Hi, I’m Laura.
The short story is I’m a former B2B magazine editor in the ag and horticulture industries, who now primarily writes content for agribusinesses and alumni magazines.
The long story is that this all started when I was working in a McDonald’s drive-thru at 16.
It was a gorgeous sunny Saturday in the suburbs of Cincinnati, and I was resentful of the fact that I was spending it in front of a cash register, waiting for the next car to roll through so I could ask “Welcome to McDonalds, may I take your order?”
As the minutes ticked by I began to plot. I didn’t want to end up here, forever. So what did I want to do? What was the plan?
I always liked writing and I was good at it, at least that’s what my teachers told me. But I was also passionate about music and thought a career in the industry sounded cool. What if I combined the two? Become a music journalist, interview rock stars, get my byline in Rolling Stone? Now that was a plan I could get behind.
So I went off to Ball State University (chirp chirp!) and earned my degree in Magazine Journalism. By the time I graduated the Rolling Stone dream had died, but my desire to write full-time was still very much alive. I got my first bylines in Running Times and Cincinnati Magazine before eventually landing a job with Greenhouse Management in Cleveland. I knew nothing about horticulture and didn’t have much of a green thumb, but the focus of the publication was on the business side of things: how to market, manage employees, and run a successful greenhouse. I fell in love with writing about business, which is why my favorite assignments are customer case studies and success stories.
I later left the magazine to join my future husband in Milwaukee while he earned his Doctoral degree in Math (yes, he is super smart), which is where I made the leap to agriculture by working as a staff writer for No-Till Farmer magazine. By the time I left as managing editor, I had visited dozens of farms and conducted hundreds of interviews with scientists and experts in the field (no pun intended), which gave me a wealth of knowledge about farming and the ag industry.
I am now in upstate South Carolina and about to complete my seventh year of full-time freelancing. Since leaving No-Till Farmer, I have expanded my ag expertise even further by working with companies like AGCO, Trimble Ag, Legacy Agripartners, Western Growers Association, AgriSecure, and more. I also enjoy writing human-interest pieces and profiles, and freelance for alumni magazines like Florida State’s VIRES and Southern Methodists’ SMU Magazine.
When I’m not at my desk writing for clients, you can probably find me on a run (I’m on a never-ending quest to qualify for the Boston Marathon), watching an IndyCar or IMSA race, enjoying a locally brewed beer, planning my next travel adventure (Ireland is on deck), or rewatching Seinfeld for the hundredth time.
