“Hi, my name is Jennifer and I’m a recovering academic.”

I’ve been introducing myself this way for years and it still gets a laugh, almost every time. And yeah, it’s funny but it’s also true. The years I spent getting a Ph.D. in history have shaped me, for good and for ill, in ways that still sometimes surprise me.

I spent about half my adult life in higher ed – as a grad student, a teacher, and an administrator at leading public universities in Wisconsin, New York, Illinois, and California. The other half I’ve spent as a jack of all trades, translating my academic writing-research-critical thinking skills into the “real world.”

My #alt-ac highlight reel includes: park ranger at Women’s Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, NY; coordinator of a Kids Walk for Homeless Kids in Chicago; PR hack for a couple of California ballot initiatives; and lots and lots marketing communications and project management, in venues ranging from grassroots nonprofits to powerhouse PR firms and, of course, higher education. For more on my professional work history, check out my LinkedIn profile — or just pop over to experience.

I started Creative Egghead Consulting to help other writers, creatives, and heart-centered organizations get a creative project off the ground or across the finish line. After the challenges of 2020, it’s clear that we need new and better stories — and I’m eager help bring them into the world.

Are you looking for help telling your story? Connect with me at jennifer -at- creative-egghead.com

about the egghead

Working at the UC Davis Humanities Institute from 2007 to 2011, I fell in love with the egghead sculptures by Robert Arneson that dot the campus.  Before long, the egghead had worked its way into the DHI’s marketing materials, first on a poster for the Public Intellectuals Forum and eventually into a “Be the Egghead” campaign for the DHI and the value of the humanities. Elliott Pollard, the DHI’s webmaster, did the design work that transformed a photo into the line drawing, which then showed up on promotional coffee mugs, staff T-shirts, and eventually a giant poster that hung for a time in the hallway outside the DHI’s conference room.

And now it’s become the logo for my creative consulting business, bringing a sense of humor and fun to the very serious, very necessary work of putting our stories out into the world.