Copywriter, Connect2Local January 2022-August 2022
I wrote copy for various topics and clients such as dental, doctor and optometrist offices, restaurants, spas, and the travel industry.
Here are a few links:
https://connect2local.com/l/560871/c/5057626/what-to-know-about-moving-to-chicagohttps://connect2local.com/l/565836/c/5063548/5-tips-for-staying-in-a-hotel-with-young-children
https://connect2local.com/l/954976/c/5055472/differences-between-alzheimer-s-disease-and-dementia
https://connect2local.com/l/76303/c/5051123/3-reasons-you-need-an-annual-eye-examhttps://connect2local.com/l/76303/c/5058239/a-guide-to-eye-strain
Blog Writer, Thomas Lee Sheets
Medium Stories
https://medium.com/me/stories/public
Wake Living Magazine, Summer 2021
https://www.omagdigital.com/publication/?i=709642
Feature Articles, Capturing Hopes Magazine, November 2018
Adrien Ricci
Nicole and Chris Ricci
Brenner Children’s Hospital, Winston-Salem, NC
Adrien Ricci was born at 29 weeks due to suffering a stroke in utereo and because his mother, Nicole, had worsening preeclampsia. After his birth, he was diagnosed with a grade 4 hemorrhage, but was stable. Unfortunately, 10 days after he was born, his brain started to swell and he was transferred to Brenner Children’s Hospital. He thrived in that environment and went home after 65 total days of NICU living.
Nicole advises, “Enjoy everything, write a daily journal and you never can take too [many] pictures of your child laying in their isolate because two years later on a nice Sunday afternoon you have a dino-chicken nugget thrown at your head and a corn cob chucked at freshly painted wall.”
In that vein, she thanks Deneen Bryan of Capturing Hopes Photography for taking pictures of their preemie and is using that photography to answer the question she often asks herself, “where did the time go?”
All surrounding Lyric White’s birth was a miracle.
A difficult pregnancy that included a miscarriage scare prompted Ashley to go to the hospital where an ultrasound revealed a miraculous little blip of a heartbeat on the monitor. That is when her parents knew she would be a fighter. Then pPROM sent Ashley into the hospital again, this time to prepare for impending birth; and subsequent chorioamnionitis led to an emergency cesarean to save Ashley’s life. Miraculously, Ashley survived. The neonatologist told Ashley that Lyric probably would not cry when she was born, but miraculously, she did; loud enough for all to hear, signaling her strength for her upcoming fight. It was a good that Lyric was such a fighter, because Lyric and Ashley’s fights were just beginning.
Lyric was born at 25 weeks weighing one pound and nine ounces, making her a “micro preemie,” lowering her limit of viability. During her 85-day stay in the NICU, she was on a ventilator briefly and had to have a blood transfusion but suffered no long-term health complications. Doctors and nurses called her a miracle baby and are continually impressed at her progress and good health moving forward. They rejoice in this good news, but complications robbed the White family of any more children, a concept that traumatized the tight-knit clan. It should have been a family decision, not a medical one, and especially not a medical one that led to even more complications for Ashley.
Recently, the same anesthesiologist that helped perform Ashley’s cesarean, performed a procedure on Ashley due to complications surrounding the birth and commented on how he remembered her and how he and the team of doctors were afraid she would die. Ashley says of the experience, “Myself and my child almost lost our lives the day she was born. During my c- section it was revealed that I had placenta percreta. This is when the placenta attaches past the uterus onto other organs such as the bladder. I lost 4 liters of blood, had to be intubated, resuscitated, have a blood transfusion, have a hysterectomy, be sedated, have bladder reconstruction and spend a night in ICU. I was never diagnosed with the percreta. Most women with this diagnosis have to give birth to a preemie and are told of the high mortality rate. I just want to raise awareness and let other mothers who have been diagnosed with this know that there is hope, their baby and themselves can make it through.”
The White family did make it through, despite the odds, but Lyric was in the NICU at Christmas, which was especially hard for the family. The White family draws even closer together for the holidays, but to keep some semblance of normalcy, the older two of Lyric’s three sisters, ages 11, 7 and 3, spent time with grandparents in San Diego while Ashley and Jeremiah visited Lyric in the NICU everyday. Although it was hard, Ashley feels that their presence with Lyric was best. “I would tell other families to just believe your baby will make it out of the [NICU]…I really feel that all the visits we made, all the love everyone was sending her helped her grow strong to be able to make it home to us.” They credit love, prayers, nurses, their presence with Lyric and their strong support system to Lyric’s success. Ashley also credits the strength of her husband, Jeremiah, and[has?] learned through this experience what an amazing father he is to their daughters. Ashley also learned of her own strength, patience and importance within her family. She also adds words of wisdom she learned during this time, “Most important is DO NOT blame yourself. Its hard enough watching your baby fight for their life, you don’t need to be at war with yourself.”
