About Us
Meet the Smart Company team:
| SC Staff | | SC Writers | | SC Photographers |
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Patsy Beckman 301.606.8833 patsynb@verizon.net Patsy spent five years as a producer for two international news agencies, Associated Press Television News and Sports News Television, in Washington, D.C. The West Virginia University School of Journalism graduate went on to work in public relations for Allegheny Energy. She is currently a freelance writer, making her home in Middletown with her husband and two young sons. |
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Krista Brick Krista is a freelance writer with more than 15 years of reporting experience. A graduate of Syracuse University, she started her journalism career on Maryland’s Eastern Shore before joining The Frederick News-Post in 1995. The mother of four young children, Krista enjoys writing in-depth features about the community. |
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Mike Clem
CenotaphPR@gmail.com Borrowing Mark Twain’s description of his own early career, Mike says he too began as a reporter and worked his way down to editor. Then after 25 years of experience in journalism, advertising, public relations and direct mail, Mike launched Cenotaph LLC, his own communications consulting and editorial service. He specializes in creating a wide range of promotional print materials for commercial businesses and nonprofit organizations, as well as freelances for a variety of publications. more... |
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Norine T. Dagliano
301.766.2032 www.ekminspirations.com Norine Dagliano, Job Search Strategist and Nationally Certified Résumé Writer, manages ekm Inspirations, a consulting, training, and résumé writing business she founded in Hagerstown, MD. She is committed to providing individuals with tools and inspiration to help them overcome the anxiety of looking for work. more... |
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Matt Edens A writer for true-crime cable documentary series such as A&E’s City Confidential or Snapped on the Oxygen Network, Matt likes to take the occasional break from murder with magazine work. In between, he’s written everything from Saturday morning cartoons to funeral home commercials. Matt lives in Frederick, in a 130-year-old townhouse, and is currently struggling with the sad realization he’s no Bob Vila. |
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Laurie Farrell Laurie has been in the marketing and communications industry for more than 20 years, and is currently a marketing communications manager for the Steel Framing Alliance in Washington, D.C. She began her career in journalism at the Maryland Gazette. She resides with her daughters in Eldersburg, Md. |
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Joanne Kaldy Joanne is a freelance writer, editor and communications consultant. She is a regular contributor to several national medical and healthcare publications. |
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Christina Marnik Christina is a freelance writer who previously worked as a staff writer for a community newspaper in Maryland. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from West Virginia University, where she earned several awards, including a Mark of Excellence Award for feature writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. She can be contacted by e-mail at cmarnik@comcast.net. |
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Jennifer Mellace (pronounced Mel-ah-chee) jennifer@mellacewrites.com A New Jersey native, Jennifer has been a freelance writer since the late 1990s. She’s also worked as an account executive for an advertising agency in Germantown and most recently served as assistant editor for a regional publication in Maryland. Today, she writes full-time and her work varies from business writing to articles published in various regional and national publications including Aging Well, Celebrate Gettysburg, Hagerstown, Maryland Life and Today’s Diet & Nutrition. She and her husband, Vince, live in Frederick with their two children, Connor and Sophia. |
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Christine Miller Ford Christine has been a freelance writer since 2001, with work appearing in The Washington Post, the Smithsonian Institution’s monthly newsletter, Grit magazine and other publications. A graduate of Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va., she formerly was on staff at The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, The Herald-Mail and The Gazette. She lives with her husband and three daughters in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle. |
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Scott Reuschling Scott has more than 10 years’ of experience developing Web sites for regional and national businesses. A partner in 2nd Floor Media, Scott thrives on keeping up with the latest Web trends — a crucial part of maintaining a successful site. |
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Anne Flentgen Rich
240-210-5973 Pasleycommunications.com anne@thewritinglounge.com Anne writes about Native American housing, electric co-ops, carpets, films, economic development and a host of other topics. She previously served clients such as the World Bank and Computer Sciences Corporation as an on-call writer and editor for Editorial Experts, Inc., an Alexandria, Va.-based communications firm that accepts only seven percent of the 3,000 applicants who seek to work for the company each year. more... |
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Jane F. Schmidt
301.797.2782 wordschmidt415@cs.com or schmidtjvk@cs.com Jane received a bachelor of arts degree in journalism from Moravian College, Bethlehem, Pa. Her professional background includes advertising, marketing, graphics design, and public relations experience for a biomedical instrumentation firm and real estate brokerage corporation, both located in the Lehigh Valley, Pa. area. She is a former advertising manager for the new member marketing division of McGraw-Hill's Professional and Engineering Book Clubs, where she gained extensive experience in direct mail marketing, advertising copywriting, print layout and design, and print production scheduling and management. more... |
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Dr. Paulette Shockey, Ph.D. Dr. Shockey was trained under the leadership of Dorothea Johnson at The Protocol School of Washington. During her more than 30-year career as an educator, she earned The Washington Post’s Annual Distinguished Educational Leadership Award and the Maryland State Department of Education’s Change Agent Award. She also noted the decline in the use of basic rules of etiquette among young people, and has made “Enriching Lives Through a Return to Civility” her mission. |
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Steven Standridge Steve has been a journalist for five years in the Harrisburg and Waynesboro, Pa., areas, receiving several Keystone Press Awards from the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association. He feels at home anywhere he travels and is often found with his camera. |
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Michelle Valigursky valigurm@bellsouth.net www.questforflavor.blogspot.com Michelle is a lifestyle writer, photo stylist and self-taught chef living in Atlanta. The former Marylander is developing recipes for her latest cookbook while she takes a culinary journey to experience new flavors from around the world. |
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Scott Wilkinson Scott is a Renaissance guy from Harpers Ferry, W.Va. A percussionist with a Juilliard degree, he has 20 years of experience as a copywriter, branding consultant and video producer. He has lived and worked in Venezuela and Italy, and is also a whitewater kayaker, hang-glider pilot, motorcyclist, snowboarder and road cyclist. He recently joined High Rock Studios as a copywriter and branding consultant. |
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