It's an usually sunny day for November in New England, and my dog is resting up after a long walk around the pond, where she got to roll in mud like it was early spring. Today is also Small Business Saturday, and it's the approximately 9 month anniversary of my small business, Rebel Girl Research Communications. I'm really glad to be here.
I'm proud to be a small business owner, and grateful that I get to do work I love, while supporting such amazing scientists, activists and non-profits. It's truly a pleasure helping my clients tell their stories, connect with their stakeholders, and secure the money and resources they need to continue improving our world. I'm grateful that I don't need to pretend to be neutral (I'm terrible at that, and I don't think we have much room for neutrality in our world), and that I have the opportunity to promote and uplift work I believe in.
I'm also incredibly grateful for my clients and community, and excited to continue growing Rebel Girl Research Communications. I come from an academic research background, but before that I was a midwife. I have a lifetime's wealth of placenta stories, which I do not regret at all (though my fellow public transit riders might). What I do regret, though, is how very little I knew about research while I as in clinical practice. I mean, I had classes about research in midwifery school, and reading just about anything was always my escape as a child, and I don’t think I used research less than my clinical colleagues. It’s just that research wasn’t exactly accessible, economically or practically, even when I made an effort to find it and incorporate it into my practice.
What I experienced is called the research to practice gap, and it’s widespread across many different fields. Based on this experience, I’m very passionate about making research accessible to a wide range of audiences, often called knowledge translation, as we are literally translating your specialized knowledge into language and actions that our various communities can understand. I think of this knowledge sharing as a way of bringing people together in service of a larger goal, by building shared understanding of what happens behind office and laboratory doors. And this works for non-profits as well - translating your expertise widens your impact.
As I grow the knowledge translation part of my company, I want to give you an opportunity to see how Rebel Girl Research Communications can help you deliver your message. Because I believe in the power of sharing knowledge, I am offering to create a free, customized dissemination product for one of your finished or near finished projects.
After a brief phone conversation, I will create one of the following for you, based on your needs and goals: an op-ed, an infographic, a community summary, a Q&A piece, a newsletter article, a research brief, or a short popular press article. The product will be yours to share, completely free. I’ll encourage you to credit me as you share it, if that’s feasible, but you are under no obligation at all. I just want you to get a sense of what Rebel Girl Research Communications does to help you jump across the knowledge to practice gap.
This offer is good through the end of 2017, though some products might be delivered in 2018, which I'm really hoping will be better for all of us, individually and collectively, as a nation. Please note that there is a one per client limit, and, because RGR Communications is founded on principles of justice and equity, I reserve the right to refuse service to anyone whose work I can't support. More complete details are available on the special offers page, but I think I covered all the fine print. The take-home message is that I want to write for you. I want to get your message out.
Please email me to talk about your free dissemination product/publicity materials, or just to catch up.
Thank you for your support of small businesses, including mine!
In Solidarity,
Nechama