Welcome to Brazen Careerist!

About Me

Hi!

My name is Sarah Lyons and it’s official.

I. AM. A. WRITER. Bear with me while I celebrate that a moment …

As a Gen Yer, I feel like I’ve been trying to fit my square peg-ness into a round hole in the “real world” and am on a high right now for making a shift.

Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly appreciate the experiences I’ve gleaned from the last few years I’ve spent in nonprofit and association management. They not only inspired me to focus my marketing and PR copywriting and consulting on nonprofits, but they also taught me a lot about the kind of professional I want to be. And because they taught me as much about the kind of professional I DON’T want to be, I feel a totally different level of appreciation for my experiences thus far (a requirement to help you avoid feeling jaded). :)

Working on small teams for nonprofits and associations has given me the chance to work in an unbelievable number of concentrations and discover what I’m good at and love doing in a pretty organic way. I’m very lucky!

Speaking to my feelings of square peg-ness, I’m empowered by surviving the 8 to 5 for a few years and would love to share support, encouragement, or a shoulder to professionals who feel like you’re out of your mind because you’re not totally fulfilled by working in a cube for people you can run circles around.

I’m currently working on getting my own little freelance copywriting gig off the ground, focusing on association and small business marketing, PR, social media, and branding. I’m always looking for mentors, as well as an opportunity to contribute my strengths to an organization that I can help.

Work History

• ABWA Management, LLC
• "The Sarah With an 'H,' You Know, the 'Marketing' Girl"
• Febuary 2008 to Present

• My job description at has been very fluid on this small team, changing to meet the needs of the American Business Women’s Association as it took amazing strides to meet – then surpass – the demands of today’s working woman. Some highlights of my experience include:
  recruiting new members and helping volunteer teams form new chapters of ABWA in their communities;
  overhauling the Company Connection, ABWA’s membership option for business owners, providing it with new brand message, marketing tactics, and social media to promote the new benefits and grow membership;
  creating project management mapping for initiatives like administering ABWA’s annual election process and facilitating the board of directors;
  producing web copy and admin updates, magazine articles, press releases, email campaigns, direct mailers, social media presence, and content for the Women’s Instructional Network (WIN)™, ABWA’s innovative online membership community.

• Me!
• Freelance Copywriter
• January 2010 to Present

• Diversified Consultants, Inc.
• Association and Conference Coordinator
• July 2005 to Febuary 2008

• At DCI, I was a member of a small management firm that ran the day-to-day business of 10 national professional associations. An excellent job for a college grad looking for her niche, I covered a lot of ground in a short period of time. A few highlights include:
  managing editorial calendar, content, editing, production and distribution of full-color glossy magazine and various newsletters;
  administering associations’ website content, forms, and functionality;
  coordinating corporate events and association conferences, from planning and registration to promotions and on-site management;
  servicing members through membership benefit creation and distribution, member education, dues renewals, communications;
  facilitating committees and board of directors through minutes and records retention, action items, bylaw development, annually planning, and more.

Education

• University of Missouri-Columbia
• Bachelor's of English, Creative Writing
• 2001 - 2005