ELISHA KENNEDY

Writer and editor, EVK Editorial

Image Credit: Trish Chong for Practise Journal.

Elisha Kennedy is the word-wielding, content-generating editorial whiz behind EVK Editorial. Pushing a decade as a freelancer, the literary lady is wise, honest and oozes authenticity. With bylines in both homegrown and international publications — like Broadsheet, Oyster and Cereal, to name a few — and with Emirates, Blundstone and Assembly Label among her clients, she’s a goldmine of intel. We had a chat with the writer about her 9–5 (which is more “really odd hours in stolen pockets of time”), what makes a dream brief, workable boundaries (or lack thereof), her favourite thing to come out of lockdowns and the feeling she gets seeing her words in print.

Hey Elisha, thank you so much for chatting with us! We have been a fan of EVK Editorial — via your Instagram — for a good while!

Oh thanks! That’s good to hear because I have such a terrible relationship with Instagram haha. I love what you’re doing with FIELDS.

Thanks! Love all round! Tell us a little bit about what you do!

I work as a writer, editor and strategist. I usually work on large branding or placemaking projects, but I also write features occasionally for magazines, like Cereal.

Was it always a vision for you to write?

I mean, it’s really cheesy to say but I have always loved the literary world. When I was a little girl, I wrote poems all the time and made a little magazine that had articles about issues in our friendship group and toys we wanted to buy. But, I definitely never thought I would work as a writer.

I just fell into writing mostly because I enjoyed it. It was really important to me that what I did for work felt like an extension of who I was already. It’s been a very non-linear journey.

How did you fall into it?

I was at uni [studying international studies at UNSW] but not enjoying it — living out of home, broke and needed to work as many random part-time jobs as I could to get by. So I was like ‘What’s the fastest way out of university?’ and pooled all the units I had done up until that point into an arts degree, majoring in creative writing and theatre subjects.

I had a great creative-writing tutor, and some really interesting lecturers. I was doing an unpaid internship at Broadsheet at a really good time, with the editor Sophie McComas and Georgia Booth — I learned a lot from them.

I was writing a lot of features in the creative, arts, fashion and design industries, and met so many people through that work. It helped me build a network and find out what actually interested me, and I learned how to interview people and how to get the best out of them. It was a really good opportunity in that way. And that was how I kickstarted my career!

Amazing. I feel like learning all of those things on somebody else’s dime, in a supportive environment where you’re getting feedback on your work, is so much more ideal than trying to just jump into that industry yourself.

Absolutely! I always had a thousand jobs, but writing and editing was the one that I found the most interesting and came the easiest to me. We moved to the south coast of NSW, to Pambula, which is when I really focused on building my freelance career.

I was moving to a regional town… it was kind of my only option!

So that’s when you launched your own business, EVK Editorial?

Yes! I was really enjoying the work and would just write under my own name. At Broadsheet I had clients say ‘LOVED the feature article, would you write our brand story?’ or ‘Would you work on something for the website?’, so eventually I started doing a lot more brand work and a bit of brand strategy, which is absolutely hand-in-hand with copywriting.

If you’re trying to tell the story of a brand, you have to understand every aspect of the business — so naturally there's a lot of research involved which keeps it really interesting.

I’m a bit addicted to working on new projects and learning about new industries. I’ve worked in a freelance capacity now for 8 years and have had a couple of short term contracts in-house, with brands and agencies. It’s been extremely varied.

The first few years of EVK were very unstructured for me. I became a mother at 25 and didn’t really have any support, so freelance was also really my only option. Operating a freelance business as a one-woman-show — so with 100% accountability — and having a baby… not necessarily a great combination. It’s just been in the last year or so that I’ve found a much more comfortable way of doing things, and now my son is a bit older as well.

Has that come with realising when you need to set workable boundaries with clients?

I read a lot of literature and articles by clever people that suggest that it’s easy to create boundaries when you are a freelance worker. I do not think that it’s easy at all. I’m like… that sounds great… in theory.

Image Credit: Victoria Aguirre for Pampa.

As a freelancer you’re wearing every hit. Every time you have to do a really late night, push a deadline or have revisions go on for too long. You’re wearing all of that really personally.

Exactly. It’s really difficult to not be really hard on yourself or take things personally. I found achieving focus and those flow states  — that you need to write well — really difficult when I had a baby and a young child. I’m not sure there’s any real way around that, when you have a career where the entire job is creative output. That was my biggest challenge.

100%! How did you manage the balance? 

I did not manage it! It was a disaster for my mental health!

We could obviously do a whole interview on this alone, but could you touch a little more on your experience of working freelance as a young mother?

There was definitely a push and pull. In some ways, doing freelance work was ideal for having a baby and raising my son because it gave me fantastic flexibility, financial stability and was a way to exercise my brain and be creative — which I really needed! I found solace in doing my work, but then at the same time, a lack of sleep and lack of support was really difficult when having a job that requires creative output.

