Bowerbird Communications
This is the portfolio site for Jennifer Roche. I am a writer, editor, communications strategist, and project manager. I specialize in creating content and communications to reach curious and educated audiences.
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CONTACT
EMAIL: Jennifer@BowerbirdCommunications.com
TWITTER: @BowerbirdComm
LINKEDIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/bowerbird
I live and work in Chicago, IL.
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ABOUT Jennifer Roche
I am a writer, editor, communications strategist, project manager, blogger and website producer. I specialize in creating content and communication strategies to reach curious and educated audiences.
Currently, I am the Communications Director for the Consortium on Financial Systems and Poverty where I head communications strategy and outreach for a team of development economists. CFSP is based at the University of Chicago, led by Professor Robert M. Townsend of MIT, and funded through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. I also pursue a limited number of freelance projects through Bowerbird Communications.
You can find a complete, bullet-pointed summary of my work history and experience on LinkedIn at:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/bowerbird
or continue reading below.
In 2004, I launched Bowerbird Communications. I continue to pursue a limited number of freelance writing and communications consulting projects through this firm.
Between 2007 and 2009, I produced and wrote for an About.com website on Chicago. Within two years, I tripled site traffic, wrote more than 300 blog posts, and launched the use of social media within the site.
I also assisted universities, small businesses and non-profit clients with communications strategy, including creating content, social media and blogger strategy, media outreach, web development and project management. I also wrote dozens of cover articles, features, and other original content for online and print consumer, business-to-business, and trade publications.
My interview with ArtForum critic, Claire Bishop, was republished in an anthology titled, “Artistic Bedfellows: Histories, Theories and Conversations in Collaborative Art Practice.” It was edited by Holly Crawford and published by University Press of America. A blog I wrote for several years, The Place Where We Live, was named to Gaper’s Block’s “Top 10 Bloggers We Wish We Knew (But Don’t)” in 2005.
Prior to my freelance career, I worked in higher education publishing, serving as an Executive Editor for the McGraw-Hill Companies and for Mosby Medical Publishers (now Elsevier). In these roles, I led the acquisition and development of book and media projects with annual net revenues of more than $10 million. I also acquired titles, managed author relations, negotiated contracts, and maintained budgets. As are result of my efforts, I was consistently named to the Chairman’s Honor Council for editorial performance.
I earned a Masters in Liberal Arts from the University of Chicago and a B.S. in finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I live on the north side of Chicago with my husband, our two children, and a dog named Boomer.
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“Jennifer Roche was the Executive Editor in charge of this book and she has taken up this task with aplomb, shepherding the project through the various stages in a professional, fair, and enthusiastic way. It was clear from our early interactions with Jennifer… that McGraw-Hill/Irwin ‘got it’ in terms of their thinking about the Internet and its impact on the educational curricula of business schools.”
—From the Acknowledgments of “Internet Business Models and Strategies,” by Allan Afuah (U. of Michigan) and Christopher L. Tucci (NYU). 2001.
Between 1989 and 2000, I worked in higher education publishing, serving as an
Executive Editor for the McGraw-Hill Companies and for Mosby Medical Publishers (now Elsevier). In these roles, I led the successful acquisition and development of book and media projects with annual net revenues of more than $10 million. I also acquired numerous titles, served as primary author liaison, negotiated contracts with authors and suppliers, and managed my budgets effectively.
As a result of my efforts, I was named a finalist for Editor of the Year at McGraw-Hill/Irwin in 1999. At Mosby, I was named to the Chairman’s Honor Council for outstanding editorial performance from 1995 to 1997.
Prior to Mosby, I worked in the production and editorial departments at the University of Chicago Press. I began my career with the book sales team at John Wiley & Sons.
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PRESS RELEASES
MIT Economist Townsend to speak at World Bank-IMF spring meeting on financial Inclusion For Consortium on Financial Systems and Poverty, 2012.
Economists identify that one size does not fit all for microfinance programs For the Consortium on Financial Systems and Poverty, 2011.
Rich country, poor country: economists identify financial sector as key driver for growth For the Consortium on Financial Systems and Poverty, 2011.
What is e-money’s future? Economists identify implications for financial systems where mobile banking is on the rise For the Consortium of Financial Systems and Poverty, 2011.
How do we know if financial innovations help or hurt in fight against poverty? For the Consortium on Financial Systems and Poverty, 2011.
Economists reveal factors that help poor lift themselves out of poverty For the Consortium on Financial Systems and Poverty, 2010.