During Lyric’s time in the NICU, Ashley would repeat to herself often, “though she be but little, she is fierce” to help her stay optimistic and keep the hope alive that her daughter would have a good prognosis. That mantra, along with prayers and the loving care of nurses, got them through in spite of the odds. Now, Lyric Ida Love, named after the couple’s shared love of music and family, and her paternal great-grandmother, is a strong, healthy, amazing, and loved 8-month-old who weighs14 pounds, is rolling from side to back, showing good neck control, and is smiling and making eye contact. She still needs oxygen at night, but is clear of lung disease and is suffering from no major health complications at this time. She continues to be a miraculous addition to her family.
For social media campaigns, check out: Instagram @megwilliamsmccaffrey, @trinitytotstoteensconsignment Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stickingplacewriting, https://www.facebook.com/megan.williamsmccaffrey, https://www.facebook.com/Trinity-Tots-To-Teens-Consignment-Sale-187707447966677
Book
A Skincare How To, Odyssey June 2020
My name is Megan and I am a skincare junkie. I know not everyone is, but I will breakdown why skincare is important and how you should be practicing a routine.
My skin is my “thing”. A good, multi-step skincare routine gives me all the fuzzy feels. Shopping at Sephora makes me feel like a natural woman. I know a frilly, no-holds-barred routine isn’t for everyone, but skin is the largest organ of the body and needs to be taken care of accordingly. I am going to give you a few dos, don’ts and general guidelines of how you can start a good skincare routine for yourself.
Do: Cleanse Your Damn Face
Cleansing your skin is crucial. Your skin, especially the skin on your face, goes through a lot in a day; sweat, dirt, excess oils and free radicals can cause premature aging, acne and just overall listless look to your skin.
Do: Use Actives
This will vary by age, but everyone should have at least one active in their routine. Actives come in the form of retinoids such as retinol (the holy grail product in the skincare community), AHAs such as lactic acid and glycolic acid, and BHAs such as salicylic acid. Also, antioxidants such as vitamins B, C & E, niacinamide and ferulic acid.
It needs to be in the form of a leave-on product such as a toner, serum or moisturizer, NOT a cleanser unless otherwise directed by a professional.
Oh and one very important note, you should consider sunscreen as an active and wear the damn sunscreen, damn it! I can’t stress this enough.
Other than the sunscreen, which you should be wearing all day every day, I would strongly recommend starting with one other active and gradually increase use as you see how you react. Don’t use several at once unless directed by a professional. Start by using one once a week, then twice a week but probably no more than three times a week. Again, this excludes sunscreen. You can also add your actives for your face on your neck, decolletage and hands.
Don’t: Put Food on Your Face
It may seem like a good idea, especially during sheltering in place, but don’t. Just don’t. Put down that homemade coffee and lemon juice mask and thank me later. Your face doesn’t have digestive enzymes; therefore certain foods may have wonderful benefits for skin, but it means when it is digested, not when it slathered on your skin in the form of a scrub/mask/spa treatment.
Don’t: Use Scrubs on Your Face
Yes, you need to exfoliate, but most scrubs are too harsh for the skin on the face and plastic microbeads used in many scrubs are terrible for the environment. Just for the record, Americans are exfoliating too much anyway. Most people only need to exfoliate once or twice a week. My advice is start with once and see how that goes before adding a second. If you are using retinol, ask your dermatologist if you need to be exfoliating at all. You may just be able to get away with spot treating with an exfoliant on an as-needed basis.
What you should be using instead: Either chemical exfoliants such as retinoids, AHAs and BHAs, or gentle manual exfoliants about the consistency of silt.
Do: Moisturize, Moisturize, Moisturize!
Other than cleansing, this is the most important step.
I don’t care how oily your skin is or what ethnicity you are, your skin needs moisture. In fact, the right, lightweight moisturizer can help combat oily skin. If your skin thinks you already have oil on your face, it will likely be tricked into thinking it doesn’t need to produce more oil.
Don’t: Use harsh chemicals
I won’t tell you not to use any synthetic ingredients, because most of them are fine, but they aren’t all created equal. Especially be on the lookout for sodium laureth sulfates, also known as SLS or SLES, and polyethelene glycols, also known as PEGs.
PEGs are petroleum based solvents that are commonly used across the board in cosmetics because it can thicken products and help them better moisturize, cleanse and so forth, but they are basically liquid plastic. You find them a lot in cleansing balms. Since it is liquid plastic, you can imagine it is not great for the environment, but is hotly debated as a carcinogen as well. SLS is a cheap foaming agent and is often found in cleansers and shampoos. SLS is also irritating to skin and eyes and often strips all the natural oils off the skin and leaves that “squeaky” feeling, which actually is NOT good for skin. You don’t need to scour your skin as you would a pot or pan. Your skin needs to be treated gently or it will become sensitized and problematic.
I will leave you with one more very important Do that a lot of people are forgetting.
Do: Wear Your Sunscreen
You can basically consider this an active. An active that you can (and should) wear every. damn. day. I mean it. The sun not only burns, but it also causes discoloration and premature aging. I don’t really burn much, but I still wear it everyday and you should too!
Best of luck and stay beautiful!
