MS in Professional Writing Alumni Interview Series

SPS Stories

Alumni Spotlight

Victoria Greenleaf

Class of 2019

MS in Professional Writing

MS in Professional Writing Alumni Interview Series

Fast Facts

Began her career in journalism
Credits the MS in Professional Writing with reshaping how she thinks as a communicator
Sees cross-functional partnerships as critical to marketing & advertising writing

Aligning Storytelling with Strategy

<a href="https://www.sps.nyu.edu/explore/degrees-and-programs/ms-in-professional-writing.html">MS in Professional Writing (MSPW)</a> alum Victoria Greenleaf is currently a Senior Advertising Specialist at Coverys Insurance. In this role, she wears several hats: part strategist, part content creator, and part project manager. Everything she creates aligns with the brand’s voice and strategy, and she collaborates closely with the content marketing and business development teams to ensure a cohesive messaging across all channels. It’s a dynamic position that demands strategic thinking, agility, and clear communication, and Greenleaf thrives on the pace and purpose this work brings. Learn more about her experience below. Describe your current role and your daily professional tasks and responsibilities. My day often begins with reviewing timelines and campaign performance dashboards to ensure we’re on track and aligned with our broader national brand awareness strategy. A large part of my role also involves coordinating directly with our senior director and external advertising agency to manage deliverables, creative assets, and deadlines for multi-channel campaigns—whether digital, print, or direct mail. I also work closely with our agency network, ensuring that touchpoints like newsletters and email campaigns are timely, targeted, and on-brand.I’ve also taken on ownership of our social media presence—creating and scheduling content, maintaining editorial calendars, and ensuring consistency across all platforms. I support content development across the board: writing collateral materials, blog articles, email campaigns, and even video scripts.  What made you realize that writing was something you wanted to pursue professionally? I fell in love with journalism first: the rhythm of a good lead and the responsibility of giving someone else’s story the care it deserves drove me. Writing was never just an outlet; it was a calling, and I loved every moment of it. Over time, I realized that the skills I practiced most in journalism were just as powerful in other forms of writing. Writing professionally felt inevitable because I never wanted to stop asking questions or making meaning out of everyday moments in life. It’s how I connect, think, and move through the world—and I knew that I wanted to make a career of that kind of impact. Talk about how the MSPW helped shape who you are as a writing professional. Any specific mentors, books, or experiences that stand out? The MSPW program didn’t just refine my writing, it reshaped how I think as a communicator. The curriculum’s focus on writing across a wide variety of contexts—business, digital media, technical, and strategic storytelling—mirrored the professional challenges I now face daily. It taught me how to pivot between voices, adapt to audiences, and write with both purpose and precision. Courses like Writing for Digital Spaces and Style & Rhetoric helped me turn raw ideas into clean, compelling content that performs. But as students, we didn’t just write; we workshopped, revised, and collaborated. That rigor and the supportive friction it brought gave me the confidence to lead creative conversations and defend my strategic choices. What advice would you give to a professional writer interested in a career like yours? Lean into your versatility. