Almost five years ago exactly, I decided it was time to try something different. Without really knowing where I’d end up, I launched an independent consulting business focusing on helping people and organizations create more effective content more efficiently and economically. I have had the good fortune to work with some amazing people who do amazing work.

In those five years, I also wrote a book, gave talks and workshops around the world, participated in transformative business coaching, and had conversations (both on the record and off) and established friendships with some of the best minds in the design, user experience, information architecture, content strategy, and content marketing fields.

And now it is the end of that chapter. I have accepted an offer to join a communications consulting company working to make health information accessible to everyone. More details will come, so follow me on LinkedIn or Twitter for details. (I don’t accept LinkedIn connection requests from people I haven’t had a 1:1 conversation with, so just hit the Follow button if you want my activity to show up in your feed.)

In this new chapter, I’ll be working my way back to my roots: international affairs. As the world falls apart, I am reminded about why I studied that subject way back in the 1990s: My core values are freedom and independence, and I wanted to help more people experience those things. So much has changed, for better and for worse. I think that I have gained knowledge and skills and experience that will help me help more people in the world that emerges from this hot mess of a pandemic we’re in. Content strategy, after all, is people. And people are where change happens at the most base level.

My hopes for this new chapter include:

Mental space to explore new ideas and domains
Time to develop hobbies and extracurricular interests
Making new connections—with people and between domains
Setting new goals for the second half of my career and life (but then again, my grandmother turns 100 on June 8 and I’m not yet 50, so maybe a little more than “half”)
Serendipity

Thank you for reading and sharing blog posts over the years. Much that I have written is evergreen, thought I wish it weren’t. Keep asking questions—of yourself, of your colleagues, of everyone. That’s how change happens.

Stay curious.

Stay brave.

Stay strong.

Stay connected.