We are so pleased to welcome Kaylyn Bass, Content Strategist, to the team. You can learn more about Kaylyn below.
Tell us about yourself. Where are you from?
I grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, but I’ve lived in Cleveland since 2014.
Where did you go to school?
I have a B.A. in Communication from Hiram College and a M.Ed in Adult Learning and Development from Cleveland State University.
How did you get into content strategy? What areas of your field do you like to focus on?
I did a lot of content writing and social media management for my work study job in undergrad, but then I took quite a detour. I worked in libraries and education-based nonprofits for ten years, mostly teaching English and basic technology skills. Because of that background, I really love copy writing; it gives me a chance to flex some of the writing skills I’ve spent so long teaching!
Do you have a code of ethics or a mantra that you live by when doing your work
I think my job (and my strongest skill) is helping people find and amplify their voices. When I’m working with clients, it’s really important to me that I understand their goals and motivations, because it helps me to tell their stories in a way that feels authentic to them.
How do our core values (collaboration, initiative, ingenuity) align with your own?
I think that collaboration plus initiative directly leads to ingenuity. The best ideas usually come from passionate people bouncing ideas off of one another. The key is to take initiative and follow through on those ideas in tangible ways. I’m happy to work somewhere with the infrastructure to support creativity.
What do you want to learn in the next 12 months as a Content Strategist?
I have so much to learn! I want to become a pro at Figma and Elementor, and generally get better at planning where my writing will go in the final visual project- which is a very different process than writing essays!
What do you want to learn about the web development industry?
The only coding I know is some HTML I taught myself in middle school to update my MySpace page, so I am interested in picking up a few more skills from the dev team.
What’s your favorite movie or TV show of all time?
Avatar: The Last Airbender (the animated series; we don’t talk about the movie).
What is the one thing most people don’t know about you?
I volunteer at the Youngstown State University English Festival each year as an essay reviewer and workshop leader. It was my favorite annual activity as a student in middle and high school, and it’s a great way to give back to the organization that first made me realize I loved writing.
I’m also a high school Speech and Debate coach, but I think most people already know that about me because I bring it up at every available opportunity!
