About
About Me
I’m Stephanie Schwartz, a writer who cares a lot about voice. I’d always intended to use my true voice more often, someday, and a few years ago I thought: “How about now? That might be good, like, before I’m dead.” This sounds dramatic, but I think a lot of writers postpone truly following their voice until it’s too late.
Now that I teach writing in an authentic voice, I’m stunned by the impact it has on people. They light up and they almost inevitably create strong writing. I think we all need to be repeatedly reminded to use our true voice, because there have been so many factors, for so long, encouraging us to focus on what others think. At the same time, I have a feeling that once people experience using their voice, they will never go truly go back to ignoring it.
My Career
I’ve been a journalist for most of my career, eventually turning to magazine journalism, where I traveled and wrote long features on a variety of topics (which was my dream). I’ve also been hired to write fiction (the other dream) and have done some medical writing (not in my voice).
Business Writing
Some of my workshops focus on using authentic voice for business and leadership writing. I come to this mostly with my general focus on voice. I also have a background in business writing, having started my journalism career at Bloomberg News before writing business and finance articles for Swiss publications such as SonntagsZeitung, NZZamSonntag, CASH and Bilanz. In the US, I’ve written about finance for the UT McCombs School of Business’s “Big Ideas” and about local businesses for the San-Antonio Express-News and San Antonio Magazine.
About the workshops
The workshops are fun, and they take place in a friendly, supportive environment.
The idea is to explore your voice, not just to be a better writer but also to be more authentic in the world. The workshops help experienced writers approach their writing in a new way, and they are a good path for beginning writers looking to build momentum.
You NEVER have to share your writing or thoughts if you don’t want to. Sometimes the time is right, sometimes it isn’t. That decision is completely yours.
Having said that, it’s incredibly satisfying to experience people resonating with things you have written. It’s helpful to have them point out the parts of your writing that feel the strongest to them. And this kind of exchange is a great way to build community very quickly.
Workshops often cover deep topics, because in my experience, it’s when writing about topics that are deep and important to you that you most easily slide into your authentic voice. You can write about any topic in your true voice, but when you’re first exploring that voice, it helps to feel strongly about your subject.
Leadership-writing workshops:
These workshops are more business oriented, but the emphasis is still on creating strong, authentic material. The workshops guide business owners and employees to uncover what truly drives them and then translate that core voice into authentic communication. This kind of leadership writing attracts attention. The approach helps leaders build trust, stand out in their industry and connect with the right people.