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Janice Smith Collins

Senior Communications Strategist

As a teenager, Janice was inspired by the beauty of northern Michigan and the Great Lakes, and started to write poetry about it. In high school, she became a yearbook editor and came to love writing about the experiences of her classmates. Teenage poems and yearbook articles may seem to be a long way off from business writing, but to Janice they aren’t necessarily that far apart – it’s all about creating something that tells a story and makes a difference. Read More »

Janice’s passion for meaningful storytelling has led to a 13+ year career as a professional communicator, with experiences in industries ranging from high tech to financial services to construction. Prior to joining Brilliant Ink, she led internal communications teams at Yahoo!, Washington Mutual, and Gateway, and also held marketing communications positions at Caterpillar, the University of California San Francisco, and a dot com start-up. Her areas of comms expertise include organizational change, crisis communications, branding, executive communications, mergers and acquisitions, corporate events, and intranets (just to name a few).

Janice received a bachelor’s degree in English from Michigan State University, with additional concentrations in anthropology, history of art, and French. She has also completed advanced courses in grammar and copyediting, strategic management and leadership, and interior design. Janice and her husband, Brad, live in San Francisco with their brand-new baby daughter, Sylvia, and their dog Shelby.

Crossing the finish line

Isn’t it exciting when something you’ve poured lots of time and effort into is finally finished and heads out the door for the whole world to see? And it’s even more exciting when that something is changing the world for the better.

That’s why we are so pleased to congratulate the staff at Metta Fund on the launch of their brand new website – not to mention the publication of their first annual report.

Metta Fund is a private foundation on a mission to improve the health of people in the County and City of San Francisco. With the launch of these two important communication vehicles, they are accomplishing their goal of ... Read more »

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Date: August 6, 2010Author: Janice Smith CollinsCategory: Client Files
Me and my awesome mom
Me and my awesome mom

The Most Inspiring Woman

There are so many women who inspire me that I found myself agonizing about writing this blog entry. Of course because writing is such a big part of what we do at Brilliant Ink, I thought of two of my favorite authors, Jane Austen and Zora Neale Hurston. Both of these women broke new ground and challenged stereotypes of the day, with beautifully crafted novels that draw you in with engaging and inspiring characters.

I also thought about one of my favorite political activists and social figures, Eleanor Roosevelt. I highly recommend her old newspaper column, My Day, published from 1936-1962.

Instead I’d like to dedicate this blog to someone who is ... Read more »

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Date: March 31, 2010Author: Janice Smith CollinsCategory: Our Favorites

C’mon, Share the Love!

With Valentine’s Day just behind us, it reminds me of how many of us “share the love” in the workplace – that is, through corporate recognition programs.

Over time, the simple act of saying thank you seems to have become rather complicated in the corporate workplace. There are big, yearlong recognition programs with points and websites and Caribbean cruises. There are different levels of recognition with certificates that can be redeemed for cash and prizes. While there are certainly benefits to these more formal programs, I think some of the best – and most effective – recognition programs are the simplest.

We recently helped a client with a peer-to-peer recognition program that ... Read more »

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Date: February 16, 2010Author: Janice Smith CollinsCategory: Employee Communications

Favorite Words – Special Wednesday Edition!

After a restful holiday break, everyone is back to work (hooray, I think). With that in mind, doesn’t it sometimes seem like Friday is taking forever to arrive? Here’s a little something that we usually do on Fridays to inspire you to finish the week strong – a bunch of our favorite words. As always, don’t hesitate to send us some of your favorite words in the comments section below. And don’t worry; Friday will be here before you know it!

@janni10

braggadocious – overly proud, bragging in excess
taciturn – inclined to silence
voluble – characterized by a ready and continuous flow of words, talkative
mephitic – offensive to the smell
vim ... Read more »

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Date: January 13, 2010Author: Janice Smith CollinsCategory: Our Favorites

Fun with the FDA

Hi everyone. It’s Janice Smith Collins, Brilliant Ink’s newest employee. I’m so excited to be here, and equally thrilled to be joining the conversation on our Brilliant Blog.

I’ve spent a number of years working in communications in lots of different industries, especially in technology and also financial services. Considering the mountain of government hearings and discussion about regulation (or not so much) in those arenas, I’m fascinated by the recent FDA hearings on online drug marketing and social media.

In a nutshell, the FDA recently listened to some 70 presentations over the course of two days from a broad range of representatives including a number major pharma companies, online search/content giants ... Read more »

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Date: November 24, 2009Author: Janice Smith CollinsCategory: News and Trends