Cindy Ratcliff Email & Phone Number

Overland Park, Ks, Us

Overland Park, Kansas, United States

Kansas City, Missouri Area

Greater St. Louis Area

Contract writer and editor • Total Landscape Care magazine, Ascend Integrated Media, Ascend Books, Ascend’s Golden Guide, Indiana Local Technical Assistance Program (Purdue University), Family Features, City of Kansas City, Mo., American Heart Association, American Association of Diabetes Educators, American College of Emergency Physicians, IMEX America, MINExpo, ICAST, Chicago Market, Casual Market, Las Vegas Market, Javits NYC, Green Careers Journal, InResidence magazine, BizBash

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Area

Working as technical editor for Randall-Reilly's Total Landscape Care magazine allowed me to continue growing and sharing my expertise in the realm of grounds management, particularly as it pertained to chemical control of weeds, lawn and landscape diseases and other plant pests, with 76,000 readers each month. I wrote articles monthly for the magazine and, on occasion, represented TLC at various shows and events. I also compiled and maintained the most comprehensive guide to pesticides registered for turf and landscape ornamentals.

Overland Park, Ks

I learned the art of editorial project management at Ascend Media, where I managed a team of designers to help develop the look and feel of publications for more than 70 top-tier clients. While I developed content direction at a high level, I also acted as publication PM, overseeing budgets, establishing and managing schedules as well as handling outside resources for editorial and layout. I acted as the client liaison for Directories projects in addition to ancillary online editorial, including data collection, where I developed parameters and oversaw customer service. I established processes for better managing deadlines, improved editorial quality and consistency, initiated team-building activities for my department and led the effort to convert company software from PageMaker to InDesign.

Overland Park, Ks

My transition into magazine publishing began as senior associate editor for Grounds Maintenance magazine, a B2B trade magazine recognized as an authority on all topics related to landscape, lawn care and turf management, including equipment and snow removal. This was a whole new world for a news journalist and I became fascinated by the targeted nature of B2B and how much influence specialized content has in a niche market. While I worked distilling press releases, writing departments and features, editing and tracking pages, I also immersed myself in this new industry, learning the technical side of grounds care as I adapted to the world of magazines. I quickly was promoted to managing editor and I began representing the magazine at events and shaping its online presence by establishing SEO protocols for the articles on our website. I worked to expand custom content, presented industry research and data to clients and association leaders, and I coordinated panels of experts to speak at industry events where I served as moderator, striving to establish myself as an industry expert.Ultimately, I did just that and was named editor of the magazine in 2002. I was a trusted source of information for more than 60,000 readers each month. As the face of the magazine, I developed content and helped usher Grounds Maintenance into the online era via weekly enewsletters and microsites. I kept readers armed with the latest how-to, technical information in the industry and worked with chemical manufacturers to compile the most comprehensive chemical reference of its kind. During my four years as editor, I also served on the board of the Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association and the ethics committee for developing professional communications guidelines for editors and marketers.

Graham, Texas

Forget what you think you know about small-town newspapers. They get a bad rap from ill-informed critics as platforms for puff pieces, farm news and police blotters. Sure, small-town residents enjoy seeing pictures of their neighbors in the paper, but they also appreciate real news and depend on watchdog journalism just as much as those who reside in more urban areas. For four years, I gained experience in not only beat reporting and news writing, but also in a variety of other publishing procedures that someone at a larger publication would not. I was able to do my own content/story development for feature articles. I did my own photography and darkroom work. I configured ad placement on pages and created page layouts--everything right down to, and including, handing the paper off, page by page, to the printer housed in the back of the building. In addition to the technical skills I mastered while there, I was able to develop a real understanding of the importance of good journalism. The job was demanding but could not have given me a better foundation in publishing.