Index

Rose Marie Cleese: Writer, Author, Copy Editor

One rainy November day long ago, I picked up my new five-year diary and started chronicling

the thrilling daily events of my 7-year-old life, thus launching my life as a wordsmith. While a

marketing and copywriting career has paid the bills over the years, I’ve been able to satisfy my

passion for “true writing” amid the search for brochure headlines and good copywriters to train.

I’ve written a monthly travel column for a magazine, been on the staff of a national ski

magazine, had a weekly wintersports column in a metropolitan newspaper, and written articles

on a wide range of topics for several national magazines and major newspapers.

Most recently I have been researching and writing a travel guide to the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California, working on an anxiously awaited biography that will be a significant contribution to the historical record of San Francisco and California; serving as the copy editor on several coffee table books, and ghostwriting a chapter of

a business book for a marketing expert.

The most exciting and significant writing projects of my life are currently in the works, but you are most welcome to review some of my past writings provided here. Happy reading!

Personal Accomplishments

• Have rafted down the Colorado River on 6 occasions

• Late one spring with skis on my back, hiked to the top of Mt. Tallac, Lake Tahoe, (3 hrs.) and skied down (15 mins.),

researching a story for California Living, the San Francisco Examiner’s Sunday magazine

• Spent 8 months after college traveling through Europe (20 countries) and Morocco by VW bug on $7 a day

Professional Organizations

Society of Professional Journalists • The Institute for Historical Study •

North America Snowsports Journalists Association(past president, Northern California/Nevada Ski Media Association, now part of NASJA) •Women in Consulting •Catalog and e-Commerce Club of Northern California •

Special Interest Organizations

San Francisco Museum and Historical Society • California Historical Society • American/Italian Historical Association, West

Philanthropic/Social Issue Organizations

Committee for Green Foothills • Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) • Save the Bay • Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy •

Save-the-Redwoods League • Marin Agricultural Land Trust • Marine Mammal Center • Natural Resources Defense Council •

Earth Justice • National Audubon Society • National Wildlife Federation

Cultural/Civic Organizations

San Francisco Opera • San Francisco Symphony • KQED • Friends of the San Francisco Public Library •

Neighborhood Parks Council (San Francisco)

Professional Achievements in Journalism

• 1st woman journalist on staff of San Francisco Examiner sports department (wrote a weekly wintersports column)

• Sole San Francisco Examiner staff writer at the Innsbruck Winter Olympic Games

• 1st woman president of the Northern California/Nevada Ski Media Association

• Creator and chair of the Ski Media Association’s annual Charlie Proctor Award banquet, held at a prestigious SF location

and honoring a local individual who has made a major contribution to wintersports

Professional Achievements in Marketing (seeCleeseCreative.com)

• Began and/or grew in-house marketing creative departments for 3 major companies:

– college textbook publisher (Wadsworth Publishing Company/Thomson Learning)

– business-to-business computer accessories direct mail cataloger (Inmac)

– trade publisher of best-selling mainstream consumer book series (IDG Books)

(imprints: …For Dummies, Frommer’s Travel Guides, Webster’s, etc.)

• Winner of 3 Gold Awards and 3 Silver Awards for copywriting and copy directing, Catalog Age magazine

• Winner of Award of Merit for creative directing, Western Art Directors Club

• President, Gamma Alpha Chi Advertising Sorority, San Jose State University