Engagys Engagement Whisperers

Like a lot of English majors, I started out thinking I'd become a teacher. I’ve always loved reading good writers and crafting stories of my own, so the idea of helping young people discover the power of language felt like a natural path. That’s how I found myself teaching eleventh-grade English at a high school in suburban Boston. 

I should have known I was in trouble on day one. I walked into the classroom, wrote “Mr. Test” on the chalkboard in big letters, and turned around to a roomful of groaning teenagers. Not exactly the warm welcome I’d imagined, but completely understandable given the audience. As the year wore on, it became clear that teaching high school just wasn’t the right fit for me. Many of the students didn’t want to be there and, honestly, I wasn’t sure I did either. 

Luckily, life opened another door. I was offered a role in the training department of a large regional bank, helping write video scripts and classroom materials for up-and-coming banking managers and consumer education. It was a major pivot—from high school essays to corporate learning—but it turned out to be a great one. I got to write more creatively, target adult audiences, and learn how to motivate people to act using behavioral principles that I still use today: urgency, clarity, social proof, and the power of simplicity. 

That job led me to the next major turning point in my career—interactive media. 

A colleague from the bank recruited me to join a start-up in Cambridge focused on interactive video. Looking back, it was a career-defining moment. The technology was new and clunky by today’s standards—think 12-inch laserdiscs controlled by touch screens connected to PCs—but it was groundbreaking. There were no UX designers back then, so I did everything: wrote scripts, drew wireframes, recorded voice-overs, worked with producers and graphic designers, and even acted in a few of the videos myself. 

We created interactive content for museums, financial companies and, most meaningful to me, healthcare providers. One of our early projects involved helping people with cancer better understand their diagnosis and treatment options. That experience changed everything. Writing about mutual funds was fine, but helping people navigate something as life changing as cancer? That felt important. That felt like work that mattered. 

Healthcare became my focus from then on. 

I moved to Chicago and spent the next seven years working for a healthcare branding and education firm. One of the most meaningful projects I worked on was for what would become the first at-home oral HIV test. I helped with the research, ran focus groups, and worked on the messaging for both physicians and consumers. This was in the early days of life-saving HIV medications—when the stakes were high and the messaging had to be just right. I’m still proud of that work. 

Eventually, I returned to Boston—closer to family and right in the heart of one of the country’s major healthcare innovation hubs. That’s when I joined Eliza, one of the pioneers in interactive voice response (IVR) technology and omni-channel solutions for healthcare communications. Some of my colleagues at Engagys today came from Silverlink, Eliza’s top competitor back then, so we all share that deep-rooted IVR and digital communications DNA. 

Eliza was a masterclass in how to write for healthcare consumers in a way that actually drove action. We weren’t just sending one-off messages, we were building omni-channel, year-long communications journeys. I learned to apply behavioral science in practical, effective ways: FOMO, authority, urgency, endowment, and other behavioral tactics designed to drive action. I learned how to keep things short, simple, and actionable. I learned to write differently for different audiences and, just as importantly, how to design those communications journeys so they worked across the touchpoints that were most relevant to the consumer. 

And perhaps most rewarding of all? Seeing it work. 

There’s something incredibly satisfying about looking at post-campaign data and knowing that your words—those carefully written emails, texts, IVR scripts, and print communications—actually helped someone schedule a screening, fill a prescription, or take that crucial first step toward better health. 

I’ll never forget what one focus group member living with diabetes told us: 
“I hear a lot about engagement. To me, engagement is more than telling me how much you value my membership in your health plan. It’s about reminding me what I need to do about my health—and helping me do it at the right time.” 

That, to me, says it all. Whether I’m writing about healthcare, training, or anything in between, my goal is always the same: help people take action that makes their lives better.