Bio & Resume
Brent Calderwood is a copywriter and creative leader with 9+ years’ experience writing, strategizing, concepting, pitching and directing data-driven digital and print copy and creative projects for brands including Delta Airlines, American Express, Levi’s, The Home Depot, Lowe’s, LG and Morgan Stanley; with an additional 5+ years copywriting and final-eye editing for arts and education nonprofits, with an emphasis on vetting, testing and revising content to remove and reduce cultural biases and reach the widest audience possible.
SKILLS & STRENGTHS
Writing and Storytelling
9 years’ digital and print copywriting for national and international brands including Delta Airlines, American Express, Home Depot, LG, Levi’s, Lowe’s and Morgan Stanley. 5+ years’ producing diverse copy for nonprofit arts organizations (Frameline International LGBT Film Festival, A&U Magazine). Producer of long- and short-form copy: social, email, web, scripts, storyboards, print ads, signage, packaging, concept decks, legal, UX/UI, SEO. Adept at writing everything from consumer copy and taglines to executive talking points and brand rationales.
Concepting and Pitching
Agile and prolific brainstormer, solo as well as in collaboration with writers, designers, clients and creative leaders. Adept at pitching and presenting to clients, groups and colleagues; leading and joining in internal kick-offs and reviews; and co-developing data-driven concepts (including disruptive and established options) for prospective and longtime clients. Love nailing concepts, impressing clients and winning new accounts; building compelling presentation decks; articulating test results and customer insights; and naming things.
Leading and Mentoring
7+ years’ experience directing copy projects; collaborating with designers; hiring, mentoring and supervising junior and freelance copywriters; and providing final-eye QA and feedback to proofreaders. Excel at listening, communicating and group facilitation; embracing and amplifying diverse voices; and identifying team members’ strengths and needs. Experience coordinating and providing QA for English/Spanish translation projects.
Branding and Marketing
7+ years’ participation in brand refreshes and rebrands. Created elevated copy and voice for Home Depot Design Center stores; provided copy support and mission statement for Home Decorators Collection rebrand; directed copy for Home Depot’s tech-focused “Next Gen” and “Smart Home” initiatives; and articulated brand voice for Levi’s higher-end Neighborhood Stores, Tailor Shops and Made & Crafted label. Experienced at producing A/B test concepts, as well as analyzing results to engage the greatest audience possible, inclusive of diverse communities, locations and languages.
Refining and Delivering
Passionate and eagle-eyed grammar geek with expertise in Associated Press, Chicago, NY Times and other styes, including writing Style & Voice Guides for Levi’s, Home Depot and the Princeton Review. Proven track record of meeting target dates and overdelivering error-free, exceptional content. Fanatical respect for deadlines due to years of freelance writing on tight deadlines for newspapers and magazines.
WORK EXPERIENCES
RR Donnelley/GO Creative
Atlanta, GA and Remote, Mar 2016–Oct 2023
Senior Copywriter and Copy Director
I served as Senior Copywriter and ACD-level Copy Director for RR Donnelley’s (RRD) largest in-house creative agency, directing data-driven copy projects and strategizing concepts, campaigns and pitches for the Midtown studio, where we won clients including Delta Airlines/American Express (web, email and direct mail), Morgan Stanley (web, social, email and UX/UI) and Lowe’s (catalog and packaging). I crafted internal and client-facing communications and talking points for RRD leadership in Atlanta, Chicago and NYC. I also copy directed for our largest account, The Home Depot (THD), partnering with CD, ACDs and designers on in-store educational signage and collateral copy for stores worldwide, consulting with and co-presenting to dozens of client stakeholders across channels (print, digital, social and TV). I wrote and owned the Style & Voice guide for THD stores; served as final eye for QA; and hired, trained and supervised five sub-copywriters. Biggest win: I helped craft a new brand voice plus wrote and directed 90% of copy for the hugely successful Home Depot Design Center, a new, elevated expression of the brand with luxury interactive showrooms in San Diego and Rockville, MD; this included script/storyboard copy that was leveraged for web, social, app, print and TV ads.
The Home Depot
Atlanta, GA, April 2015–Mar 2016
Copywriter, Décor
I wrote copy and maintained the Style & Voice Guide for The Home Depot’s private décor brand, Home Decorators Collection (HDC), including writing SEO copy for the website, plus email, social, print catalog and product packaging. Served as final-eye copy editor and proofreader for all copy and consulted with merchants on product specs.
Freelance
San Francisco, CA, and Portland, OR, 2011–Present
Short- and Long-form Copywriter
In addition to copywriting and leading copy projects for brands and creative agencies, my passion for words extends to writing freelance arts and culture articles for publications such as Rolling Stone, Cineaste and the Chicago Sun-Times. I have interviewed artists including Guillermo del Toro and Holly Near, and my web writing has appeared on JoniMitchell.com and Frameline.org, among dozens of other sites. As a freelancer, I’ve written social and web content for the Frameline International LGBT Film Festival (frameline.org), produced marketing copy for small businesses and proofread print ads for Ogilvy New York. I have even written children’s stories for Pearson and the Princeton Review. As a National Book Critics Circle member, I vote for the NBCC Award and champion diverse and emerging writers.
A&U Magazine
San Francisco, CA, 2012–2015
Associate Editor
For three years I served as an Associate Editor for A&U Magazine, a 40-year-old nonprofit national arts and culture magazine distributed nationally to schools and subscribers. I collaborated with the Editor-in-Chief on production schedules, interviewed and profiled artists, worked with designers on sourcing and acquiring permissions for images, and owned literary submissions. I founded the annual Christopher Hewitt Awards in 2013 to increase the quality and diversity of submissions, awarding creative writers from Africa, Asia, South America, Europe and North America.
Levi Strauss & Co.
San Francisco, CA, 2011–2012
Copywriter for Levi’s Stores and Levi.com
In 2011, I began my copywriting career by becoming the first-ever in-house copywriter for Levi’s Stores and Levi.com. Prior to my hiring, Levi’s had always relied on ad agencies and freelance copywriters; but in 2011, the 125-year-old company identified a long-overdue need for a Style & Voice Guide to refine its brand story and standardize essential messaging such as the official fit verbiage for 501 jeans and the spelling of “T-shirt.” During my one-year contract, I wrote and designed the Style & Voice Guide, still used for in-store and web copy, and produced SEO product descriptions for Levi.com.
EDUCATION
San Francisco State University San Francisco, CA, 2004
B.A. in English with an emphasis in Communications and Creative Writing. Additional coursework in teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL). Studied Spanish, French, Dutch and Greek. Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa.
University of Amsterdam Amsterdam, NL, 2001
Special research and studies in Gender, Ethnicity and Sexual Diversity.
MEDIA KNOWLEDGE
Zoom; Instagram; Facebook; Twitter; TikTok; Google Workspace; Google Adwords; Microsoft Office: Word, PowerPoint, Excel; Adobe Creative Suite: Illustrator, Basic Photoshop; WordPress and SquareSpace; MacOS and Keynote; MailChimp.
HOBBIES
Avid hiker, swimmer and runner; amateur singer-songwriter and guitarist who occasionally performs at open mics and talent shows; and, of course, a word nerd with a love of dictionaries, grammar guides and modern poetry.