Lisa Cunningham
is a writing and editing whiz with more than 20 years experience. Her media work spans newspapers and magazines, Web sites, news releases, newsletters, directories and brochures.
She is researching and writing a biography about Phyllis P. Marshall, a university student advocate and manager who faced five types of cancer. Spending her career as the mother confessor of the University of South Florida, Marshall thrived until her death at age 78. The book's working title is Fearless Phyllis: Mother Confessor of the University of South Florida.
Cunningham met Marshall while serving in USF's Communications and Marketing office, where she spent 10 years promoting the school's research brand. Hired as the assistant faculty-staff newsletter editor and alumni magazine section editor in 1993, Cunningham was promoted to newsletter editor shortly thereafter and became a media relations professional in 1996.
By generating more news releases than anyone on a five-person media relations team, she landed stories in prestigious national publications such as The New York Times and Self Magazine. She also worked with emerging new media, including WebMD. Cunningham also did all the legwork for an MSNBC production team visiting the campus for the 2000 Presidential election.
Following a four-year stint in media relations, Cunningham returned to her first love, editing and overseeing all production for the faculty-staff newsletter. She learned QuarkXpress, Photoshop and several other programs. Simultaneously, she edited 16 alumni-focused pages for USF Magazine and wrote dozens of profiles and shorter articles for it. Cunningham also wrote Web page content, completely organized each newsletter issue and laid out newsletter and magazine pages.
After a decade at the public university, which ranks second in Florida for the amount of federal research dollars it earns, Lisa decided to pursue a freelance career. She published several articles for local magazine Tampa Bay Illustrated, the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute and several Associated Press newspapers and their Web sites. In 2007, she completed a business manual for entrepreneurs.
While finishing the Marshall biography, Cunningham is accepting new clients. She produces the highest-quality, accurate and concise documents at a very reasonable rate. She coaches writers hoping to publish their memoirs and business leaders providing their expertise. She will take on editing and news release writing assignments.
For estimates and other information, contact her at lcunningham614@gmail.com.