Content Magazine is a regional magazine that profiles Silicon Valley artists and creatives. I had been writing for Content Magazine since its founding. My submissions were published with minor or no edits. But when Content’s required word count went from 1200 words to 700, that changed. I crammed the same content into fewer words. I didn’t notice where the flow of words and meaning got lost.
Odile could have rejected my submissions. Most editors would have invited me to explore other opportunities, but Odile didn’t. She took the time to show me in great detail what was wrong. I was mortified, but Odile was patient and positive with me. I learned and I was given the opportunity to correct and resubmit my pieces.
Odile helped me to become a better and more flexible writer.
Diane Solomon
Freelance journalist
Radio KKUP
Content Magazine
I was a young, green freelance writer when Odile was my editor — I can’t say enough wonderful things about her skills and her talents. She made me a much better, stronger, clearer writer. She was patient, encouraging, and adept at tweaks that made my work better but left my voice intact. I benefited greatly from working with Odile and am so grateful!
Kate Evans
Freelance writer
Modern Luxury
Content Magazine
As an editor, Odile was a great resource for me. Her eyes ensured my text always read well under her watch, and her insightful questions and comments made each story as cohesive and informative as possible before heading to print. I greatly miss her assistance, which often made my drafts even better than I thought they could be.
Brandon Roos
Freelance arts and culture writer
KQED Arts
Content Magazine
You’re truly one of the most incredible editors I’ve ever met.
Kelsy Thompson
Freelance editor and writer
Erewhon Books
North Star Editions
Content Magazine
In the year I worked as an editor for Content Magazine, I learned a great deal under Odile’s direction and guidance. She had created from scratch the magazine’s editorial style and processes, and she then onboarded and trained a team of editors to revise, polish, and proof the publication’s content. Having had worked primarily as a copyeditor and proofreader at that point, I was not yet well acquainted with developmental or line editing. With a wealth of experience and enthusiasm, Odile gave me a well-rounded editorial education, and I have carried the lessons I learned from her in my subsequent editorial positions.
Odile is excellent with language and with developing and managing processes and workflow, but what most struck me about working with her was her passion for and dedication to the work at hand. She cared about the work the writers submitted, and she cared about the writers. She wanted to work with them to help them hone their skills, and she worked to pair them with the most appropriate editor available. She also kept an ongoing dialogue with the other editors so we could bounce ideas off each other, debate editorial decisions, and learn from each other’s experience. She built a community, which was above and beyond what she had to do, and which, of course, was what made the experience so rewarding for those involved.
Julianne Jigour
Editorial manager
Concord Music
Content Magazine
As a developmental editor, Odile is a master at identifying logical inconsistencies. Her ability to clarify and align authorial intent to the message conveyed is second to none. She pays close attention to structure, fact-checks thoroughly, is sensitive to audience and corporate tone, and offers thoughtful solutions to challenges in the draft. Odile truly brings out the best version of any piece of writing. She’s one of the best editors with whom I’ve had the pleasure of working.
Nahida S. Nisa
Strategist | Content marketing
| Storyteller
Before working with Odile, I deeply despised writing. But working with her, I felt joy in writing and editing for the first time. It was magnificently unbelievable to see the significant improvement as we worked through the article together. I was glad and appreciative that I was learning from her the fundamentals of writing and the importance to writing of iterating. I also felt more confident. I really appreciate Odile’s patience, generosity, and willingness to teach. Working with her felt like working with a kind friend and mentor.
Rostam Dinyari
AI engineer
Google
What can I say about working with Odile? It was a breath of fresh air. She helped us craft our first-ever agency biennial report, and her vast experience and support were invaluable. She was meticulous in detail, format, and style. We always felt in great hands. She was indeed what we needed for this project. We had such positive feedback from the report and we count it almost entirely to her. Our agency was quite blessed to have connected with her at the time that we did.
On a personal note, she is always concerned about you, the individual, before the project. To hear genuine concern and compassion before the work was refreshing and rare.
It is my pleasure to recommend her for any project that you may need assistance with. You won’t regret it!
Philomise LaGuerre
Manager of Community Outreach and Development
4CS of Passaic County
In my decade-long journalism career, you are one of the best editors I’ve had the privilege to work with!
Rachel S.
Copywriter | Editor
Marketing content writer
Contently
Integrity and principle. These are the first two words that come to mind when I think about Odile’s work when she was our assigned agency editor at Contently. Odile was thorough and consistent, and always kept her client’s audience top of mind, which was what we needed for thought leadership pieces. Her meticulous and supportive feedback elevated the ghostwritten pieces, which always by the end exhibited effortless flow, consistency in tone, and detailed grammar choices (the kind that comes from experience, and before tools like Grammarly existed).
Her organization, prompt responses, and clear communication eased and shortened the process of back-and-forth edits. Overall, it was a pleasure to work with Odile and I would highly recommend her as an editor and writing coach.
Jessica Schimm
Marketing content manager
Mode
As lead writer for a large developer’s guide and as an information architect, I worked directly with Odile on at least a weekly basis. As a writer I so appreciated her edits. Her corrections were always accompanied by notes on why she suggested the edit. I learned more about grammar from her than from any English teacher! Her edits were always only suggestions, and she welcomed dialogue about them when I didn’t agree. More often than not, these discussions ended up in revisions or additions to our style guide.
As an architect, Odile was instrumental and crucial in developing standards for our developer guides and for creating our style guide. When faced with decisions about how to handle certain content, Odile would always research trends in our industry to ensure we were on the right track. Every suggestion of hers was backed up, not only by her extensive knowledge, but also by often hours of investigation. Once our decisions were made, Odile documented them and created the standards and guidelines for writers to follow, always taking care to ensure they were easy to follow and understand. And when editing content, she was always sure to refer to the standards and cite them for writers, so they would understand the edits. She was also very meticulous in updating them whenever she found writers had trouble following them.
Odile’s dedication to editing — the whole process, from developing standards, to teaching writers best practices, to editing with a careful and thoughtful hand — is what makes her shine. I miss her every time I write, as I know my end work will not be as good as it can be without her to polish it. Any team will be very lucky to have her.
Robin Whitmore
Senior writer
Lightstep
Odile’s skills as an editor are of the highest caliber. I’ve never worked with an editor who is more dedicated to quality. I appreciate her ability to see how content should be organized and presented and her ability to communicate that to the writers. Reworking poorly written or badly organized content is difficult and not many people have the skill to do it well. Odile excels at this and all of the writers learn a lot from her edits. Her attention to detail and nuance is uncanny.
Barbara R.
Content manager