Your Program Coach

Hi! I’m Dawn. I started my career as a professor of 19^th-century American literature, and now I help researchers translate academic knowledge into communication for the “real world.”

How does a girl go from rooting around rare-book libraries to facilitating knowledge translation across a wide range of disciplines?

The path from researching a dissertation on a nineteenth-century fiction writer to specializing in innovation communication may not seem obvious. But as I look back, the title of my thesis seems prophetic: "Voice from the Borderland: Rebecca Harding Davis and the Southern Roots of American Social Protest Fiction."

The borderland is where I love to play. I've spent my career zigzagging between the academy and the world beyond the Ivory Tower, and now I help others bridge the gap between those two radically different domains.

And what is "social protest" but an old-fashioned word for "change-making"?

I believe that each of us is here to make a positive difference in the world, and I gravitate to collaborating with innovators who share my strong sense of mission.

I've had the privilege of serving clients  from a wide variety of fields, including engineering, IT, and health care. Today, I teach, coach, and write across a range of sectors, but my favorite zone is the space where academic knowledge meets the possibility of real-world transformation.

During my career, I've written, and taught others how to write, just about every kind of business document you can name. I've also authored two books on writing and more than a dozen writing courses.

I look forward to working with you as you learn how to translate your knowledge into clear, compelling communication that makes an impact.