Rosefinch Creative Inc.
Want to work together? Find me on LinkedIn or send me an email!
Rosefinch Mercantile and Tea Room is owned by Rosefinch Creative Inc, my communications company. When you work with me as a freelance communicator, you are helping to support a rural cafe and post office that would otherwise struggle to be sustainable.
For more than 20 years, I've been a writer and strategist with an intuition for finding common ground and bringing people together. Most of all, I love creating accessible content that allows any reader to engage with complex issues. This has driven my work as a political speechwriter, a newspaper columnist, and the online public face of several campaigns and brands.
I am fuelled by: connecting people, building networks, asking questions, telling stories, crunching numbers, and shaping the discourse.
I can talk to someone for five minutes and figure out what they know that could change the world, and who they have to tell to make that happen. Give me another couple of minutes and I can usually find the name of that person in my contacts list (which contains everyone from a feminist harmonica teacher to a former Secretary of the US Navy).
I have discovered that the best way to draw people in is with a mix of surprise and familiarity, and I like to think of myself as a progressive feminist “fixer”.
WHAT I CAN DO FOR YOU
We tend to decide pretty quickly if we like someone. Maybe they made us laugh, maybe they told us something compelling about their life, or maybe we discovered something meaningful we have in common.
People are assessing your businesses the same way. They decide if they like you based on what you are saying, how you are saying it, and who you are saying it to. Most of all, they want to know your story. What fuels you? What are you trying to build? How did you end up where you are?
The answers to these questions will determine how you connect with customers, journalists, investors, and countless other stakeholders. Here are some ways I can help make sure they like what they see.
ESTABLISH YOUR PERSONALITY
What you say is important, but it is how you are saying it that will truly forge a connection between you and your customers. I will work with you to determine best public-facing personality for your brand.
DEVELOP YOUR NARRATIVE
You want your customers to be able to talk about you with other people in their networks. I’ll make sure they can tell your story in a quick, clear, and compelling way.
TELL YOUR STORIES
One of the most effective ways to set yourself apart is by producing credible and engaging content that I can push out to your target audiences. I can build this content around everything from customer feedback to Key Progress Indicators.
PERSUADE YOUR AUDIENCE
The good news is, your customers are already using social media to help them decide what to buy. The better news is, I can find them and engage with them in a way that will get you on their radar and keep you there.
INTERPRET YOUR DATA
There is no need to guess what approach is having the most direct and efficient impact on getting you towards your marketing goals. I will monitor data, find the patterns, and strategically pivot or tweak our approach as I go.
WORK SAMPLES
OPINION EDITORIALS
I care a lot about the way the world is, and I’m always doing my best to make it better. I do my best to create entry points for tricky topics, like “gender neutral” clothing for kids, how to help a friend in crisis, and why fewer white men need to run for election.
REPORTED PIECES
Sometimes I land on a story so compelling that I want to tell everyone. Like the existence of an open-air prison in the Philippines, the internet’s secret sprained ankle fetishists, and what putting someone in an FMRI machine teaches us about procrastination.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Every year during the World Economic Forum, I write and design some of the most popular pieces of static content for Oxfam International, like this post about Colonization and Corporatism, and this post about historically high tax rates during times of crisis. I also created all the content for the #WomenInnovate hashtag for the Centre for Social Innovation, to diversify the discourse on International Women’s Day.
PROMOTION AND PERSUASION
I wrote this email copy that resulted in an 81% conversion rate from online petition signatures to print copy signatures, as well as this email copy in favour of a federal policy change. I also created this toolkit for activists who wanted to help lobby for a tax change to help end inequality.
GHOSTWRITING
No matter how complex the issues or high the stakes, I am able to match the voice, tone, and goals of what my clients need written. That includes a chatty blog post for a tech recruiter, a reassuring policy update from an NGO leader, and a persuasive longform speech for a politician.
SEO WRITING
I have written some of the most popular non-internal content for the Slack blog. Recent favourite pieces include Working from home while being your best self, The science of managing up, and How feeling left out at work can affect your job.
NEWSLETTER CREATION
I looked at a year’s worth of open and click data before reinventing the Centre for Social Innovation’s email newsletter. I rebranded it, overhauled its content, and moved it from bi-monthly to every weekday. The open rate doubled. You can see sample issues here, here, and here.
VIDEO PRODUCTION
When working with Because I am a Girl, I asked staff members to bring their kids to work so I could ask them how they make the world a better place. I conducted off-screen interviews and collected their answers into this charming video, which is still the most popular thing on the campaign’s Youtube channel.
CROWDFUNDING
Last winter, I ran a Kickstarter to create a book of non-alcoholic cocktail recipes inspired by the Tarot. I wrote all the copy for the campaign, as well as doing the media relations and influencer outreach. I even learned iMovie so I could make our promotional video. I spent less than $500 on Facebook and Instagram ads, and raised over $40K (making it the most funded recipe book on the platform).
