About Me
Writing just seems to be in my blood. In sixth grade, I won a local writing competition with the dramatically entitled short-story, “The Day I Almost Died.”
Do you remember how schools used to collect the Campbell Soup can labels? Well, one day I was babysitting my younger sister and she decided to speed the process by taking the labels off all the cans in the pantry.
I can’t remember if the near-death part was expecting my mom to kill me when she got home or from having to eat mystery canned foods for months. At any rate, a writing star was born.
And it was a good thing too, because I certainly didn’t have any athletic ability. But I managed to write my way into the Virginia Junior Miss Pageant, a Senate internship the summer before college, and a personal acceptance letter from the College of William & Mary with an essay that apparently made my dour AP English teacher cry.
But I could never see myself as a reporter—pestering grieving widows to try to get the “real” story—and didn’t want to starve as a novelist waiting for my “big break.” So I majored in International Relations and went to work on Capitol Hill.
After two years in the real world, I went to Boston University for a masters’ degree in Public Relations, but self-designed my concentration so I could take courses in marketing, advertising and journalism as well. After one assignment, the professor encouraged me to try to get it published. So thinking I might as well aim high, I sent it off to Cosmopolitan and they published it several months later.
By that time though, I was caught up in my marketing and PR career, initially with two associations for small businesses in the beverage and insurance industries.
And while I was earning a Certified Financial Planner designation to boost my financial-writing credentials, I began a nearly five year stint in the marketing department for a mutual fund company in Bethesda, MD. But during my successful career there, I realized I just wasn’t cut out for the corporate world.
Creating Compelling Communications
So after more than a decade in marketing communications, I decided to launch my own business in 2003. And I’ve discovered a passion for helping other small businesses (especially other solopreneurs) by combining my writing skills and marketing/PR experience to help them attract new clients and grow their business.
I’ve also become a big proponent of creating a sustainable business–sustainable meaning both the business’ future prospects and making a difference in the world.
The Personal Stuff
In 2006, I moved the business to Raleigh, North Carolina, to escape the Northern Virginia traffic and terrorist alerts and play the role of favorite aunt to my newly born nephew.
I strongly believe that trying new things keeps you young, which is how I’ve ended up dancing with members of the cast from Chicago (which, thankfully, was not recorded), on a flying trapeze, and going door-to-door in the cold New Hampshire winter for a presidential campaign.
One thing still on the to-do list—train with Dog Whisperer Cesar Milan. Apparently my two All-American dogs (aka rescue mutts) Roscoe an
d Lexie are still confused about who the pack-leader is around here.
Tracy Needham
Copywriter & Marketing Coach
www.compellingcomm.com
tracy@compellingcomm.com
919.829.1539
Oh yeah, I do stained glass too when I have time. This is one I did for my parents–based off of a picture they used to have hanging in their living room.
