McLean and her puppy, Deacon
You have reached the home page of freelance writer and editor Carolyn McLean Robbins.
McLean is a native of Annapolis, Maryland and currently resides in Arlington, Virginia. She was born and raised in the DC metro area and writes frequently for area magazines, newspapers, web sites and blogs in addition to blogging daily on DeaconDoesDC.com, her personal site tracking all things fashion, food and fun in the District and beyond.
She attended the prestigious Severn School in Severna Park, Maryland and won several writing awards and speech contests before graduating cum laude in 2003.
She attended Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she majored in English literature and double minored in Journalism and History. While at Wake Forest, McLean pursued a rigorous academic and social schedule that included membership in Kappa Delta sorority, where she served as both social chair and academic chair, authorship of a relationship column for the school newspaper, The Old Gold & Black, and served for two years as Editor in Chief of The Student, the school’s first student-run Web site. She graduated cum laude in 2007.
While in college, McLean held editorial internships with Chesapeake Life magazine and The Washingtonian magazine. She continues to contribute regularly to these publications and credits the ties made with editors at the publications for her drive to pursue a career in journalism.
After graduation, McLean began to aggressively pursue a freelance career, focusing heavily on the culture of Washington, DC. Frequent topics include fashion, shopping, spas, food, travel and luxury lifestyles.
McLean’s first full-time journalism experience came when she accepted a Web Editor position at Employee Benefit News, a leading trade publication in the human resources and benefits space. Over the course of 18 months, McLean grew to serve as managing editor of two of the company’s publications, Employee Benefit Adviser and Small to Medium Business Human Resources, the company’s first e-magazine. She was also responsible for spearheading the publications’ social media presence, which included launching Facebook and Twitter pages as well as producing daily blog posts and monthly podcasts.
In December 2008, McLean accepted a position as Copywriting Manager for a TIG Global, a leading internet marketing firm for the travel and hospitality industry. As copywriting manager, McLean has honed her editorial skills as well as developed substantive skills in areas including Search Engine Optimization (SEO), optimized copy production and the writing of optimized press releases. Clients to date have included extensive work with the Hyatt brand as well as Marriott, Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton.
Today, McLean continues to freelance for many area publications and is currently at work on her first novel.
If you are interested in speaking with McLean about freelance work, please e-mail McLean.Robbins@gmail.com.
