ABOUT

I help sustainability-minded manufacturers position themselves as the industry leaders they know they can be.

I do that by collaborating with my clients to create relevant content marketing strategies that boost their credibility and build awareness while remaining honest and true to their company values.

When I founded JLFG Communications in 2011, the focus was on content writing. While I still write white papers, blogs, and other content for my clients, that isn’t all I do.

After a decade in business, I decided to leverage my multifaceted background in engineering, journalism, writing, and teaching, plus my passion for materials and sustainability, to expand my reach and impact.

My mission is to help manufacturers connect business goals, environmental action, and effective communication strategies.

My clients are small to mid-sized companies with CEOs who believe in social and environmental responsibility and value employees’ contributions. You want to deliver high-quality, reliable products and also share the valid sustainability story behind what you do in a way that your customers will appreciate.

When I can talk with employees throughout your company to understand their challenges and perspectives, I can recommend strategies that allow you to reach more of the right customers with the right message. It’s also about avoiding unintentional greenwashing.

I also speak at industry conferences to share my message about the importance of aligning words and actions to advance environmental sustainability and promote a more circular economy.

I became a professional writer via an unusual path. I started my career as an engineer in semiconductor packaging, where I found myself being the team member writing the reports for government contracts and the articles for publication in the industry magazines.

 Materials have been the focus of my technical interests ever since college, after I took an introductory materials science course and became fascinated with the concept of tailoring a material's properties and function. I decided I had to get an advanced degree in materials science.

 I migrated to journalism in the early 2000s, writing and editing for a trade journal back when print magazines could attract enough advertisers to stay in business. People I met at trade shows assumed that I had a degree in English. I loved seeing faces change when I told them I held a PhD in materials science from UC Berkeley.

My degrees give me credibility when talking with engineers and scientists. My engineering background enables me to read and understand technical articles. When I interview engineers and scientists, I ask questions until I understand their topic well enough to write for an audience of their peers or corporate executives.

I’m also the award-winning author of four books. Writing and publishing Material Value: More Sustainable, Less Wasteful Manufacturing of Everything from Cell Phones to Cleaning Products propelled my sustainability journey and built my reputation as an expert on materials and sustainability. That book, which was a finalist in the 2019 San Francisco Writing Contest, came out on Earth Day in 2019.

My second book, Rethink the Bins: Your Guide to Smart Recycling and Less Household Waste, earned a gold award from the Nonfiction Authors Association and was the featured Community Read for the city of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin in spring 2021.

Beyond the Green Team: Aligning Internal and External Communication to Advance Corporate Sustainability was the #1 new release in green business on Amazon when it came out in 2022.

Materials and Sustainability: Building a Circular Future presents a compelling vision for a circular future where materials are not just used, but valued and reused in innovative ways.

I love talking with people who are passionate about what they do and making sure their message gets through to those who need to hear it. When it comes to sustainability, messaging is tricky. My mission is to help manufacturing companies get it right.