HANNAH
STRADER
Writer / Journalist / Storyteller
About Me
I graduated from the University of Kansas in December 2018 with a degree in journalism and creative writing. I have past experience as both a writer and editor for high school and collegiate level newspaper staff and spent the summer of 2017 in London working with Healthista, an online women's health magazine. Recently I've expanded into copywriting work to build up a new skill and offer help to businesses in their communication with consumers. My 8 years of retail experience as a worker and manager on the sales floor gives me unique insight into consumer needs.
Formerly the Editor in Chief, Senior Editor, and staff writer at Her Campus KU.
Work Experience
Spring 2020 - Current
DEMDACO
My primary responsibility with DEMDACO is to create the written content and product descriptions for wholesale business catalogs that are mailed nationally to retailers. For each of the 5 product categories, I work closely with the design and creative team to produce over 1,000 workable pages twice yearly. I have also worked with the web team to help create the Giving Bear landing page for a national TV campaign, and the marketing team to write e-mail campaigns as well as brochure mailers sent directly to consumers. The DEMDACO retail store in Kansas City, Kansas features my writing on signage throughout and I have tried my hand at crafting meaningful sentiments for both packaging and product designs.
Fall 2019
The Pitch KC
From October through December I worked as the multimedia intern with The Pitch, one of Kansas City's most respected alternative news publications. I managed social media accounts, wrote copy as needed, put together event calendars and pitched ideas to editors. I worked closely with the digital, editorial and design staff on site to produce professional written content.
Spring 2019
Glass Lewis & Co.
I did contracted work for three months at Glass Lewis, which began with an intensive two week course on learning the language of corporate annual reports and interpreting data to find what decisions worked most favorably for shareholders. I utilized their unique CMS system to interpret annual reports and yearly filings into easily readable documents and determined whether a vote for or against would be most appropriate for major national and international corporations.
Spring 2018
University Daily Kansan
In conjunction with a copy editing class, I spent time working in the Kansan newsroom 10 hours per week. During my time there, I checked copy for grammatical or punctuation errors, corrected typos and mistakes, fact-checked for accuracy in reporting and analyzed content for comprehension. This required me to work with the AP Style Guide and to communicate closely with section editors and staff writers.
Fall 2015 - Spring 2018
I joined the Her Campus KU staff as a writer and became the senior editor the following year. As the senior editor, my responsibilities included generating story ideas, developing writing talent for our content team, contributing articles, copy editing and enforcing deadlines. In 2017, I became the chapter president and took on the additional role of directing the chapter's events and promotions team. Here I honed in on my leadership abilities and networking skills while working with successful and inspiring young women.
Summer 2017
Healthista is a British online women's fitness and health magazine. Under Anna Magee (former health editor for The Daily Telegraph and Red Magazine) I transcribed interviews, formatted article posts, utilized SEO-friendly tags, contributed content ideas, wrote stories and got to know WordPress more intimately. My internship abroad confirmed my love for journalism and storytelling.
Education
2018 / DEC
University of Kansas
I earned my BA in journalism and BGS in English with a focus in creative writing. During my time at the University, I was a floor manager for local retail stores and juggled classes with Her Campus meetings and events. What time I did have was spent reading endless books and petting my cats.
2013 / MAY
Shawnee Mission South
Unlike many students, I genuinely loved my time in high school. I became close to many teachers and continue to consult them on projects for advice and inspiration. I'm lucky to have also worked as the features editor for The Patriot from 2010 – 2013. My second home was the journalism room, and I was also a member of NHS and the JV cheerleading squad. Upon graduation, I was recruited to be the features editor for The Campus Ledger at Johnson County Community College