Wealth Advisor

• Jul 2019 - Present

-- Help clients clarify life goals and develop the financial strategies to achieve them. Provide holistic planning services, covering everywhere that money comes into a household or goes out. -- Review assets, liabilities and cash flow, and look for ways to optimize all. Help strategize around equity compensation. Provide clarity and guidance around investment portfolios, real estate holdings and professional choices. Help develop a roadmap that points toward financial independence. -- Put my deep editorial background to good use: asking the right questions, mapping out client narratives, and clarifying/demystifying financial recommendations. Show less

Alumna + Student Advisor Board Member, Certificate Program in Personal Financial Planning

• Jan 2019 - May 2020

-- Completed a 9-course educational program as preparation to take the Certified Financial Planner exam. Course topics include taxes, employee benefits & retirement planning, estate planning, behavioral finance & more. -- Winner, 2019 Personal Financial Planning Scholarship -- Member, Student Advisory Board -- Completed a 9-course educational program as preparation to take the Certified Financial Planner exam. Course topics include taxes, employee benefits & retirement planning, estate planning, behavioral finance & more. -- Winner, 2019 Personal Financial Planning Scholarship -- Member, Student Advisory Board

Deputy Editor, MONEY

• Nov 2016 - Sep 2018

No. 2 editor at Money during a period of searing growth. Over the first year in this role, traffic more than doubled, with unique visitors rising 114% YOY per ComScore; the following month, we hit another all-time record. -- Editorial: Helped develop and manage a steady stream of stories and packages that expanded readership while staying true to Money's editorial mission: to deliver useful information, value-added news, and irresistible stories about money and the way it affects our lives. -- Leadership: Helped editor-in-chief manage a complete shift to "digital first" publishing, with digital stories almost completely outrunning the print process. Directly managed a team of 5 writers, helping them develop sharp story ideas and break through with smart articles that both fascinate readers and serve consumers. (Also helped manage/mentor several other team members informally.) Worked across Time Inc. brands to share best practices, help develop new content processes. -- Data project management: Edit and led teams of journalists to manage Money's deeply analyzed, data-driven packages. Led data analysis, editorial planning, and digital/print rollout for Best Places to Live, a $1 million+ partnership with Realtor.com. Also led Best in Travel, Best Cell Phone Plans, Best Colleges, Best Banks, Most Valuable Job Skills. For all, coordinated reporting and data gathering, helped develop and refine methodology, determined editorial treatment and enhanced the package online and off, with additional tools, graphics, and other related content. -- Personnel: Led editorial recruiting for MONEY, hiring steadily for a range of roles. (Half-dozen positions filled in 2017; another several in 2018.) Managed and coached a team of talented reporters and writers. Show less

Asst Managing Editor, MONEY

• Jul 2015 - Nov 2016

-- Editorial, print and web: Edit the Plan section of Money magazine, as well as digital content for the website's "Everyday Money" and "Family Finance" sections. Recruited writers/other contributors, assigned stories, and managed deadlines for content on a range of personal finance topics -- including credit card strategies, travel spending, car buying and cost management, tricky family conversations about money, estate planning topics, and more. -- Data project management: Led editorial for several of Money's deep, data-driven packages. -- Brand promotion: Represented Money in a variety of forums, online and off, including video and live events. Recruited guests and led panel on women's financial issues, and appeared in other live events. Show less

Editor-in-Chief, Financial Planning

• May 2014 - Jun 2015

-- Editorial management: Plan, manage and edit monthly magazine & daily website for financial advisors (circulation 200,000+). Assign and edit content covering portfolio strategy, industry trends and players, client needs and small business growth. (Edit pages average 45-60 monthly.) Manage two staff writers and broad cast of freelance contributors. -- Digital integration: Manage integration of digital and print content, both within Financial Planning and among our sibling publications. Lead tactical shift to digital-first publishing, with related content promotion/integration strategies. Work with digital team to coordinate daily content of news, analysis & blog posts. Supervise social media & newsletter promotion. -- Brand promotion: Represent Financial Planning in a variety of digital and real world forums. Chair full-day Women Advisors Forum conferences across the country, with attendance of 160 participants, collaborating with presenters and organizers. Moderate webinar panel for close to 100 participants, working with panelists and fielding attendee questions. On Twitter at @rachel_elson with c. 3,900 followers. Show less

Executive editor, Financial Planning

• Oct 2012 - May 2014

Managing editor, Inc.com

• Dec 2011 - Sep 2012

-- Home page management: Curate content on the Inc.com home page to satisfy a variety of needs: Traffic growth, site engagement, advertising delivery needs, and promotion and branding of high-profile contributors. -- Content leadership: Recruit and develop writers, and edit articles for the Sales & Marketing section of Inc.com. (By April 2012, my writers represent roughly 20% of total site page views.) Manage the team of contributors to Inc.Wire news blog. -- Product development: Represent editorial team in conversations with product management to develop a range of enhancements to site, content management tool, social media properties, and more. -- Talent development: Manage a rotating team of interns that handles news blogging, social media, reporting and writing for the magazine and website. Show less

Managing editor, CBS MoneyWatch.com

• Jun 2009 - Dec 2011

-- Content development: Recruit writers, edit articles and packages on a range of money- and finance-related topics. -- Content promotion: Use a variety of levers, from headline modules and newsletters to social media, search engine optimization (SEO) strategies and partner relationships, to steadily ratchet up MoneyWatch traffic. First year and a half's progress: from 211K UUs/500K PVs to c 2.3M UUs/6M PVs. -- Product development: Represent editorial team in conversations with product management, resulting in an ongoing stream of site enhancements - home page adjustments, navigation changes, improved art use, slideshows and more. -- Social media: Took over MW social media efforts in late 2010. Tripled Twitter followers (from an admittedly small base) to c. 7,300 in first six months; increased Facebook fans from 1,700 to 10,800 in first eight months. -- Outside relationships: Work with major portals and other sites to get MoneyWatch content featured on Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo Shine, MSN Money and more. -- Blogger management: Work with MoneyWatch's team of Saving & Spending bloggers - part coach, part mentor, part den mother. S&S bloggers consistently have top page views for the month. -- Editorial calendar: Collaborate with editorial team to ensure a steady flow of content on the site. Show less

News editor/Markets editor

• Apr 2006 - May 2009

-- Program Money module on MSN.com, increasing traffic from 8 million in March 2006 to 35 million in March 2009. -- Get better MSN home page placements for strong content from MSN Money, and work with Money team to strengthen content. Increased traffic from editorial placements from 10 million to 11 million in 2005-2006 to an average 16.8 million in the six months ending March 2009. -- Help develop MSN Money's award-winning multimedia team. Recruit writers, work with writers and producers to delineate story ideas and edit content. (Our first series, "Keeping Up with the Wangs," won a 2007 Loeb Award and a "Best in Business" award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers; our "Middle-Class Crunch" series won the 2008 Loeb Award.) -- Edited daily stock-market commentary, Market Dispatches, developing a strong voice and a growing audience, with monthly page views rising from 2.4 million in March 2006 to 9 million in March 2009. Show less

Home page editor

• Oct 2004 - Oct 2005

-- Helped coordinate daily home page coverage of news and feature stories, updating as needed to provide a page that both satisfied and increased readership and met advertising sales commitments. -- Edited MSN.com's Entertainment and Video modules. Over the course of a year, increased Entertainment traffic amid growing content restrictions; boosted Video traffic roughly three-fold over the same time period. -- Worked with partners in content "channels" (eg Entertainment, Video, Dating & Personals) to help them strengthen content offerings. -- Analyzed user data to bolster site performance. -- Developed coverage plans for major events. Show less