Working as a writer, you really need to be able to close the door. You need to get into that focused flow state. And when you're a mum to a young kid… you just can’t close the door. I actually felt really creative after my son was born, it was more just not being able to focus or articulate information in a really clear way… like my brain was mush.

I didn’t have any boundaries in place, really. Before the pandemic, when I was interacting with clients, I almost just had to pretend that I didn’t even have a baby. The pandemic really changed that in a positive way. Now I definitely don’t feel that way and feel the freedom to be able to talk about the fact that I have a kid at home.

It’s crazy that it took a pandemic for a lot of people to have the basic awareness that people have caregiving responsibilities, but it was a good outcome.

Do you like having contracted stints in an in-house role? Or do you prefer working directly with a client or brand?

I enjoy both for different reasons; it’s nice to have a mix. I absolutely love working closely with a team on a project — that is something I really miss when I’m working solo. An agency will be really well resourced and have projects with bigger budgets, which means your work goes further and you can see its impact. But I also love working with small businesses or on projects where you can be more influential. To be able to identify things about their brand that are inspiring for them. Sometimes it can reinvigorate them in their own approach to business, which is always really lovely.

Absolutely. A lot of the work you do is strategy — taking a macro look at a brand and making sure it’s all consolidated — which takes a special eye. Is that something you feel like you’ve always been able to do, or have you developed it?

I think storytelling is a really powerful tool. Stories are how we make sense of our world and our experiences. I am always just looking for a story — that might sound really simple but sometimes that’s the hardest thing to articulate. It’s easy for a business to have all the operations or their history, but to communicate what it is that they are about, in a really simple, clear and strategic way that comes across to everybody else… that’s a challenge.

I always ask ‘If you read this to your grandma, would she understand what we’re saying?’.

To be clear and generous with the story is actually a really difficult thing to do.

When you have a client approach you to start working for them, what makes your life easier?

I'll often guide clients or agencies I'm working with on how they should brief writers to get the best out of them, because it’s rare that I come across a really good brief.

I think, in general, there's a misconception about how much work and research goes into written work. I think it's easy to assume that writers can receive a brief and begin furiously typing... but you wouldn't launch yourself into an essay on a very niche subject without significant research. It's the same when working on a feature or writing for a brand — it's not going to be any good without the research.

What are some key aspects of a fantastic brief?

That’s a great question. I always love to have a section that goes into the client’s expectations from a non-commercial point of view — something quite self-reflective, honest and considerate of their values. Brand values are really important to communicate in a brief, their visions for the future too.

A great brief gives the writer as much context as possible, and is very clear on the deliverables.

What do you think makes a good working life?

So for me personally, it’s not working from home. I’ve worked from home for seven years now and I just don’t think it’s very good for me. I've found my best work groove is in the library or in a coworking space. Something that I love that gained popularity over lockdown is walking meetings. I try to encourage it with my clients and really hope it sticks around. I feel so much better for it, and my dog is happier too! Ha.

What do you think it is about working in a library that you find effective?

The focus. This might be a really daggy thing to say but I always feel really creative when I'm in the library surrounded by books and references. To me, the library is an energising and inclusive space that represents the kind of world I want to live in. It represents something really positive and lovely.

At home, you’re surrounded by distractions, animals, domestic responsibilities, snacks. It’s tough when there’s no delineation between work and home life. We already have all those boundaries blurred with phones and computers, so to have your physical environment also be that way — I do not think it’s healthy! 

Amazing advice. Any other hot tips for young freelancers?

Say no to joining clients’ Slack channels!

It’s such a shitty way to always be available and to jam your brain with things you don't need.

Email scheduling is my best friend. As a mum, I work really odd hours in stolen pockets of time, but I also refuse to be part of a 24/7 work culture. I’ll often work a few hours in the early mornings or the weekends, but will always schedule my emails to send during work hours. I think that’s something that’s really simple but useful. I’m not perfect and sometimes I break that rule, but I'm pretty strict about it now.

I hate that showmanship of like ‘Oh look at me, working late into the evening’ — I think that’s so crappy and I don't want a bar of it.

Another thing is that experience is greater than age. I’m young, but I’ve been writing for a long time. I've always kind of struggled with meeting clients face-to-face as I always felt like [my age] was something that I had to almost explain. Being young shouldn’t affect your confidence. If you have the experience and have done the work and know you can do it, you should own that. Especially young women — don't think that you don't deserve to work on that project or ask for that fee!

How do you effectively quote and block out time for a job? And how do you know when to say no to a job because it’s not worth the time it will take?

Good question. You learn from experience how long a job is going to take. If it’s a subject I'm familiar with, it's going to take me less time than a new industry where I have to research and really immerse myself in the language of that industry.

You don't always get it right. Quite often you’ll under quote for something — every single freelancer struggles with that. I’ve also found my groove over the years and learned what times of day I can do certain tasks. I know I have to wake up early and work from 5–7am, come back to it between 9 and 11. Then I'll need a couple hours for lunch, which sounds like a lot but I really need a solid break in the middle of the day where I do something completely different, like reading or gardening. If I don't, the rest of the afternoon is usually pretty unfocused. It took me a long time to figure that out — on a good day, I do like the Italians do and take ‘la pausa’.

