I originally set up this blog as a professional tool. I thought of it as a “for further reading” site that I could link to from my resume or my LinkedIn profile. But then I started using it for more than just my professional side. (Read more about that on my “About” page, if you like.) This page preserves the professional pieces.
Fundamentally, I’m a knowledge manager. I see knowledge management (KM) as my calling. At a project retreat in 2015, we were challenged to write an “inspiration statement”—a personal connection to our project’s mission. I wrote “All people deserve access to knowledge they can rely on.” I have built a career around these convictions:
- Words have meanings, and should be used with precision and care.
- Most humans can understand anything, as long as it is explained clearly.
- How we create, gather, preserve, and exchange knowledge is at the core of our humanity. It is the basis of culture. It’s what makes us more than our genes.
- Good design matters.
From August 2011 until October of 2024, I was with the Knowledge Management Unit of the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (CCP). I started as a Web Products Manager for the Knowledge for Health (K4Health) Project. From 2013-2019, I was K4Health’s Global Repository Director, responsible for maintaining a consistent user experience across multiple websites. I wrote occasionally for the K4Health Blog (where my greatest hit was Data Visualization Approaches for Knowledge Management and Beyond) and The Exchange: Knowledge Management Matters on Medium.com. From 2020 to 2024, I focused on knowledge management, web content management and strategy, analytics, and reporting (process management, writing, and copy editing) for the READY initiative and Knowledge SUCCESS. I also served as co-chair of CCP’s Digital Community of Practice, co-chair and then sole chair of the Global Health Knowledge Collaborative, and a member of the Advisory Council for the Global Digital Health Network.
Due to the vagaries of government funding, I was laid off from CCP on October 1, 2024. Since then I have been taking some time for family priorities. As those are becoming less pressing, as of June 2025 I am offering consulting services.
Extracurricular but still professionally relevant posts are below.
- Knowledge Curation and Design: Gardens, not Stained-Glass Windows: I use this metaphor to convey the nature of many knowledge management and design processes. (A modified version is up on The Exchange, K4Health’s publication on Medium.com.)
- Web Writing for Beginners: Simone’s Top Ten Tips (an early draft of this more polished version)
- Evidence, Innovation, and Adaptation
- Grit in the Dish
- Knowledge Management and Beauty
- Why I Became a Knowledge Manager
- Jargon du Jour
- How to Write a Useful Bug Report
- I have a huge crush on MailChimp