Iva-Marie Palmer-Stanis

Burbank, CA USA
Website: http://www.imp_perfect.blogspot.com

Professional Experience

Let's put it this way: Sophomore year of high school, my "Is Luke Perry the New James Dean?" commentary got me detention (yet earned me an 'A') while my essay positing solutions to the illiteracy epidemics won me lauds. Now a full-grown writer, I still possess the same versatility, curiosity and whimsy but without poorly conceived celebrity comparisons. I can go from panning a bad film in a laugh-out-loud way to penning an in-depth profile or investigative piece that will make your jaw drop. Still, if I must ditch my generalist status, hard for someone who's covered a little bit of everything (from the miniscule [school board in-fighting] to the heavy [Ecstasy epidemic]), I'll give this as my list of specialities: reviews, personality profiles, humor pieces, and topically, lifestyle stuff: fashion, beauty, trends, shopping, travel, entertainment, home decor and more. I can adapt to any publication's voice, and have written for both corporate and media clients.

Expertise

Editor
5 Years
Writer
10 Years
Producer (new media)
3 Years

Specialty

Lifestyle
7 Years
Entertainment
10 Years
Humor
10 Years

Industries


Magazine - Local/Regional magazines
5 Years
Online/new media
4 Years
Newspaper - Local/Regional
5 Years

Total Media Industry Experience

10 Years

Media Client List (# assignments last 2 yrs)

Pasadena Magazine (10+), Disney Family.com (10+), ELITE Magazine (3-5)

Corporate Client List (# assignments last 2 yrs)

Brandt Street Studios (3-5), Lisa P. Maxwell Agency (NEW) (1-2), Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce (1-2)

Other Work History

Have worked as an associate editor for The Star Newspaper and also as associate editor for ELITE and Chicago Southland Business magazines. Currently edit two Web newsletters and a quarterly print newsletter for the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.

Foreign Language Skills

some French, some Spanish

Computer Skills

Word, Excel, PhotoShop, Access, Movie Magic Screenwriter, Quark, In Design (some); both Mac and PC-savvy; some HTML and Dreamweaver

Equipment

laptop, digital camera, Canon Rebel manual camera, audio recorder, iPod

References

John O'Brien, Daily Southtown (Chicago) John Stein, ELITE magazine (Chicago) (Please email me for contact info.)

Awards

Seven Illinois Press Association awards (including two first-place awards); named semi-finalist in Chicago-Illinois Film Office Screenwriting Competition; Trade magazine I launched and edited received an ACCE Award for Excellence in a national contest from the American Association of Chamber Executives

Associations

Public Relations Society of America, Kappa Tau Alpha (journalism honors society), Avant Guild

Showcase

Online

Browne & Miller How-to-Pitch
(MediaBistro.com 4/12/2005)
(Full article available exclusively to mbAvantGuild members.) A guide to the best ways for writers to break in with this Chicago-based agency.
Best of 2007: Books and DVDs
(Disney Family.com 12/20/2007)
I compiled and wrote the Best Of Books list and part of the Best Of DVDs list for Disney Family.com. The site is for moms with kids up to ages 18 so our focus was on books that appeal to tots, tweens and teens and movies that are good for the whole family to watch.
Personal Blog
(4/18/2025)
I'm no longer really doing the blog thing, thanks to having a lot more freelance work. Still, you can get an idea of my personal writing style from this work.
Everything 'Enchanted'
(Disney Family.com 11/21/2007)
Review of Disney's "Enchanted" plus celebrity interviews with its stars: Susan Sarandon, Patrick Dempsey, Amy Adams and James Marsden.
Farewell, Fair Slayer
(Slayage.com/Daily Southtown 5/19/2003)
A fun tribute piece I did for the Daily Southtown on the end of "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" was picked up by Slayage.com, a clearinghouse of "Buffy" related articles and news.
Time Out Chicago How-to-Pitch
(Media Bistro 2/17/2005)
As a freelancer, any opportunity to speak with an editor is a welcome one. So I pitched Media Bistro on an How-to-Pitch piece to offer tips on catching the attention of Time Out Chicago. The piece was posted pre-Time Out's Chicago debut (March 3, 2005.)

Writing Samples

Don't Fear Formal Wear
(Daily Southtown 12/26/2004)
This is a holiday season service piece for the Daily Southtown on how to differentiate between dreaded formal wear designations (black-tie, creative black-tie, etc.) A lot of fun to research and write, with history of how tuxes (part of the assignment) came into being included herein.
Spring 2005 Beauty
(Elite Magazine 3/1/2005)
I've uploaded the Word document for this recent piece on spring beauty trends. Elite, a lifestyle magazine serving Chicago's south suburbs, wanted trends as reported by area salons and spas. Once in its printed version, I'll get a PDF here. Elite liked the piece so much they assigned me a reprise of the story for their new Indiana edition; that will appear in the April 2005 magazine.