PORTFOLIO: MIR CATALOG
MIR’s 111-page yearly catalog – the company’s “crown jewel” – was a year-long effort spearheaded by our marketing director, with the rest of the marketing team joining in four to six months in advance of publication. I wrote and edited copy, proofed, fact-checked daily tour itineraries, ensured proper foreign spellings in more than 30 languages, and verified all maps for locations, accuracy, and current spellings – especially for ever-changing Central Asia. (For example, Dnipropetrovsk in Ukraine is now Dnipro; the capital of Kazakhstan was recently changed from Almaty to Nur-sultan. No one tells you these things – you just need to know, and be attuned to such changes.)
This project encompassed both the hard-copy catalog as well as the online version. Although I worked on the entire catalog and MIR’s regional destinations, my expertise was Central Asia, Siberia, Russia, the Balkans, and Trans-Siberian Railway – all places I had lived or worked, and languages I’ve studied. Year after year, our MIR marketing team won the industry’s top travel awards in the catalog category.
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PORTFOLIO: MIR FACEBOOK
I initially filled in on Facebook, and then took over full-time. I loved the challenge of using just a few introductory words to boost MIR’s Facebook presence in creative ways: re-purposing MIR’s blog posts and videos, and also featuring photos from our local and international staff; many were expert photographers. I also posted travel stories related to MIR’s destinations from media outlets and organizations such as National Geographic, Smithsonian, CNN, The New York Times, and more.
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Registan Square in Samarkand, Uzbekistan
Posted on MIR's Facebook page
Cakes in Hungary
Posted on MIR's Facebook page
Spooky town: Dargavs, Russia
Posted on MIR's Facebook page
Madrassahs and minarets in Uzbekistan
Posted on MIR's Facebook page
Saving ancient books in Serbia
Posted on MIR's Facebook page
Some of the world's best food is in Georgia
Posted on MIR's Facebook page
PORTFOLIO: MY FACEBOOK
When MIR sent me to rural Armenia on a State Department/Smithsonian project, I wanted to immediately post photos and information – and the easiest way to do that was from my own Facebook page. You can find the entire six days of photos and details by scrolling to August 2019 on my personal Facebook page or by looking under Photos–>Albums, where I have them at “public setting.” Here are screenshots: (click on any photo to begin slideshow)
