My life as a writer begins with my grandmother.
A long-haired, smiling beauty with a belly like a prow, Grandma Catherine loved to laugh and lived with my family for much of the year. She also couldn’t see. When we ventured outside to run errands, visit a local landmark, catch up with friends, or attend church I’d often help guide her. This meant offering my shoulder or arm for balance and then narrating what we were seeing, doing, about to step on if we didn’t swerve a bit to the left.
When I think about it, guiding a visually impaired person is storytelling. You watch where you’re going, anticipate questions, paint the scene, and introduce the characters who approach or pass. Critically, you always have the final destination in mind, but you’re also open to the temptations of a side path or stop.
Early in life, I also started keeping travel journals. I remember a family train trip up the U.S. West Coast — was I five? six? — and a denim bookbag with a drawstring top that my mom prepared, one for me and one for my sister. Tucked inside were goodies for the journey: games, activity books, and a notepad and crayons. I tracked our trip’s progress in that notepad, creating entries every few days that featured an illustration at the top of the page and a description of the scene on the dotted lines below. The page I remember best is one of seastacks off the coast of Oregon; it was a wild, spray-filled, bird swirling place.
So, narrating the world to my grandmother, responding to the urge to record and reflect … these habits laid the planks on which I built a writing life. Add to that an early love of books and reading thanks to my lovely librarian mother. A peripatetic lifestyle that required I mentally map new places and note fresh customs. And, of course, some excellent English teachers in middle and high school who demanded clarity, focus, and a point of view.
This is me. When I’m not working with words and stories, I like to explore the world. My friend Rob Hummel took this photo in Canyon de Chelly, AZ, in August 2022.
These days, I think of my career in chapters. Chapter One featured my bookselling and publishing roles — fast-paced, many-hat-wearing, writing and recommending-rich jobs. Chapter Two brought me to a global company, a bigger, more formal place than any employer I’d ever had. Much to my surprise, its culture, people, and projects were a terrific fit, and I was able to grow — first as a copyeditor and product writer, and later as a managing editor, news and feature writer, ad hoc archivist, and oral historian.
Chapter Three? It’s unfolding now with my consulting work. From book reviewing and feature writing, to interviewing and archival projects, to storytelling with an eye on the past — this is what I love to do, with clients who value kindness, openness, depth, and diversity.
Ready to explore?
Drop me a line.
Resume highlights
A Passionate, Practiced Storyteller
What I love: excavating, shaping and sharing tales from yesterday through today.
What I bring: a compassionate, curious interviewing style dedicated to helping subjects shine;
a reader-focused communications approach based on clarity, transparency and diversity.
• Energetic, inclusive storytelling
• Oral histories, video profiles, Q&As
• Script development, archival research, clip curation, transcripts
• Polished writing, editing
• • • •
Professional Experience
ERIN DOUGLASS CONSULTING, LLC.
Nov 2020 to present
Content Strategist, Storyteller, Interviewer, Writer
• • •
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
Oct 2020 to present
Contributing Reviewer
• • •
THE CAPITAL GROUP COMPANIES, INC.
Oct 2020 to Oct 2022
Oral Historian, Senior Communications Consultant
• • •
THE CAPITAL GROUP COMPANIES, INC.
Nov 2012 to Jul 2020
Corporate Communications Senior Manager, Corporate Communications Manager, Senior Writer
• • • •
Career Chapters
Writing & Editing
THE CAPITAL GROUP COMPANIES, INC. (global asset manager)
Senior Web Writer, Web Writer, Senior Copy Editor, Copy Editor
• • •
HR ONE, INC. (news, best practices, products for Human Resources professionals)
Content Editor
• • •
DAVID KAUFMAN (visually impaired writer)
CA Editor, Reader, Museum Guide
• • •
Publishing & Bookselling
NOLO (legal books, forms, tools publisher)
Manager of Publications, Online and Direct Marketing Editor, Promotions Editor
• • •
PACIFIC PIPELINE (independent book distributor)
Publications Coordinator, Layout and Production Assistant, Freelance Writer
• • •
POSMAN BOOKS (independent bookstore)
Manager of all departments
• • •
CHEVALIER’S BOOKS (independent bookstore)
Co-manager of children’s department
• • •
Professional Development
International Council on Archives (ICA) Section on Business Archives (SBA) annual conference
Capital Perspectives senior manager leadership development initiative featuring Harvard Business School faculty and content
Capital Foundations leadership development initiative featuring Harvard Business School faculty and content
An Event Apart UX/design/web/mobile/writing conferences
CEB’s Corporate Narrative Conference in D.C.
Web-writing, information design and user experience-focused workshops and events
• • •
Education
Bachelor of Arts degree in Language, Culture and Gender from Pomona College; graduated cum laude
