A specialist with a broad skillset
About
Jean Thilmany is a St. Paul, Minn.-based content writer, journalist, and copywriter who uses her ear for words, her joy in uncovering the unique and the overlooked, and her strong work ethic and professionalism to craft content across a variety of types. Whether article, blog, report or other, each content meets clients' needs and furthers their business goals.
She has a long track record of writing about engineering topics that include automation, robotics, manufacturing, batteries, and wind and solar power. But that doesn’t mean she can’t pen lighter pieces as well. She once authored a 1,500-words story about The Singing Nun that had readers asking for a follow-up piece.
Brands she’s written and edited for include Grainger, Emerson, IBM, Siemens, Autodesk, Stratasys, and HP, to name a few. Work has appeared in trade and commercial magazines and newspapers including Women’s Wear Daily, Mechanical Engineering Magazine, Inc, and MIT Technology Review among many others. Created collateral for the University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies, Protolab, SmartGridToday, and others.
Jean’s specialties include articles, blogs (ghosted or not), e-books, whitepapers, case studies, press releases, and other marketing materials.
She has written for clients in the engineering, manufacturing, information technology (including retail and supply chain technologies), medical, data visualization, data analytics, bioscience and bioengineering sectors. Topics include 3D printing, the Internet of Things (IOT), CAD, CFD, PLM, FEA, and ERP, POS, and RFID tags, to throw out several acronyms. She’s a member of the National Association of Science Writers and the American Society of Journalists and Authors.
Familiar with AP, AMA, and Chicago styles. View her resume here.
A writer who "gets it"
Jean started her professional life as a newspaper reporter and evolved from there. While not a trained engineer, she’s been writing about engineering and other topics for more than 15 years. When people ask how she made the transition from “cops and courts” to industrial coatings, fashion technology (Women’s Wear Daily) and engineering (Mechanical Engineering Magazine) the answer is easy. She talks to her sources at length, asking them to explain in straightforward language concepts that may seem obvious or simple to them because they’re experts in their fields. She also encourages them to use jargon-free language. She and her sources communicate until they’re sure she “gets it” … and she’s sure she fully understands their message and its meaning for readers. She often thinks of herself as a translator, turning complex ideas into meaningful, engaging pieces that communicate specialized information to broad audiences.