nDash.com is a content creation platform that provides brands and agencies with access to the world's top freelance writers.
I provide writing and photography for media outlets, tourism boards, and corporations. I also produce content marketing materials for businesses of all sizes. I am known for my skill in humanizing dry content and eliciting a high emotional response in readers.
Available for short-notice and long-term travel throughout the U.S.
Published credits: Christian Science Monitor, TIME, Washington Post, Associated Press, EFE News Services (Spain), and NYT.
Past corporate clients: Mack Trucks, Randall-Reilly Publishing, Discover DeKalb, Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Tuscaloosa Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Specialties: News, human interest stories, case studies, tourism, travel, Southern culture, civil rights, social justice, environment, education, military, religion, community journalism, natural disasters, the Gulf Coast, social media, and photojournalism.
Coverage area: Primarily Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Tennessee, and South Carolina.
Open to travel throughout the U.S.
In this Mack Trucks customer success story, I traveled to Macon, Ga. to spotlight a family-owned towing company and their latest fleet acquisition.
https://www.carmenksisson.com/mike-adams-towing-family-affair/
In this Mack Trucks customer success story, I traveled to Charleston, S.C. and interviewed the owner of Superior Transportation, who operates a 40-truck fleet transporting high profile, challenging cargo.
https://www.carmenksisson.com/superior-transportation-ceo-born-to-drive-a-mack/
I wrote and photographed this story for TIME Magazine, who sent me to Smithville, Mississippi after a tornado destroyed the town.
https://www.carmenksisson.com/smithville-mississippi-tornado/
This award-winning story was written when I was news editor at The Commercial Dispatch, a Mississippi daily newspaper. It focuses on a man who turned the pain of growing up fatherless into a ministry, helping hundreds of children. This story was awarded second place feature writing in the Mississippi Press Association’s 2011 Better Newspaper Contest and the Louisiana-Mississippi Associated Press Managing Editors 2011 contest.
https://www.carmenksisson.com/mentors-for-fatherless-boys/
This story, written for Christian Science Monitor, focused on the people who work at a Huntsville, Ala., flag factory — one of only seven in the nation to make interment flags for veterans.
https://www.carmenksisson.com/unflagging-devotion/
This story was one of several written for North American Mission Board after severe flooding in Louisiana and Texas.
https://www.carmenksisson.com/volunteers-aid-louisiana-flood-survivors/
This story was written for trucking company JB Hunt, which wanted to raise awareness about its commitment to hiring military veterans for jobs in the trucking industry.
https://www.carmenksisson.com/heroes-among-us-j-b-hunt-reaches-veterans/
This Christian Science Monitor story took me to Pearlington, Mississippi, where I spent time with volunteers who gave up their lives and careers to rebuild a town destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
https://www.carmenksisson.com/post-katrina-charity-starts-with-a-home/
Provide photos/text for regional, national, and international publications. • Provide marketing materials for commercial clients and tourism boards. • Provide copy editing, line editing, and proofreading services. • Active participant in social media, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Flickr.
Company: Cloudybright Communications
I worked there from 12/1987 until now
• Oversee the newsroom in the managing editor's absence. • Edit copy, make assignments and work closely with a staff of three reporters and two photographers to shape content and develop stories. • Line-edit and proof pages. • Develop self-driven, long-term and short-term enterprise projects, orchestrating the writing, photography and presentation. • Specialize in human interest features, long-form narrative and takeouts. • Covered education, economic development and military affairs.
Company: The Commercial Dispatch
I worked there from 4/2011 until 5/2013
• Assisted with founding paper, helping develop ethical standards, corporate policy, branding, design, and community relations. • Doubled circulation, receiving the 2002 Most Improved award from the Alabama Press Association. • Coordinated a five-person staff, covering a 2,751-square mile area. • Recruited and taught stringers, several of whom now hold staff jobs at daily newspapers. • Wrote 8-10 news stories, one editorial, and one personal column each week.
Company: The Northport Gazette
I worked there from 12/1998 until 7/2002
• Covered news, sports, and feature stories as a paid contributor for The Tillman's Corner News and Mobile County News during my freshman through senior year in high school. • Provided two to three text/photo packages per week while working part-time as a veterinarian's assistant and maintaining a 4.16 GPA.
Company: Bay Area News Network
I worked there from 12/1987 until 5/1991