WORK W/ME
BarbaraBenham.com | LinkedIn.com/in/BarbaraBenham
StickyClicky.com | SocialEnrichment.com
ABOUT: I’m an experienced travel writer, blogger and content consultant with top-notch magazine and online credentials. I write essays, news and feature articles — once a journalist, always a journalist — and am working, in fits and starts, on a nonfiction book. I’m available to write and edit content, including search-word-laced blog posts, email newsletters, press releases, promotional material, white papers. I develop websites for clients, using Wordpress, Drupal, Joomla templates. (I am not a developer, but I have strong design skills and can tweak the heck out of a template with CSS3.) I am also available to develop and manage cross-platform social media campaigns.
RECENT GIGS: Contributing Writer, Tour Italy Now [January 2011 to May 2012]. | Developed and implemented editorial calendar for online tour operator specializing in travel to Italy. Contributed blog, Facebook and Twitter posts. Wrote marketing emails newsletters, website copy and promotional materials. Coordinated media placement. Helped manage Facebook community that grew from under 15,000 to 25,000. [TourItalyNow.com] Contract Writer, Rock Creek Strategic Marketing [March – April 2012}. | Researched, wrote, and formatted content describing National Forest Service campgrounds, rental cabins and lookout towers for Recreation.gov, the Federal government’s online reservation system. Entered content in Inventory Manager. This was a full-time, two-month project. [Recreation.gov]
NOTCHES ON MY BELT: My travel writing has appeared in the following outlets. Where possible, I’ve included a link. Travel + Leisure, Consumer Reports Magazine, HotelChatter.com, Washington Post Magazine, Men’s Journal, Executive Travel, Preservation Magazine Online, Pages, MORE, Family Fun, Cooking Light, AOL Travel, People, Consumer Reports’ Money Adviser, Working Woman, The Discovery Channel Online, Parenting, Budget Travel, washingtonpost.com, Travel + Leisure Family, Outside Family Vacations, CNN Travel (reprint), New England Travel & Life, Boston Magazine’s Concierge.
FINANCIAL JOURNALISM: Before travel, I was a financial journalist. I wrote for Institutional Investor’s Portfolio Letter — David Faber was my editor — and then, for five-plus years, covered Washington from Investor Business Daily. I was a National Press Foundation fellow to the Wharton Business School’s Seminar for Financial Writers, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
HOMETOWN/HOTEL GEEK: I grew up in Norwalk, Connecticut, today home to three major travel companies: Kayak, Priceline and Virgin Atlantic’s U.S. headquarters as well as Tauck Tours, a leading tour operator. I return several times a year to visit family. I’m a serious hotel geek. When I visit Norwalk these days, I stay at the Norwalk Inn or the Hilton Garden Inn. Memorable stays in assorted farflung places include the Sanctuary at Camelback (Scottsdale), the Inn at the Roman Forum (Rome), il Fattori (Cesenatico, Italy), the Homestead (Hot Spring, Virginia), the National (South Beach) and the James (Chicago).
SOCIAL REACH: My social reach is concentrated on Twitter, where I have over 1,000 followers. My Klout score is 59 and rising. On Twitter, I participate in chats such as #TNI (Travelers’ Night In), #TTOT (Travel Talk on Tuesday), #TMOM (Traveling Mom Monday on Twitter). #tourismchat, #luxchat, #islandschat, #expchat, and, as a Travel Bloggers Exchange member, contribute to and follow the #TBEX Twitter stream. I write Travel Sweeps primarily for my portfolio and also, as the great late short-story writer Andre DuBus advised students, to practice my scales. Editors and clients seem to love Travel Sweeps, but the blog’s never developed a serious following. (Hope drips eternal.)
REPRESENTATION/LISTINGS: I’m currently signed with Creative Circle’s D.C. office and Hit Riddle. My resume and profile are available on Travelllll.com. My profile is listed on Tripatini.
AFFILIATIONS: Travel Bloggers Exchange (TBEX12 attendee), Media Kitty, DC Web Women, 85 Broads, Travel Classics Alumni (five-time attendee), The George Washington University Alumni Association Communications Committee.
PRESS: Travel Sweeps got several nods in the travel press in its early years. WORLD HUM: The Pursuit of Free Travel: Inside a Year-Long Quest to Win a Trip [7.24.6] | BUDGET TRAVEL’S BLOG, Travel Channel Buys World Hum [5.21.7] | BUDGET TRAVEL’S BLOG A $5,000 Contest [8. 22.7]
DEGREES: I have an M.F.A. in Nonfiction Writing from Goucher College, with an unofficial concentration was memoir, and a B.A. in French Language and Literature from The George Washington University.
RANDOM: I was an American Field Service Exchange student to Clermont-Ferrand, France; my host father was an engineer at the Michelin tire company. (The guidebook editorial offices are in Paris.) I am the direct descendant of Winifred Benham, the last person to be accused of “cavorting with the devil,” or witchcraft, in 17th-century New England. This makes me eligible for the Associated Daughters of Early American Witches. Alas, I have yet to join.
APPEARANCES: Panelist, Writing for the Internet, Goucher College M.F.A. Summer Residency, August 4, 2012. Panelist, Travel + Leisure Tweet-Up on Family Travel, July 25, 2012.
LIFELONG LEARNING: Select enrichment courses and conferences:What’s New With HTML5 and CSS3 | DC Web Women + Hungry Academy at Living Social [7.10.1] | UX CAMP DC [1.7.12] | Social Media Success Summit 2011 [May 2011] | “Presenting Data and Information: A One-Day Course by Edward Tuft“ [May 2011] | DC Tech Cocktail Startup Mixology [6.16.11] | iStrategyLabs‘ StartupXLR8R II [2.26.11]
TWITTER + WEBSITES:
