Laura Briggs is a two-time TEDx speaker, freelance writing and digital marketing consultant, coach and teacher to thousands of freelancers, and winner of the 2019 Author Academy Awards “Best in Business” prize for her first book, How to Start Your Own Freelance Writing Business. Her second book, Six-Figure Freelancer, was published in 2020. Her next books, Remote Work for Military Spouses and Content is King: The Complete Guide to Website Content That Sells, will be published in 2022. She’s also the host of the weekly Advanced Freelancing podcast and a regular contributor to Entrepreneur.com.

Bennie M. Currie (www.mbc-financial.com) is a former journalist and former private and public-sector PR professional who used to put words in the mouth of former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley (only the good words!). He was in corporate communications with FedEx for many years and is now a principal in MBC Financial Strategies and a Registered Representative with NYLIFE Securities LLC, a member of FINRA/SIPC, a licensed insurance agency, through which he helps business owners, professionals and families grow and protect what matters most to them financially. He uses a unique, non-fee-based, educational approach to tax-efficient planning called the Macro Asset Perspective (MAP). He can provide proven, dependable ways to help protect a freelancer’s lifestyle and future, and prepare for major financial events such as paying for college, saving for retirement or caring for an aging relative.

Pat Nogar is the CEO & founder of Rediscovering Home and host of “Living Well with Pat Nogar” and “Saturday Morning with Pat” independent TV programs. Her background is in community marketing and communications, having served in those roles at a hospital in Baltimore, MD, and as director of the community health and clinical care center at Main Line Health, Philadelphia, PA. She has transferred that experience into an independent business as a popular lifestyle coach and exemplar.

April Michelle Davis is the executive director of the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (www.NAIWE.com) and the founder of Editorial Inspirations (www.editorialinspirations.com). She has a master’s degree in publishing from George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in English from Messiah College, as well as certificates in editing, book publishing, and professional editing. She has presented sessions about what an editor does and the steps to becoming an editor, tips for and the benefits of working with an editor, indexing, macros, grammar, marketing, and Microsoft Word at the Be a Better Freelancer® conference, Randolph-Macon College, Northern Virginia Community College, the Christian PEN: Proofreaders and Editors Network, RavenCon, the Hanover Book Festival, the Editorial Freelancers Association, Copyediting newsletter, Editorial Inspirations’ trainings, and NAIWE.

Davis has shared insights by contributing to several books: When Talent Isn’t Enough: Business Basics for the Creatively Inclined, Ease into Writing, The Indie Author Revolution: An Insider’s Guide to Self-Publishing, and Juggling on a High Wire: The Art of Work–Life Balance When You’re Self-Employed. She has taken her role full circle by becoming a published author: A Guide for the Freelance Indexer, Choosing an Editor: What You Need to Know, and A Princess in Disguise.

Ruth E. “I can write about anything”® Thaler-Carter (www.writerruth.com) started Communication Central (www.communication-central.com) in 2006 to serve and bring together colleagues at all stages of their freelance careers. She is the author/publisher of “Get Paid to Write: Getting Started as a Freelance Writer”; author of the original “Freelancing 101: Launching Your Editorial Business” for the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA) and co-author of the 2020 edition; and co-author of the 2020 edition of the EFA’s “Résumés for Freelancers.” She presents webinars and in-person sessions on freelancing, the basics of editing and proofreading, websites for freelancers, diversity, networking and related topics for the EFA, NAIWE, Cat Writers Association, ACES: The Society for Editing (she was one of the first ACES freelancers), Association Media & Publishing, Society of Professional Journalists, Writers and Books, International Association of Business Communicators, and other professional organizations, including the UK’s Chartered Institute for Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and Editors Canada.

Thaler-Carter is an award-winning freelance writer, editor and proofreader who has been published and worked on projects internationally, nationally, regionally and locally. She writes, edits and proofreads material in everything from the arts to the metric system to animals, education, communications, statistics and more.

Often called the Queen of Networking for her extensive involvement in professional organizations and ability to connect colleagues with projects, resources and each other, she is the NAIWE Board of Experts member for networking; Resources chair of the SPJ Freelance Community; newsletter editor and chapter co-coordinator for the EFA; and much more.

Dick Margulis (www.dmargulis.com) is chief cook and bottle washer at Dick Margulis Creative Services, where his focus is on thoughtful editing, appropriate design, expert production and comprehensive project management, for publishers of all sizes. He began correcting his elders as a small child and has been editing one thing or another for over half a century. As his handwriting is execrable, he learned to set type at an early age and has been studying and practicing typography ever since. For the last 17 years, he has been working with individuals and companies to help them publish the high-quality books they are looking for.

Margulis is a popular go-to resource for colleagues and independent authors interested in book publishing and memoirs. He is the co-author with Karin Cather of the invaluable book The Paper It’s Written On: Defining Your Relationship with an Editing Client, which he and Cather developed after presenting a session about contracts at a past Communication Central conference.

Margulis has more than four decades of experience in helping companies and authors communicate effectively, internally and externally. He has made significant contributions to client projects such as corporate identity, including logo design; user manuals and technical documentation; web and intranet sites; books and magazines; and much more. He is known for his deep understanding of and skill in typography and book production.

Nicole Evelina (http://nicoleevelina.com) is a USA Today bestselling author and biographer who writes historical fiction, nonfiction and women’s fiction. Her six books have won more than 40 awards, including four Book of the Year designations. She was named Missouri’s Top Independent Author by Library Journal and Biblioboard as the winner of the Missouri Indie Author Project in 2018 and has received the North Street Book Prize and the Sarton Women’s Book Award. One of her novels, Madame Presidentess, was optioned for film.

In addition to her self-published works, Evelina has three new books under traditional contacts: the first-ever biography of suffragists Virginia and Francis Minor, set to be published in March 2023 by Globe Pequot, and two nonfiction books due to be published in 2022 and 2023/24 by Rowman & Littlefield: Sex and the City: A Cultural History and Fierce Females of Television: A Cultural History. Her writing has appeared in the Huffington Post, The Hill, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Independent Journal, Curve Magazine and numerous historical publications.