Words with Depth and Purpose | Lucie C. | Editor, copywriter and translator

Translator, copywriter, proofreader, and editor, but with depth and purpose. When we first met Lucie in our Freelancer Community we have been so impressed by the number of great activities she has collected throughout her career.

15 years of experience both as a non-profit founder, grassroot community builder, and project coordinator for city council programs to stimulate the participation of certain groups in society. She has been setting up, growing, and moderating online communities. She wrote blog posts for organizations and interview vibrant and diverse people on her own blog, some from the non-profit world.

Are you curious to get to know more about her journey, just as we are?

I offer copywriting, editing, and translation services, with years of experience in community building, volunteer recruitment, and project management. I'm a translator from French, Dutch, or Spanish into English. In the past, I worked and volunteered for non-profits as a board member in the USA and the Netherlands working with women, new parents, international graduate students, and expats. I craft impactful texts in British or American English depending on the assignment requirements. 

I graduated from a Bachelors in English studies with a minor in Spanish literature which required many hours of essay writing, linguistics, translation, and sociology. My Masters research was related to a topic about the Temperance movement and prostitution in New York City from 1820 to 1880. I passed a national certification for Dutch as a second language at the level of university entrance.

Throughout my career within non-profits and Stanford University, the red thread was communication. For this reason, I facilitated communication between central administration and PhD students and Postdocs from my department as well as between Dutch institutions and international communities. Among the activities:

• I interviewed service providers in our newsletter.
• Co-organized information fairs where peri-natal and post-natal care providers, special needs therapists, school and daycare representatives could speak directly to parents-to-be and new parents.
• Informed internationals about resources and knowledgeable individuals who could guide them when they were facing issues.
• I represented the non-profit at events where I could recruit volunteers, build alliances or learn about fundraising and grant writing.

My work was related to empowerment, inclusion and participation for women organizations, new parents, university students, international knowledge workers and their partners. I recruited internationals as volunteers as they wanted to become active citizens in their new country. When I moved to Scotland two years ago, I was too new to explain how things work locally to others. I retrained as a copywriter, became a trustee for a local charity, started a list of UK-based charities serving women and girls on my site and a blog about non-profit leaders and small business owners.

I love the diversity in clients and types of assignments. In addition, I have been working from my home office for over 12 years so lockdowns did not change my routine. For this reason, I made sure to join a virtual team for moral support and referrals since COVID started to stay connected to peers. I enjoy the flexibility of my working hours and not bound to the standard 9 to 5 schedule.

I would probably work for a university, either researching social enterprises or supporting international students.

I want to coach non-profit leaders who are starting out on their journey and help non-profits reach their potential through clear and engaging communication and strategic advice. Moreover, I want to help build alliances and help organizations recruit volunteers and staff that align with their values and needs.

The feedback I got from people who were involved in the programmes I ran for city councils or the clients who are benefiting from my skills, knowledge, or connections.

I had the privilege of interviewing Florence Igboayaka, the leader of a social enterprise in Aberdeen, Scotland who has a global reach. She founded The Period Place and wrote The Period Comic series to educate young girls about personal hygiene, self-confidence, and the emotions experienced through puberty. Her books also are tools for parents and educators to have empathetic, open, and scientifically based conversations about the change they are going through. This year they organized an international online summit against period poverty. Scotland recently introduced free menstrual hygiene products for girls and women but the rest of the world has some progress to make in this taboo topic that is preventing girls from attending school or sport activities a few days a month.

If you want to know more and you need a translator, copywriter, proofreader, and editor, connect with Lucie at Work for Impact. If you want to share your story as a freelancer, you can reach us at community@workforimpact.com.

Read more stories from WFI Freelancers here.