Behind the Work

I'm Shari Walker. I make complex things clear, human, and worth reading.

I've been writing professionally for fourteen years — starting in entertainment studios where story was the product, then moving into Fortune 500 enterprise content where story became the strategy. I've published 40+ editorial pieces for a learning technology company serving 75 million users. I've been featured on NPR, published in Education Week, and produced a documentary for PBS SoCal. I hold two master's degrees — one from USC in Social Work, one from Pepperdine's Caruso School of Law in Dispute Resolution — because I believe the best content doesn't come from knowing the product. It comes from understanding the people.

Most content professionals come from one world. Marketing. Journalism. Advertising. I come from several — and that's what makes the work different.

I've ghostwritten executive speeches and keynote talking points for C-suite leaders. I've taken subject matter expert recordings and transcripts and found the narrative hook inside technical implementations. I've designed educational change management campaigns during organizational transformation. I've restructured global internal messaging for thousands of employees across time zones — not by creating from scratch, but by making what existed clearer, sharper, and more human. And I've done all of it inside Fortune 500 environments with compliance, legal, and brand oversight at every turn.

Two master's degrees taught me how people think. Fourteen years of writing taught me how to reach them. That combination — editorial instinct, enterprise scale, and human-centered education — is what I bring to every project.

I started in rooms where story was the product — not the marketing department. Warner Bros. Entertainment. Dick Clark Productions. Lionsgate. I was creating content for major film releases, live tentpole events like the American Music Awards, and theatrical distribution campaigns before I knew there was a career called "content strategy."

Then I was selected as 1 of 15 from 150+ applicants for Snap Inc.'s Storytelling Academy — an elite immersive program in brand narrative and digital content innovation. That confirmed something I already suspected: the instinct for story that I'd built in entertainment wasn't just transferable. It was rare.

I brought that instinct into enterprise. At Cornerstone OnDemand — a Fortune 500 learning management system company serving 75 million users — I was promoted from intern to full-time copywriter within a year. I published 40+ editorial pieces. I ghostwrote executive speeches. I took subject matter expert recordings and found the narrative hook inside technical implementations. I designed an educational campaign that increased employee engagement by 40%. I restructured global internal messaging that drove 65% higher open rates.

The work at Cornerstone didn't read like marketing. It read like storytelling with a business case. That was the point.

But I was also building something else.

While writing for enterprise, I was publishing independently. Education Week published my piece on school lunch reform — advocacy writing that connected national policy to lived experience. NPR's Take Two featured me as a commentator on foster youth education. PBS SoCal aired a spoken word documentary I wrote, produced, and performed in. The Chronicle of Social Change published my work on child welfare policy. These weren't side projects. They were proof that the editorial voice I'd built in entertainment could carry weight on national platforms.

And throughout all of it, I was earning two master's degrees. An MSW from USC that trained me in how people process information, build trust, and change behavior. An MDR from Pepperdine's Caruso School of Law that trained me to take competing complex perspectives and synthesize them into one clear narrative. Most writers study writing. I studied people. That's why the content works differently.

Recently, I completed Google's AI Essentials Professional Certificate — because the tools are evolving and I intend to evolve with them. But the foundation hasn't changed. Complex ideas, made clear, made human, made worth reading.

Entertainment taught me story. Enterprise taught me scale. Two master's degrees taught me people. And fourteen years of writing taught me that the best content starts with understanding the audience — not the algorithm.

The Foundation

USC MSW (Social Change & Innovation) | Pepperdine MDR (Caruso School of Law) | Google AI Essentials | Fortune 500 Content Strategist | Snap Inc. Storytelling Academy (1 of 15 from 150+)