Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it and, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light. – Joseph Pulitzer
What could make a writer happier than editors and readers who appreciate her work? During my career I’ve written for many audiences ranging from newspaper readers, to recipients of state government services, to employees of large corporations. And, of course, there is always an editor who reviews my work. This process has allowed me to collaborate with many talented people and their ideas, comments, and perspective have enriched my work.
Case Studies
Ingersoll Rand
Problem: The company’s Internal Communications Director needs examples of strategic successes throughout the business for the CEO’s earnings speech to employees. I served as an outside research and writing resource to help her compile information for the speech.
Client Feedback: “I have hired Cathy to track down product wins and cross-selling information, which I have featured in town hall meetings, CEO letters and other areas where we needed to profile business success stories. These exercises can be time-consuming as one tries to navigate the corporate landscape and locate the right person to provide information, which then can be convoluted and highly technical. Cathy is great at summarizing the details down to the most salient points. She works well with business leaders at all levels and makes the perfect extension to the team!” – Liz Soltoff, Director, Internal Communications, Ingersoll Rand
AT&T
Problem: In today’s telecom environment, it is important for AT&T Labs researchers to prove their bottom-line worth to the company. My client needed ongoing articles to explain the value of their work.
Client Feedback: “I’ve relied on Cathy to tackle my most difficult articles. She understands the complex and can whittle it down to simple terms and phrases. And she’s remarkably quick. I’ve given her tight deadlines and have been amazed each and every time that she can generate quality content in a matter of days.” – Carrie Calnan, AT&T Public Relations (former)
American Standard
Problem: American Standard had a new CEO and a growing new communications team who wanted employees to be aware of what its competitors and customers were up to.
Solution: I helped the communications team create a weekly publication summarizing and linking to news articles about the company’s customers and competitors. I served as researcher and writer for the entire eight years The Source ran — a very long run for any corporate publication.
Special Recognition
As a staff writer on AT&T’s all-employee magazine, I wrote articles to reinforce the company’s key messages, such as fostering employees’ pride in the company. This article focused on what the company was doing to help employees with AIDS. It was a hard subject to broach in the early 1990s.
Working through my Human Resources contacts, I found employees with inspiring stories to tell. Including one “negative” comment bought us a lot of credibility. The cover photo of the AIDS quilt, featuring our employee, was a logistical challenge that paid off.
The article elicited a letter from President Bill Clinton to AT&T’s CEO praising the company’s commitment to the fight against AIDS. It also won a NY IABC Award of Merit. Download cover and letter (PDF, 2 MB).
Other Testimonials
“Cathy Fee is a valued, dependable partner who has done exceptional internal communications work for American Standard Companies, Trane and Ingersoll Rand for nearly 10 years. She is our tenacious reporter, covering the company and its businesses for our global employee audience. Through her seasoned, skillful writing, she has helped our people better understand our programs, products, services, customers, competitors, financial results and much more. In the process, Cathy has earned the trust of countless leaders and employees, which is invaluable to us. We can give her a project and be confident that she will manage it with little supervision and deliver a top-notch product every time.” – Patti Tironi, Director, Employee Communications – Climate Solutions Sector at Ingersoll Rand
“I worked with Cathy Fee extensively at AT&T to develop and execute internal communications for the R&D community. Cathy was the employee communications manager for AT&T Labs during a period of intense change and transition following AT&T’s spin-off of Lucent Technologies. She consistently put her best effort into writing about innovation and complex technologies for an electronic publication targeted to the Labs audience. This included managing a staff of freelancers who also wrote articles for the publication. In addition, Cathy collaborated on a special issue of AT&T’s all-employee magazine focusing on the Labs – which won a New Jersey IABC Silver Quill of Excellence Award. All in all, Cathy is an extremely talented writer, communications professional and team player. She adds value to every project with creativity and a thoughtful approach …combined with a bias for quick action and results.” – Cindy Neale, Director Employee Communications, AT&T
“Cathy is an experienced writer who can make complicated subjects clear and interesting for a general employee audience. A former newspaper reporter and editor, Cathy can work extremely well independently — is vigilant at meeting deadlines, delivering clean copy, and validating information. She is great at handling special projects or serving as a regular news writer for employee publications or Web sites that require frequent updates or fresh content.” – Liz Soltoff, Director Internal Communications, Ingersoll Rand
