Once upon a time
If there is one thing I know for sure, it’s that I was born to tell stories.
As a child, I used to beg for stories from my mom and dad. At bedtime, I’d plead with my dad for just one more “story from your head” (otherwise known as a make believe story). I would practice reading books like Clifford and Mercer Mayer with my mom and a clicker that sounded like a cricket when it was time to turn the page.
Then came my first foray into publishing in sixth grade with my critically acclaimed “Life as a Cheerio,” as well as a stint as the class newspaper advice columnist. Since then, I have never considered doing anything other than writing for a living.
In my career, I have chased fire trucks, interviewed Richard Simmons (he called me Lady Drake), covered a murder-suicide at a pet food factory, walked around in wooden clogs, hung out with college freshmen, boy bands, a beauty queen runner-up, and a medical student volunteering in a Chicago free clinic. I have literally seen what goes into the sausage. I have told stories of corporations, celebrities, average Joes, and Squeakers the Death-Defying Guinea Pig.
My stories have made people laugh, cry, get outraged, and pull out their wallets to donate money to worthy causes.
What’s your story?
News
5/2/13: “Customer service lessons with a side of chicken,” Great Lakes Bay Business magazine
3/1/13: “Rip open a bag and pour yourself a glass” – offbeat wine pairings, Michigan Wine Country magazine
12/6/12: “Magic in the museum,” Visit Detroit.
7/11/12: “The hidden costs of cashless cruising,” Fox Business News.
5/15/12: “De-clutter your writing space in 2 days,” The Writer, June 2012
2/8/12: Credit cards and high art, CreditCards.com
1/24/12: Feature on a local sushi restaurant, Second Wave Mid Michigan
11/1/11: How a professional organizer helped me tidy up my home office, Second Wave Mid Michigan
9/1/11: Feature on Grand Rapids in Wild Blue Yonder, the in-flight magazine of Frontier Airlines
8/8/11: No more ‘no receipt, no return’? in Fox Business News
7/15/11: Visit Detroit has my story, “D Tours” [pdf]
3/10/11: Feature about cruise souvenirs in the 15th anniversary issue of Porthole
8/1/10: A brief article about our international dinner club in Relish
7/16/10: Digital feature for AAA Living on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula Great Waters Trails
6/21/10: My cover story, “21 things to do on the cheap in the D” [pdf] for Visit Detroit
11/24/09: The Dec. 15 issue of Wine Enthusiast has my story about wine on tap [pdf].
11/11/09: My article for Creditcards.com on cutting up credit cards has been featured on the front page of MSN.com [pdf] two days in a row. The companion video has more than 100,000 views on YouTube!
Cynthia’s current and past clients include:
• The Writer magazine
• Priceline.com
• Porthole Cruise Magazine
• AAA Living
• Wine Enthusiast
• Diverse: Issues in Higher Education
• Pregnancy magazine
Testimonials
“Cynthia is a solid writer with a strong work ethic. I could always count on her to produce concise, engaging stories in a timely manner. Her writing is an asset to any publication.”
– Jennifer Bringle, travel editor, AAA Living
“It’s been a pleasure to work with Cynthia. Her enthusiasm and creativity shine through in her work. For example, she took a topic that on its surface would be a sleep-inducer – ‘How to cut up a credit card’ – and with nothing more than a bubbly personality and industrial strength kitchen shears, turned it into a surprise hit video that went viral, having been viewed about 120,000 times at last count. She is also a thorough professional, who does what she says she’s going to do, when she says she’s going to do it. I’ll be pleased to use her multifacted talents again.”
– Daniel Ray, editor in chief, Creditcards.com
“It isn’t often that you can recommend someone for just about any writing project, but then again, there aren’t many writers who are as versatile as Cynthia. … Her skillful writing is on par with (if not better than) work produced at some of the nation’s most prestigious universities.”
– Kristi Ries, Communications Manager, School of Music at Carnegie Mellon University
Contact
Please contact me by e-mail at cynthia AT cynthiadrake.com.
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