Economists may bring into focus the financial lives of billions For the Consortium on Financial Systems and Poverty, 2010.
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INTERVIEWS
What will it take to improve financial access to formal savings? Q & A with Chris Woodruff (University of Warwick) for the Consortium on Financial Systems and Poverty, 2012.
The ladies of the Chicago Roller Derby, how they roll Photo essay and Q & A project with photographer Mary Rafferty. In progress. 2012.
How do poor farmers manage the risks they face? Q & A with Chris Udry (Yale University) for the Consortium on Financial Systems and Poverty, 2011.
Assunção delves into the overlooked implications of bank branches & location choice Q & A with Juliano Assunção (PUC-Rio) for the Consortium on Financial Systems and Poverty, 2011.
Buera examines microfinance effects on individuals and countries: Q & A with Paco Buera (UCLA) for the Consortium on Financial Systems and Poverty, 2011.
Socially engaged art, critics and discontents: an interview with ArtForum’s Claire Bishop Originally for Community Arts Network, then republished in “Artistic Bedfellows: History, Theories, and Conversations in Collaborative Art Practices,” edited by Holly Crawford and published by University Press of America, 2008.
Nukes and kids don’t mix: Q & A with Dr. Helen Caldicott For Chicago Parent magazine, 2004.
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ART, ARCHITECTURE, URBAN PLANNING
10 great things to see in the Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago Introduction to the opening of the Modern Wing for About.com Chicago, 2009.
Socially engaged art, critics and discontents: an interview with ArtForum’s Claire Bishop Originally for Community Arts Network, then republished in “Artistic Bedfellows: History, Theories, and Conversations in Collaborative Art Practices,” edited by Holly Crawford and published by University Press of America, 2008.
National Veterans Art Museum Introduction to National Veterans’ Museum for About.com Chicago, 2008. (Formerly, National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum.)
Rem Koolhaas’ McCormick Tribune Campus Center at IIT Background and visiting guide to unique building for Galinsky.com, 2006.
Greening the infrastructure: two new national initiatives may green the way for better practices in infrastructure Feature article on future developments in sustainable infrastructure for Civil Engineering and Revitalization magazines, 2006.
Military makeover: how military bases are being revitalized after closure Feature article about environmental, financial, and planning considerations in the wake of base closures for Structural Engineering & Design, and Revitalization magazines, 2006.
Beyond disability: The Fe Fe stories Feature article highlighting the work of young videographers and the non-profit organization Beyondmedia for Community Arts Network, 2004.
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Clip: Small town America re-designs itself into prosperity
Last year in the small town of Valley, Alabama on the banks of the Chattahoochee River, Mayor Arnold Leak found himself sitting next to his attorney in the conference room of the local Holiday Inn Express holding an auction paddle. 
On the block was the abandoned, 500,000-square-foot Langdale Mill that had been built originally in 1866.
Leak admits he and the city council were reticent about stepping forward to bid on the mill, “Good Lord, who wants to go $300,000 into debt?” Plus, more than a few of his colleagues outside Valley questioned why a town of 9,200 people with little more than sales tax and licensing fees to generate revenue would risk purchasing an enormous, obsolete mill.Symbolic of the region’s vanishing textile trade, the building’s owner had gone bankrupt and was forced to sell it off. The mill was boarded up and an eyesore. Now, representatives from firms intent on demolishing the mill and selling it for scrap waited in the conference room, poised to bid against the mayor.
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Clip: Beyond disability - The Fe Fe stories
This article was commissioned by Art in the Public Interest for their web resource “Community Arts Network.” CAN promoted information exchange, research and critical dialogue within the field of community-based arts. They defined community-based art as “art made as a voice and a force within a specific community of place, spirit or tradition.”
by Jennifer Roche
When was the last time you saw a positive (or even negative) image in the media of a teenage girl with disabilities? It wouldn’t surprise the Empowered Fe Fes to hear that you can’t remember. So, rather than wait for a reflection of themselves to show up in the media, the Fe Fes, a diverse group of 12 young female Chicagoans with disabilities, created their own video instead.
“The Empowered Fe Fes is a group of young women with disabilities who have to go through life learning how to deal with disabilities, so the Fe Fes are like a support group,”explained 19-year-old Fe Fe Chaka Stovall before the October premiere of “Beyond Disability: The Fe Fe Stories.”
“This movie is just a reflection of how we live our everyday life.”
The documentary shares the young women’s journeys as they come to terms with their lives and explore the power of wielding a camera. It opens with a collage of their voices:
