My best writing is the writing nobody reads.
The work I'm proudest of isn't a headline. It's the system underneath it: the rules that decide every word a brand produces, so a junior writer down the line knows exactly what to say. A good voice system outlives even the greatest line.
5
Voice systems, each one started from nothing
10+
Years of embedded product writing
4
Regulated categories: wealth, mortgage, telecom, institutional finance
Silver
NYC Design Awards, Best Mobile Marketing (American Express)
Goldman Sachs Private Wealth
A voice and content system for a platform serving clients with $10M or more in investable assets.
$10M+
Investable assets, client base
~40
Design system components given a language layer
60
Pages of public design system, launched February 2020
The engagement
Two separate engagements, both embedded at Goldman Sachs headquarters. I managed the copy team that built the voice and content system for Goldman's Private Wealth Management platform.
The audience was Goldman's high-net-worth clients. The constraint was writing that had to satisfy Legal and compliance and still sound like a person wrote it. Those two demands pull against each other, and most financial platforms settle the argument by handing the decision to compliance.
So the work was not really about writing good lines. It was about building the standards, terminology, and patterns that let the platform's teams stay on voice without a writer sitting in every review.
What I owned
Voice architecture, tone principles, terminology, navigation and data-display standards, onboarding, alerts, and error states. I wrote the documentation that made those decisions repeatable, then handed it to teams who used it without me. Hiring was part of the role: I recruited a junior writer onto the team, onboarded him, and managed his daily work.
The persona
Confident but not cocky. Smart but not stodgy. Helpful but not pushy. Expert but not bossy.
The principles
Fewer words always win. Communicate only essential details so clients can focus on their own tasks.
Principle 01
Help, don't apologize. When something went wrong, give a clear explanation and help them fix it.
Principle 02
Tell, don't plead. Avoid empty niceties like "please" and "unfortunately." Start with the client need.
Principle 03
Beyond the client platform
I led naming and product language on an internal analytics platform, wrote its technical documentation, and wrote the executive narrative that introduced it to firm leadership. Three very different registers for the same product, which is a useful test of whether a voice system actually holds.
I also led the copy on the language layer of Goldman's public design system: roughly 40 components across 60 pages, launched February 2020. Component language is the least glamorous writing in the building. It is also the writing that appears the most times.
Better.com
Embedded product writer across UX, brand, and product copy for a company moving one of the most anxiety-inducing processes in American life entirely online.
Sample copy
"Your rate is locked. That means it won't change no matter what happens to the market while your loan is processing."
Rate lock confirmation
"This is the part most lenders make complicated. We're going to make it a checklist."
Document upload intro
"We didn't hear back from the underwriter. That's normal, we'll ping them again tomorrow."
Error / delay state
In the flow
Error and delay states are the hardest copy in a mortgage flow. The customer is already anxious, the news is rarely good, and the wrong tone turns a routine wait into a reason to walk. These lines had to stay calm without lying.
Verizon Wireless
A vocabulary, nomenclature standard, and copy pattern system across VerizonWireless.com and the MyVerizon app, serving 113 million subscribers.
15.6x
Mobile sales conversion, within seven months
50%+
Overall usage increase
68→85%
In-app bill payment
27%
Autopay enrollment increase
Sample copy, MyVerizon app
"You have plenty of data remaining for the month."
Data hub, positive state headline
"Say goodbye to data limits with unlimited data."
Plan upgrade, unlimited tier CTA
"Switch to a 4 GB data limit to save $60/mo."
Dynamic plan headline, personalized to current plan
In the app
A pattern is worth more than a line here. The dynamic plan headline had to work for every combination of current plan and available upgrade, which means the writing had to survive being assembled by a system rather than a person.
Evercore
Brand voice, tone guidelines, and messaging framework for an institutional finance name building for individual investors for the first time.
Principles from the voice doc
Institutional trust, consumer clarity. Both. Always.
Principle 01
Don't soften institutional language. Replace it.
Principle 02
Formality is a dial, not a setting.
Principle 03
American Express
Mobile-first campaign and content design, with copy tested directly in the flow rather than in brand decks.
The principle
Every word earns its space. On a small screen, there's no room for a second draft.
Working principle
In the flow
Card names, benefit language, and application steps all had to read consistently across a portfolio of twenty products. The copy problem was less about persuasion than about making twenty near-identical things distinguishable in a glance.
SoundCloud
First dedicated writer in the company's history. I built the brand voice and launched the subscription that asked 175 million free users to start paying.
Five voice systems, each one started from nothing. More than a decade of product writing across mortgage, wealth management, telecom, and institutional finance. The job, every time, was turning copy written for compliance into copy a person can read.