The INS Group
Copywriting, Project Management, Grantwriting
“Lauren is a strong writer, editor and communicator and tremendous asset to The INS Group both internally and externally. She serves as the editor of our quarterly newsletter creating original content on engaging topics and overseeing the work by our graphic designer. She writes and edits various collateral with a creative approach. As our lead grant writer, Lauren has a deep understanding of grants/philanthropic landscape and how to pitch ideas to funders and supports client relationships and communications. An example of her effective project management skills was the oversight of our website redesign – from copy and content to final launch. Lauren is accountable to project deadlines, skilled at working independently and collaboratively and has a positive and problem solver attitude.”
–Ruth A. Peebles, President
Durham Children’s Initiative
Grantwriting and Copywriting (website and newsletters)
“Lauren is a DCI favorite. She’s an excellent writer who is skilled at shaping successful proposals for funders. As our Development Manager and as a consultant, she secured multi-year funding for a number of core DCI programs and developed many new relationships. She learns quickly, is strategic in her decision making, and always brings positive energy to the room. Over the course of three years, Lauren served as a core part of a Development team that brought DCI from a $1.8 million to a $2.4 million organization.
Lauren also oversaw DCI’s communications and wrote multiple op-eds that resulted in funding and positive attention for DCI. She’s great at communicating complex concepts and packaging them in a way that anyone can understand.”
–David Reese, President & CEO
StrongHER TogetHER
Grantwriting, Research, Copywriting (newsletters)
“Lauren has been an invaluable resource for our program, working diligently to identify and pursue funding opportunities. Thanks to her efforts, StrongHER TogetHER has been awarded grants that have contributed significantly to our programming as well as our vision development processes. As her work for our program continues, we feel very fortunate to have a partner whose commitment and passion for community are unparalleled. Lauren is, without a doubt, an integral reason StrongHER TogetHER has succeeded since its inception.”
–Stacey Donaghue, Executive Director
Nishaun Battle, PhD
Developmental Editing and Copyediting
“Lauren was beyond a joy to work with. She is professional, thorough, and very encouraging! She has a gift for understanding the author’s tone and context and has the ability to bring it to life on paper. Along with the professionalism Lauren strongly exudes, she is all-around a very nice person to work with, which was needed during my most stressful writing days. I strongly recommend Lauren for all editing needs, with absolutely no hesitation!”
–Nishaun Battle, PhD, author of Black Girlhood, Punishment, and Resistance: Reimagining Justice for Black Girls in Virginia
Nancy Barile
Developmental Editing
Lauren is an outstanding editor, and we worked well together during my time as an educational blogger for the Center for Teaching Quality. I was always amazed at how Lauren could transpose, cut, or add a few words to my content to make it sound more powerful, meaningful, and infinitely more readable.
Lauren and I worked together on several successful articles I went on to publish with the Huffington Post, including one entitled, “I’m a Teaching Veteran, Not a Dinosaur,” which was viewed and shared over 20,000 times. Lauren has a great personality, and I always felt a synchronicity working with her. In fact, when I wrote my own book, I begged Lauren to edit it. At that time, she was busy with other projects, but I insisted on waiting for her to become available because I felt her input and insight was so valuable.”
–Nancy Barile
Lauren Stephenson 