Senior Copywriter
Smile Train
Derek has spent the past decade helping nonprofits very large and very small tell stories that save lives and change the world. As Senior Copywriter for the world’s largest cleft charity, he crafts the narrative of Smile Train’s immense impact and influence across media and genres, including on the blog Smile Train Stories, which won both the Shorty and Shorty Impact Awards for Best Blog or Micro-blog in 2023.
Before coming to Smile Train in late 2019, he spent just under two years on the digital fundraising and advocacy team at M+R Strategic Services. His first professional role, in 2013, was as editor-in-chief and CEO (read: sole employee) of New Voices, the only national magazine by and for Jewish college students. His proudest accomplishment there was keeping the venerable progressive Jewish institution afloat on a budget less than what many mid-sized nonprofits probably spend on their holiday parties. He is also a proud alum of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, where he studied for two years before moving to New York to run New Voices.
He currently lives in Washington Heights with his wife; three-year-old daughter, Hallel; two cats; and super extra chihuahua. While he has lived in NYC for a long time now, he will always be a Pittsburgher at heart and will never stop insisting his hometown is the actual greatest city in the world, no matter how many New Yorkers assume he must be being sarcastic.
Disclosure information not submitted.
Thursday, August 1, 2024
4:10 PM – 5:10 PM EST