Content Marketing + Thought Leadership + Corporate Narrative
I'm a writer, editor, content marketer, and communications professional with more than 15 years of experience crafting big-picture narratives that connect business, technology, culture, and creativity. I've led content, digital, and communications teams and initiatives at Slack, Rippling, Crossbeam, Wonderschool, and many clients at top technology communications agency Mission North. As an early member of the Content & Editorial team at Slack, I helped establish the brand as a leading B2B voice in human collaboration and the future of work.
Before working in tech, I was a staff writer at Fast Company focused on creativity, productivity and in-depth business features, and also held senior editorial roles at Rolling Stone and Billboard. Prior to becoming a journalist, I was a policy researcher and speech writer for Harvard University leadership teams including the Office of the President and the Dean of the Graduate School of Education.
I have a B.A. in politics from Princeton University, an Ed.M. from Harvard University, an M.A. in journalism from New York University, and have elite high net-debt individual status with student loan administrator Navient. I was published in Best Music Writing 2010, co-wrote the afterword for a collection of work from the New Yorker's first pop music critic Ellen Willis, and authored the 33 1/3 book "Freedom of Choice" about pioneering new wave band Devo.
The pieces below are a small fraction of my work — an overwhelming volume of others, along with a full client list and references, are available upon request.
I live in Oakland, CA with my husband, two daughters, three cats, and a lot of trash.
Content Marketing + Thought Leadership + Corporate Narrative
I wrote this industry report on the phases, elements, and most important technical features for contract lifecycle management
Consulted for Eightfold AI's Chief Economist to write a contributed piece on avoiding layoffs by assessing your workforce's skills and planning proactively.
Consulted for Eightfold AI's Chief Economist to write a contributed piece on the fact that as many companies push mandates to return to the office, those fostering a skills-based approach to remote work can build a stronger workforce and stay ahead of labor market changes.
I wrote this industry white paper on AI’s risks, rewards, and how to leverage it to create, execute, and better manage contracts.
I consulted with a client's chief economist to help write advice about four important strategic questions you should be asking now to plan for AI implementation across an organization.
Consulted with Eightfold AI's chief economist on writing this piece of thought leadership on how A.I. will play a significant role in the way we work, but won't outright replace people at the scale many fear.
Consulted with a tech client's chief economist on writing an optimistic outlook for generative AI's impact on the workforce.
Consulted with a tech client's chief economist writing about the brain drain of women from upper management.
Report on a survey of 2,000 remote and hybrid workers across the U.S. about their experiences and their expectations of the workweek after two years of working from home
Slack sponsored content for Delta's in-flight magazine. True story: A Slack engineer said his grandmother read it on a flight and finally understood what he did for a living.
Commissioned, edited, and wrote pieces for a print publication created for Slack's 2018 Frontiers user conference, highlighting and repurposing popular/key content (link from the personal website of the chief in-house designer on the project)
Interview with Stanford professor Pamela Hinds on how technology and humanity will determine the future of teams; also published in Channels Magazine
Developed narrative and wrote report for a data study conducted by software delivery platform Harness, a client at Mission North
Consulted to help write a contributed op/ed for the CEO of a disaster preparedness app, one of my clients at Mission North, later acquired by Citizen
Consulted to help write a thought leadership Tweetstorm for a client and Google Security exec on Password Day, a holiday that apparently exists
Slack company momentum post written upon reaching 10 million daily active users
Interview with author and team performance expert Lindsay McGregor
Blog post announcing Rippling's new brand campaign and the creative thinking behind it
A Twitter thread, written by the then-head of audience at Wikimedia, explaining why Slack's blog was so effective. It perfectly articulated and validated my vision for our content, and was completely unprompted..
Journalism
At this link is a browsable/searchable portfolio of a decade's worth of my published clips from Fast Company, Billboard, Rolling Stone, NPR, Pitchfork, City Pages, Spin, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. A few highlights are below.
I wrote 12 entries in this celebration of the songs and albums that shaped the '90s. To find mine, Ctrl/Cmd-F "Nagy" (not Evie, as it's the middle of the word "review"!).
She was never just that prim prude from the start of Grease, nor the strutting vamp from its finale. Her superpower, for over 50 years, was embodying both at once.
I interviewed 16 of Pixar's most illustrious alums, steeped for decades in Pixar's potent creative culture, who revealed for this in-depth piece how they apply the company's philosophies of success to their own ventures.
A nice boss and strong work ethic can't protect new parents from employer policies that aren't held accountable to the greater good.
A feature on Devo's extremely unconventional marketing campaign for their first album in 20 years, 2010's "Something for Everybody".
For our annual look at independent and DIY artists and businesses, Billboard uncovered the best (and worst) advice to follow, starting with indie godparents Superchunk, who took their business into their own hands a quarter-century ago and built Merge Records.
Feature on the Disco Biscuits' successful self-funded annual festival. Selected for Best Music Writing 2010 collection from Da Capo.
The first published profile of sock brand Stance and its state-of-the-art facility, deal with the NBA, celebrity love, and a mission to lead a category left for dead.
The new med school at the University of Texas takes a totally new approach to training doctors-and could turn health care upside down.
A salty Father's Day essay on the representation of late fathers in pop culture, adapted from my presentation at the 2018 Pop Conference, an annual conference for scholarship in popular music
I reviewed the first compendium of strips about comics' first female superhero (even predating Wonder Woman).
The epic story of low-budget titan Cannon Films is one of my favorite subjects on earth, and I've been obsessed with the estranged cousins' competing lambada films for decades. Here is a very stupid artifact of that obsession.
The first iteration of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, which started previews last November, became a national punchline thanks to its constant cast injuries, budget problems and an incoherent plot. But everyone wanted to witness the train wreck, or at least read lots of accounts by people who did.
My Book(s)
Learn all about my 2015 book, part of Bloomsbury's acclaimed 33 1/3 series, with a foreword by Fred Armisen.
Devo's Freedom of Choice (33 1/3) [Nagy, Evie, Armisen, Fred] at Amazon, lots of great reviews!
Out of the Vinyl Deeps: Ellen Willis on Rock Music [Willis Aronowitz, Nona, Carr, Daphne, Nagy, Evie, Frere-Jones, Sasha] at Amazon. I co-wrote the afterword to this collection of music writing from the New Yorker's first pop critic, who was also my professor in the graduate program she founded at NYU.