Experience

Copywriting + Creative Direction
JON© Brand Storyteller
AUG 2025 - PRESENT
Helping health, wellness, and life sciences startups articulate strategic purpose, define early-stage brand voice, and build high-impact multichannel content platforms.


Creative Director + Copy Team Lead
Optum
AUG 2023 - AUG 2025

• Copy team leadership: Mentored and led 4 writers with creative oversight, workload balancing, weekly 1:1s, mid/yearly reviews, stretch goals, and coaching.

• High-impact player/coach execution: Maintained a 50/50 balance between strategic team leadership and hands-on writing for major launch campaigns, video scripts, and executive communications.

• Diverse audience support: Steered omnichannel creative strategy and execution for members, employers, providers, payers, brokers, and health systems.

• Broad medical expertise: Preventive health, chronic disease, therapeutic medicine, fertility, behavioral/mental health, and aging population (Medicare).

• Measurable revenue growth: Architected a behavior-triggered email content strategy that drove $2.3M in incremental revenue for Optum Financial.

• End-to-end product strategy: Spearheaded content strategy for the Optum Bank app relaunch, directing the vision from high-level marketing campaigns down to final UX/UI copy QA.

• Cross-functional & operational innovation: Unified UX, design, and external agencies under updated brand guidelines while pioneering enterprise generative AI workflows to elevate efficiency and creative output.


Associate Creative Director + Design Team Lead
Optum
JAN 2022 – AUG 2023

• Led a multidisciplinary creative team while acting as a principal copy contributor, bridging the gap between design and messaging to elevate campaign execution.

• Partnered with strategy and product teams to evolve the enterprise brand voice, ensuring consistency across complex healthcare segments and diverse demographics from Boomers to Gen Alpha.

• Evolved and managed brand voice, ensuring messaging consistency across complex health segments and diverse demographics from Boomers to Gen Alpha.

• Collaborated closely with marketing and UX design partners to build unified, end-to-end user journeys where content and product integrated seamlessly.

• Developed and executed integrated, compliant campaigns spanning high-impact channels including direct mail, video, digital, experiential activations, and social platforms.

• Built and presented Quarterly Business Reports (QBRs) to marketing executives across 4 major business segments, translating creative performance into business metrics.

• Guided and reviewed co-branded campaigns for clients FedEx, Delta, Exxon, Wells Fargo, Walgreens.

Senior Copywriter + Editor
Optum
SEP 2021 – JAN 2022

• Co-led the internal Editorial Center of Excellence (EdCOE), setting brand standards and guiding over 100 writers and editors across Optum, UHC, and UHG.

• Directed messaging strategy for an enterprise brand relaunch, managing everything from the initial message framework to execution oversight on the corporate site and all marketing channels.

• Governed brand voice across a complex ecosystem, ensuring compliance and consistency across product copy, key events, high-conversion landing pages, email marketing, and video production.

• Authored high-impact multi-channel content, balancing creative 360 campaigns with highly technical thought leadership and editorial content.

• Adapted enterprise-wide messaging to navigate shifting policy updates, clinical regulations, and diverse audience needs without impacting campaign velocity.



Senior Copywriter + Content Lead
Rally Health
OCT 2018 – SEP 2021

• Scaled a digital health startup’s brand footprint, defining early-stage positioning and managing multichannel content to support and engage over 3M+ Rally members.

• Led experiential messaging journeys for major national activations at SXSW and CES, scripting and developing content for high-profile brand ambassadors including Katie Couric and Maria Menounos.

• Partnered deeply with UX/XD product teams on site and app development, ensuring a seamless, human-centered user experience from initial marketing click to in-app engagement.

• Governed and enforced brand voice across a full-funnel ecosystem, including product copy, high-conversion landing pages, email marketing, partner toolkits, and video production.

• Spearheaded cross-functional creative collaboration to unify enterprise storytelling, streamline execution, and accelerate content development velocity.



Senior Copywriter
Wells Fargo, In-House Agency
MAR 2015 – SEPT 2018

• Drove UX strategy and message mapping for the primary enterprise dot-com platform, ensuring complex, highly regulated consumer journeys were intuitive and transparent.

• Integrated product copy within the native banking app, aligning top-of-funnel marketing campaigns with in-app digital product design for an unbroken user experience.

• Led mobile-first UX and content strategy to modernize legacy brand storytelling, successfully driving digital engagement among Millennial and Gen Z demographics.

• Partnered cross-functionally with design and strategy leads to author integrated 360 creative across digital, retail, and physical/experiential environments.

• Balanced editorial agility and compliance, writing everything from complex, long-form educational narratives to high-conversion, short-form digital copy.



Senior Copywriter
Questus
SEP 2012 – FEB 2015

•  Drove Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) impact across traditional, digital, social, and experiential channels for major national accounts, including Capital One and Suzuki.

•  Scripted and directed broadcast TV and radio spots, partnering closely with external production houses to maintain narrative intent and message consistency.

•  Developed multi-channel B2B and partner collateral, streamlining dealer and field marketing assets to ensure unified brand messaging at the regional level.

•  Managed a diverse portfolio of matrixed enterprise clients, including Universal Orlando, Avery, and General Mills, adapting creative execution to unique brand governance.

•  Collaborated cross-functionally within an agile agency setting to translate complex client briefs into high-conversion, consumer-friendly 360 marketing campaigns.

Copywriting Faculty (Full-time)
Academy of Art University, School of Advertising
JAN 2009 – JUNE 2011

•  Instructed university-level courses focusing on creative concept development, advanced copywriting technique, and multi-channel interactive strategy.

• Mentored and coached emerging copywriters on mastering brand voice development, portfolio execution, and high-level creative problem-solving.

• Instilled rigorous editorial precision and craft discipline, training students to develop clear, impactful communication strategies across digital and traditional media.

• Evaluated and critiqued complex creative campaigns, fostering a high standard of narrative structure, message hierarchy, and strategic intent.


Freelance Writer
Ad agencies and in-house
JULY 2008 – SEP 2012
Developed campaigns and messaging for clients such as Suzuki Cycles, Pennzoil,
Kaiser Permanente, Wells Fargo, Kiva.org, Timbuk2


Copywriter
Ogilvy
MAR 2005 – JUNE 2008
• Worked online and off to bring fresh ideas (and a dash of wit) to a few iconic brands
• Yahoo!, IBM, BP, Barclays


Copywriter
AKQA
MAR 2004 – MAR 2005
XBox, Nike, Visa, Palm


EDUCATION
BFA in Copywriting
Academy of Art University, School of Advertising
San Francisco, Ca


RECOGNITION
Art Director’s Club
The Andys
CLIOs
New York Festivals
NAA Athena
Los Angeles Creative Club
AVA Digital Awards
Hermes
Marcom Awards