Patricia R. Olsen

I love writing. Though my specialties are business and health, many things spark my interest. Recently, I wrote about cellphone towers encroaching on residential neighborhoods, for AARP, and about a female deputy assistant prosecutor who tries murderers, for a college alumni magazine.

I've been contributing to the business section of The New York Times for the last 11 years. One of my favorite columns is The Boss (on Sundays). I've interviewed so many memorable people--from Louis Rukeyser, Evan Williams (Twitter), Tony Hawk, and Dylan Lauren, to CEOs of start-ups and non-profits. Another of my favorite columns to write is Preoccupations, a worklife column. I love capturing people's voices and telling their stories. In fact, I started freelance writing by writing essays, telling my own stories.

Search on my byline, Patricia R. Olsen, at www.nytimes.com to see more than a hundred of my articles in 10 different columns.

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Here’s what one reader said:
I am writing to tell you how much your writing style - at least in The Boss column - reminds me of reading Studs Terkel's Working. I devoured Working when I first encountered it and thus have a pleasant connection whenever I read one of your features on Sunday.
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Publication Credits

Magazines and websites in which my work has appeared include Continental, Neurology Now, Diabetic Living, Care ADvantage (Alzheimer’s Foundation), Remedy, USA Weekend, ForbesLife Executive Woman, Dealmaker, Business Traveler, The San Francisco Chronicle magazine, Family Circle, MORE, Princeton University's website, and Hemispheres. I've also been a monthly contributor to a recruiting website, The Ladders, and have written for numerous alumni magazines such as Stanford Business School's and Dartmouth's.

Columns

For several years now, I've written my own column in two business magazines, On Wall Street and Family Business. Former columns include a monthly small business column for a custom publisher. Stay tuned for another I'll be writing for!

Blogging

I see blogging as another opportunity to write a short essay or capture someone's voice. I've blogged about addiction, parenting a teen, women in mid-life and freelance writing. At the moment I ghostwrite a blog for two CEOs and a TV personality.

Business/​Corporate Writing

I occasionally write for various businesses, taking care not to blur the lines between journalism and corporate writing. I'm also a skilled editor. My specialties include:
• web content
• newsletter articles
• blogging
• manuals
• policies and procedures
• white papers
• profiles and Q&As.

Book Authoring

In 2008 I published Sober Siblings: How to Help Your Alcoholic Brother or Sister -- And Not Lose Yourself, with Dr. Petros Levounis, which is available on Amazon. I'm available for co-authoring or ghostwriting others' books, and I write book proposals, too.