Hi, there. I’m Natalee, an inquisitive interviewer, writer, and editor who thrives on idea exchange.  I love to experiment, ask questions, translate, edit, and share big ideas.

Check out my Portfolio, Services, and Blog. If you like what you see, please contact me here, or say hello on Twitter.

CAREER HISTORY

Most Distinguishing Traits: 1) Determination 2) Adaptability

The Proof, the Story: I am a self-taught journalist who pitched an idea for a newspaper column at age 17. By 18, I was spending my summer writing full-time for the St. Thomas Times-Journal, entrusted with covering important events, including the Canada Summer Games.

At 25, I independently moved to an apartment in Shanghai, China, without internet access or any training in Mandarin. Within three months of networking and freelance writing, I landed full-time employment as Executive Editor at Talk magazine, the oldest, national, English-language magazine in China.

Quickly, I learned to navigate Shanghai, a rapidly changing, 18-million-person megalopolis, where entire neighbourhoods and businesses appear and disappear weekly. By the close of my first year, I could find an apartment, negotiate the lease, and handle banking and other complex systems accessible only in Mandarin Chinese.

Eventually I started my own freelance writing business in the city.

Education:

M.A. candidate in Rhetoric and Communication Design (U. Waterloo).
- Scholarship recipient. Teaching assistant for two business communications courses. Expected graduation May 2013.

B.A. Hons. in English Literature, minor in Mass Communications (Carleton U.).
- Deans’ Honour List student, scholarship recipient, graduated with Highest Honours.

Diploma in Print Media (Algonquin College).
- Trained in desktop publishing, Adobe software, digital photo work, prepress, offset lithography techniques. CPIA scholarship recipient. Two-time winner of award for highest academic performance.

Publishing Certificate courses (Ryerson U.).
- Trained in copy editing, substantive, and line editing.

Experience: Writing, editing, and producing photos for newspapers, magazines, websites, press releases, and books.

Previous Employers: Creativehunt.com, SmartShanghai.com, Talk Magazines China, China Economic Review, CNNGo Shanghai, Luxury Properties Magazine, Jet Asia-Pacific magazine. Co-op at St. Joseph’s Print in Ottawa.

Volunteer experience: Recently assisted in the early months of running Inn Out of the Cold, the first overnight shelter set up for at-risk youth in St. Thomas, Ontario. Also edited and designed Carleton U’s literary magazine, In/Words, and spent a few years as a volunteer assistant teacher at Errington-Graham Dance Studios.

Most cherished job so far: Writing a guidebook about Suzhou, a Chinese water town often referred to as “Venice of the East”.

The interviewee most people ask about: Yoko Ono.

On a quest for:

- Niu rou mian 牛肉麵.
- Gong bao ji ding 宫宝鸡丁.
- A lakeside — or better, oceanside — dwelling.
- Self-published autobiographies by expatriates (from any era).
- Interviewees.
- Expertise in sociolinguistics and the study of life narratives.
- A hat that actually looks good on me.