“A-L-I-S-S-A.” With those six letters, Alissa Nolan Boyle’s parents gifted their youngest daughter (and future freelance writer and editor) a lifetime of practice in correcting other people’s spelling.

Alissa has been in communications for nearly 10 years. She graduated with a B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. During her studies here, she began her freelance writing career for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the largest newspaper in Wisconsin.

Immediately after finishing her bachelor’s, Alissa went on to study for her master’s degree at the University of Wisconsin. During this time, she served as a teaching assistant for the Journalism School. Each semester she taught 50 students in an introductory, writing-intensive course in journalism.

Also in her time as a graduate student, she spent the summer in New York City as an editorial intern for Brandweek, a national weekly magazine geared toward marketing professionals. There she polished her interviewing skills, gaining access to marketing executives at companies nationwide. Editors were so impressed with her work they allowed her to help with back-end editing and proofreading of the entire magazine before it went to press as well as sit in on editorial planning meetings.

In May 2002, Alissa completed her master’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication, with an emphasis in magazine editing and publishing.

Following graduation, Alissa was hired as associate editor for ANEW, a regional women’s lifestyle magazine based in Madison, Wisconsin. Here she edited articles contributed by freelance writers, wrote feature articles and coordinated with the publication’s creative director to design the layout of the pages.

Alissa was soon hired as editor and Web developer for Child and Family Centers of Excellence, a nonprofit corporation focused on early childhood education and strategic planning. Here she has overseen the launch of a national quarterly online magazine. In this regard, she’s a virtual “one-man band,” writing the majority of articles, along with editing and designing the entire package. In this position she has also served as editor of the company’s books, promotional material and training resources. Alissa has also developed and maintained the company’s several Web sites.

In addition, Alissa has continued to freelance in several capacities. She spent a year as contributing editor to Wichita Register magazine, a city magazine in Wichita, Kansas. Here she assisted the managing editor in proofreading and editing the entire publication prior to publication, wrote assigned stories and took a lead role in producing special sections. She also spent two years as a grant writer for Episcopal Social Services, based in Wichita, Kansas, where she worked with program directors to complete annual grant proposals before editing and delivering to grantors.

Through all her work, Alissa has honed her eye for detail and―much to the dismay of her family (to whom she points it out every time)―can often spot a typo in everything from menus to billboards.