Hi, I’m Virginia St-Denis. I am a publishing professional with more than 30 years of experience in writing, editing, desktop publishing, and managing newspapers, magazines, newsletters, journals, social media accounts and websites.
Having started my career as a reporter-photographer at a daily newspaper, I became a professional storyteller and plain language specialist before those things were considered essential parts of marketing and communications. Connecting with my readers — so I can understand and tell their stories and meet their information needs — has always been my priority and my passion.
My skills, experience, and dedication to my work earned me a promotion to editor, first at a weekly newspaper and then for hobby magazines. My hard work and editorial strategy increased their readership, which in turn increased their advertising.
Virginia St-Denis
My superior organizational and time-management skills allowed me to be a one-person production team to launch a plain-language academic journal. I worked with guest editors, the editorial board, authors, and peer reviewers to ensure articles met academic publishing standards. While working with translators, I edited all articles for clarity and language before laying them out and sending files to the printer and webmaster.
That gave me the experience I needed to become the managing editor of three medical journals, leading a team of two editors, a graphic designer, and a desktop publisher. I further honed my plain language skills by transforming psychiatry research papers into media advisories, increasing the journal’s profile in Canada.
While working in corporate communications settings, I edited annual reports, newsletters, reports, and various business documents.
Now, my work mostly focuses on editing research reports, journals, medical exams, and government submissions, as well as desktop publishing of journals and reports.
Since 2002, I’ve mostly worked with non-profit health organizations. This experience has taught me how to do more with less without sacrificing quality. It has also allowed me to work with subject matter experts. I’ve learned a lot from Indigenous health professionals, psychiatrists, obstetricians and gynecologists, radiologists, nurses, medical specialists, and residents.
I enjoy helping non-profit organizations gather and package together information into useful and engaging content that keeps their target audiences coming back for more. I do that by providing writing, editing, and social media services. My outstanding organizational and time-management skills allow me to complete overlapping high priority projects with tight deadlines on schedule and on budget.
Memberships
As a member of the Plain Language Association International (PLAIN), I follow their definition of plain language, which comes from the International Plain Language Federation. I’m also the managing editor of the PLAIN eJournal.
“A communication is in plain language if its wording, structure, and design are so clear that the intended audience can easily find what they need, understand what they find, and use that information.”
International Plain Language Federation
I am also a member of Plain Canada Clair, which promotes plain language in both official languages in Canada.
I’m also a member of Editors Canada. As well as volunteering with the Ottawa-Gatineau branch, I was the director of communications on the national executive council. I was also the April 2020 Volunteer of the Month. As a professional editor, I follow Editors Canada’s Definitions of Editorial Skills and the updated 2024 Professional Editorial Standards.
I am also a professional member of the Canadian Freelance Guild. It’s another source of professional development to help me keep up with the fast pace of change.
Professional Member
As a Language Portal of Canada Ambassador, I help promote trusted and high-quality language resources, as well as provide readers with access to official languages resources. As a volunteer, I promote the portal’s tools and services to the people in my networks. I have even written a post for the Our Languages blog.
I’m a member of many social media groups for editors. These not only provide great networking opportunities and professional support, but these also provide platforms to learn from others and to share my knowledge with them.
Lifelong Learning
I have a three-year Journalism diploma and a five-course Social Media certificate. I believe in lifelong learning and regularly take workshops, seminars and webinars to keep up with the fast pace of change. Here’s a list of some of the professional development I’ve taken.
Editing
- AI Editing Uncertainty: Navigating Ethics, Copyright, and Privacy
- Copy Editing I: Introduction to Copy Editing
- Copy Editing II: Judgment Calls and Added Value
- Doin’ it Right: Correct Grammar and Punctuation
- Editing and Inclusive Language: A Workshop for Editing Professionals
- Editing Manuscripts for Submission to a Medical or Scientific Journal
- Editing Medical-Legal Reports: A Big Little Niche
- Editing Manuscripts for Submission to a Medical or Scientific Journal
- Editing Skills for the Workplace
- Editing with ChatGPT
- Eight-Step Editing: Finding and Fixing Common Readability Problems
- Electronic Editing: How to Capitalize on Microsoft Word to Simplify Editing and Writing
- Fact-Checking
- Grammar Boot Camp
- Grammar: It’s More Than a Gut Feel
- Hyphens and Compounds in [Canadian Press] Caps and Spelling
- Inclusive Language as a Tool of Transformation
- Introduction to AI Prompt Writing for Editors
- Macros for Editors
- Practical Proofreading
- Secrets of Syntax
- The Sweet Spot: Editing Infographics
- Writing and Editing for the Web
Plain Language
- Five Steps to Plain Language Success
- Let the Fire Burn Brightly: Wordiness Be Gone!
- Implementing Plain Language as a Strategic Priority
- Plain Language 2.0
- Plain Language and Audience Appreciation
- Plain Language and Editors
- Plain Language: Five Steps to Success
- Plain Language Writing and Editing
- Readers, the New Readability, Writeability Techniques
Acessibility
- Accessible Documents: Tips for Working with Microsoft Word and PowerPoint
- Accessibility for Editors
- Creating Accessible Documents in Microsoft Word
Social Media
- Applied Social Media in Business
- Developing a Social Media Strategy
- Digital Communication
- Facebook Best Practices: The 3 Types of Content That Audiences Love
- A 5-Day Plan for Increasing Your Twitter Engagement
- Hootsuite Platform Certification
- How to Build a Social Following: The Tools, Tactics, and Routines of 3 World-Class Social Media Experts
- How to Create a Strategic Social Media Content Plan
- How to Use Social Media at Every Stage of the [marketing] Funnel
- Introduction to Social Media
- Introduction to Social Media Marketing
- Monitoring and Measurement [Social Media]
- Optimizing Your Social Profiles
- Social Media Strategy—From A to Z
- Social Media Survival: A Guide for Small Businesses
General
- AI and Automation
- Clearly Communicating Change
- Conflict Resolution
- How to Evolve Your Writing from Print to Online
- Increase Efficiency with Microsoft Word
- Managing People for Superior Results: The Fundamentals of Supervision
- Meet Gutenburg: The New WordPress Editor
- Newsletters, Emails and Presentations: Improving the Tools of Business Communications
- Photoshop Essentials
- Photoshop Tips and Tricks
- Save Time and Your Sanity: Increase Your Efficiency with Microsoft Word
- Using Storytelling to Boost Your Nonprofit’s Communications
- Web Writing for the Government of Canada: Be Found, Be Understood, Be Useful
- WordPress 5 Essential Training
- Working Sm@rt with Outlook
I also enjoy sharing what I have learned with others, so they can learn from my experience. This includes giving an Editors Canada webinar on social media marketing with a colleague and another on creating a realistic production schedule. In-house training has included staff training on the house writing style guide, production process and how-to sessions for submitting written materials for editing and translation, advanced features of Microsoft Word (e.g., using tracked changes, templates, styles and accessibility features), and plain language.
I’ve also written articles and blog posts for the PLAIN eJournal, The Editors’ Weekly (Editors Canada), and Our Languages blog (Language Portal of Canada). Visit the Writing page to see examples of my writing.
If you want to find out more about my experience, check out my LinkedIn page.
Or email me, so we can talk about how my unique combination of skills can help you achieve your goals.