VIRAL STORYTELLING
In early 2019, I decided to tell Twitter my favourite story of solidarity — Kris Kristofferson’s support of Sinead O’Connor. The tweets had over 33 million impressions, and I was invited to meet Kristofferson and his wife Lisa. (Thrilling photo documentation here.)
TESTIMONIALS
“I enjoyed working with Audra immensely: on an almost daily basis, she brought forward thought-provoking questions, helping us think differently and to creatively reach our goals. Audra is inclusive, persistent, kind, thoughtful and analytical. If you are looking to go beyond the norm, ask Audra to help you get there!”
Alexandra Lopoukhine
Director of Partnerships & Influence at Mercy Corps
“Audra’s a strategic and passionate coms professional, with deep understanding of the many communities she moves in, works with & skillfully addresses. Also, a very nice person! I’d certainly hire her again.”
Alastair Cheng
Editor, publisher & enthusiast
“Bringing people together is one of Audra’s many great skills. She can assemble a team to do just about anything, from her extensive network. Once she has that team, she is an expert at figuring out audience and market, and finding ways to reach them and tell the stories you need to tell. She’s also a delight: she’s funny, caring, and empathetic. She’s a great person to have on a project: she’s passionate, caring, creative, and engaged.”
Jennie Worden
Executive Director at Orchestra Toronto
“Audra is a gifted writer, who can transcend across medium and platforms. On social media, she has a keen ability in facilitating important and meaningful conversations with fairness and respect. Audra is kind-hearted, generous, and passionate. She cares deeply about various issues, but most importantly, cares about people.”
Sylvia Nowak
University of Toronto Research Assistant at the Alternative Toronto archive
“Audra is a talented, highly effective communicator and is particularly skilled in helping clients clarify the results they want and how to get them. I have worked with Audra as a colleague in the same organization, and I have sought her contract services. She always delivers.”
Morna Ballantyne
Executive Director at Child Care Now
“If you’re looking for someone who knows how to harness the power of content then look no further than Audra Williams. She is truly an expert at building and engaging online communities – I’ve seen her do it first-hand. Audra is fantastic at approaching common problems in unique and interesting ways, always with the end-goal in sight. Besides all of this, she has a stalwart moral compass that makes her a thoughtful, genuine and excellent human being to have as part of your team.”
Marcie Crosbie
Growth & Retention Marketing Manager at EF Educational Tours
“Audra Williams is a communications genius. Her expertise is current. She has formal communications training and an extensive resumé but her real strength as a digital communications strategist is her experience as a student and observer of the internet which she fuses with her creativity, her wit and her drive. And while she ‘gets’ the internet, her general orientation is on making change and getting results in real life. And in this she excels.”
Chris Lawson
Owner operator at Jungle Internet
“Audra is intelligent, experienced, principled, and brilliant. Her writing and strategy are unparalleled as she helps navigate stakeholder relations and issues with insight, honesty, and grace. As a person, she is charming and trustworthy. She brings passion to her work and is a joy to work with. If you are focused on values-driven communications and marketing, I can honestly tell you Audra is the person you want at your table.”
Ravi Joshi
Director of Communications at The Council of Canadians
“Audra is a fantastic communicator. She wrote one of the single most impactful speeches I’ve ever read. Audra knows diverse audiences, and she takes time to understand the end user/listener. She never merely delivers blog-standard, out-of-the-box products. She thinks creatively and innovatively. She asks the tough, honest questions you never realized you needed to hear. She pushes you to think about big possibilities, and to align with your values. Audra is on top of latest trends and platforms, and gives excellent advice on which ones are appropriate. Her work is sleek and well-pitched. She has an immense network to draw on, and she’s well-admired in her sector.”
Lauren Dobson-Hughes
Strategic advocacy and government relations consultant
“Audra is both one of my favorite people to work with and for. We have worked as collaborators on articles and presentations and I have worked under her direction on several communications projects. She is both an excellent manager and coworker, a delight to communicate with, and she brings her passion and wit to every project she is part of. Audra is a deep well of ideas and insights and is in touch with current trends and affairs in a way that constantly astonishes me!”
Mariel Kelly
Content Designer at Bitmoji
“Audra is a powerhouse when it comes to communications. She is highly skilled in social media and has a wide network which is key to making social media work for any organization. In addition to this, she has important skills in traditional communications tools like press releases and speech writing, skills that aren’t always easy to find. She brings to the table creative ideas, the ability to listen closely (all too often missing in communications people!), and a genuine commitment to justice. Audra brings results that you can see. I highly recommend her.”