Absolutely, you cannot be creatively ‘on’ all the time. Have you got a favourite project?

I do. The best project I've ever done was for One&Only Wolgan Valley, and not because of the prestige! They gave me so many resources and it was a well-paid job. It’s nice to be valued as a writer as it’s definitely not the most lucrative career. The reason I loved it was because it was essentially a creative-writing opportunity. I was commissioned to write a personal essay on the sense of awe that I experienced in the landscape. I spend a lot of time bushwalking and trying to improve my knowledge of flora, so to be given an assignment to go to this incredible ancient valley and romanticise and wax lyrical about what it’s like being there — it was an absolute dream. I don’t think I’ll ever get a more enjoyable job than that to be honest!

Sounds amazing, where can we read it?

It was for print! For the book that sits in the rooms of their resorts around the world.

I love working on a print project — when something that you’ve written is tangibly out there, that’s always exciting!

Ugh, the perfect segue — my next question is do you still get a buzz seeing your words in print?

Yeah! Only in print though, it’s really interesting. What I work on is mostly destined for the internet, and something about the internet is still not real for me. It just feels so fleeting and surmountable all the time. Our attention span is better when reading something in print — we have a crazy short attention span for anything online.

I just read this amazing book, Future Proof, by Kevin Roose, who is the technology columnist at the New York Times. He talks a lot about people whose job it is to kind of move things around the internet, which is what copywriting can feel like at times. He writes about how it’s a recipe for dissatisfaction when you can only see the output of your work as moving around this vague and intangible space.

Seeing [your work] in print is always incredibly satisfying. Print will always be special and will always have that human quality, which I think we will come to value more and more.

Do you have any go-to tools or resources that would be handy for people starting out?

Yeah! Grammarly is fantastic. For anyone who’s not a writer, it’s really good. They have a lot of resources on the website, so if you are wanting to upskill or are interested in improving your grammar, it’s an incredible place to start. Chances are, if you are Australian and under the age of 60, you weren’t really taught grammar properly in school.

It’s so funny. I’ll never forget hearing Helen Garner speak a few years ago, she was talking about teaching a class of uni students and asking them what they could teach her about grammar… and the only thing that anyone could say was that ‘a verb is a doing word’. I really hope that they’ve improved the way they teach grammar in schools. I guess I’ll find out when my son starts school next year!

What are your thoughts on a style guide?

Oh style guides are such a fantastic resource! More brands should have one done because most people are writing something — at the very least, an email — every day. I’m always surprised by these huge brands that don’t have tone-of-voice guidelines and just expect all of their employees to represent the organisation consistently.

I love working on tone-of-voice documents. I’ll provide a library of 40 terms and get into the nitty gritty of the language. It’s so much more useful for, like, a graphic designer or a marketing coordinator to be able to look at this really accessible, clear and easy-to-understand resource and go ‘Ok yes, I can construct a caption around that’ or ‘That’s the word we use when we’re referring to this specific thing in the business’.

Language is so important, and often merits reviewing in order to be more inclusive, modern or simply to better express the truth of something. For example, I have one child and I don’t use the term ‘only-child’ because, to me, it suggests a deficiency and feels very outdated.

Certain terms can become marketing fodder or industry-speak and, after a while, they begin to lose any meaning — ‘sustainability’ is an obvious example.

I feel like one brand that does this so well is Go-To. Their copywriting is so consistent and on-point.  

It’s very identifiable, yeah.

And people often don’t realise that that doesn’t just happen by accident. It doesn’t happen because Zöe Foster Blake writes like that and everybody tries to copy her. That would have been filtered, clear messaging.

Exactly, and there would have been a lot of strategy behind it as well.

Do you have anything that you read religiously?

What a loaded question! I read the New Yorker and the New York Times pretty religiously, and authors that I’m pretty attached to — like Curtis Sittenfeld or Helen Garner. So if they come out with anything new I'll always jump on it. I really love Anne Helen Peterson’s Culture study newsletter, that always fires me up.

I’m about to travel to Canada have just fallen into this deep hole of female Canadian authors. Alice Munro, Margaret Atwood, Sheila Heti, Heather O'Neill. The last few months I've been working my way through everything ever written by Miriam Toews. And! There’s Sarah Polley, a director who’s just written a really interesting book. They’re all women, so that's an accident haha! And they all live in eastern Canada, in Toronto and Montreal. I can’t wait to go… something’s happening there.

Yeah! Go drink some of the water.

Get your eyes around Elisha’s interview with Bianca Spender, her deep dive into ceramicist Tara Burke’s studio life and her truly gorg’ website content for the deliciousness that is Aplenty. Then, make like the wordsmith: work hard, hit your deadlines, schedule some time off and dance right outta the office.

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