Cynthia has worked for 25 years in the writing and communications industry. In addition to writing three books, she has stories in NJ Monthly, ADDitudeMag.com, LadyBug, The Mennonite, and in the collection, Just Moms: Conveying Justice in an Unjust World. She’s written features for world-class institutions, including Princeton University, Bristol Myers-Squibb, and New York’s arts-focused Cathedral of St. John the Divine. She’s worked as a purpose coach as well as communications consultant for numerous leaders, entrepreneurs and others for well over a decade.
Please feel free to connect: Contact Cynthia
Cynthia’s Coaching and Editing Draw on a Life-Long Dedication to Writing and Instruction
Growing up in a Pennsylvania Dutch Mennonite family, Cynthia noticed there was a lack of folk stories from her culture. Sitting in a graduate literature class at Columbia University, she got inspired to change this. She pursued an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Sarah Lawrence College, where author Barbara Probst Solomon became her mentor. Her mentor’s guidance led to the publication of Crazy Quilt Pieces of a Mennonite Life. It is one of the first modern memoirs published by a Mennonite-born woman.
Publishing her memoir led to talks at places like Princeton University, Yale School of Divinity, the American Association of University Women, and Barnes and Noble. Coaching individuals led to publishing her self-help book, Divine Purpose: Find the Passion Within. Although she parted ways with the Mennonites, her writing continues to explore her experience growing up in this community. She explores themes of love and place in her novel, Mennonite on the Edge: An Unlikely Romance.
Cynthia has decades of experience in editing and providing feedback to fellow writers and authors. She’s taught classes at Westchester Community College (SUNY), Bluffton University, OH, and Mercer County Community College, NJ. She tutored graduate students on thesis writing at Sarah Lawrence College. She launched her own writing coaching programs in May, 2021.
Cynthia currently works with writers, entrepreneurs and others who want support to develop their projects, whether that is a memoir, hybrid memoir, social media content, blog, essay or other format.
Please feel free to connect: Contact Cynthia