Melanie Hoffert - Minneaplis freelance copywriter

This used to be the page where I peddled my marketing skills. At present, I’m happily employed as the Chief Marketing Officer at the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation. So instead of that, a few other facts. 

MY Love of writing

I grew up in rural North Dakota, where I spent my childhood listening to farmers tell stories over coffee. My love of writing began early in school where I savored all of my creative assignments and eventually became editor of the high school paper. After high school, I attended Concordia College and earned a BA in English Writing. I eventually went on to get my MFA in Creative Writing at Hamline University.  In 2013 I published my memoir, Prairie Silence, which won the 2014 Minnesota Book Award in Creative Non-Fiction and Memoir.  I've spoken to many groups about the writing process, my book, and about growing up in rural North Dakota. And here are a bunch of other essays I’ve published.

My (other) Work

While I love leading people, I attain the most joy from getting my hands dirty--perhaps traceable to my farming roots. I've cultivated a career as a digital marketer where I led large teams from 30-60 people while holding the positions as the Chief Marketing Officer and Vice President of Marketing for two different national non-profit organizations and I now work at the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation. I have also worked in the for-profit sector at a software development company, a consulting firm, and a digital agency. I've produced a variety of marketing deliverables including strategy, websites, digital products, events, email, and other marketing collateral for national campaigns. See what folks have to say about working with me. Check out my professional resume' on LinkedIn.

my life & Next book

I am working on a book presently called Water Land about life transition and, well, no surprise with the title, water. About that transition…meet my wife, Emily Turner, CEO & Founder of All Square. We met when her mom gave her my book, Prairie Silence, as a gift for Emily’s 30th birthday. That gift, in turn, delivered my greatest life gift (Emily) along with the wildest, most beautiful, most tumultuous tale, derived from sharing life with a baby of the family (I’m the firstborn) entrepreneur, dreamer, never-stop-until-wrongs-are-righted-attorney. We met as I was nearly 40—and everything in my life changed, for the better.

And about that water part of the book: The mystical, churning, changing shape of lakes is woven throughout the narrative. I grew visiting Otter Tail County as a child, with more lakes than any other county in the entire country. When Emily entered, I bought a cabin on a small lake near where my grandparents had a cabin. And then, just recently, we bought a condo on Lake Superior. We rent both places to afford them. I’m often embarrassed to admit that we have three homes (the gross privilege)—but, at least here, in this one sentence, I will say that I want to learn to own that fact that I figured shit out, I saved, I’m a woman and I did something that I was scared to do. I’m making it work—we are. I’d rather invest in spots by the water, where I’m called to write, in these places that bring me endless delight in sharing with others, than in grinding corporations.

I wonder when I will finish this book. Waking each morning to a changing lake surface is like this writing process: always different, always changing, always revealing, and, truly, never-ending. And so, I write as I might paddle, seeking shore; seeking the edges where I might call this body of work done.

Awards

  • 2021 Creative Non-Fiction Award, Under The Sun

  • 2014 Minnesota Book Award in Memoir and Creative Non-Fiction

  • 2010 Creative Non-Fiction Award, New Millennium Writings

  • 2006 Creative Non-Fiction Award, The Baltimore Review

  • Twice Finalist for the Loft Literary Center Mentor Series

  • Outstanding Creative Non-Fiction Thesis, Hamline University

Publications