a weekly cultural magazine. As managing editor of B2B publisher Photonics Media, I spent six years at the helm of four technical magazines, guiding each issue to publication and leading a team of full-time and freelance editors and contributors.
The Photonics Media team and I were nominated for a Jesse H. Neal Award for the November 2012 issue of Photonics Spectra, titled “Photonics in Space.” Literary journal publishers have nominated my writing for awards including the Pushcart Prize, Best Microfiction, and Wigleaf’s Top 50 Very Short Fictions. In the early days of X (then called Twitter), Mashable even named me one of “13 ‘Twits’ Who Will Change Your Perspective on Reality,” because of my skill at sharing exciting optics and photonics news and advances in only 140 characters.
I hope you’ll connect with me soon by email at laursmarshall@gmail.com (not a typo!) and on LinkedIn.
If you’re looking for my literary author bio, you’ll find it here.
Laura S. Marshall 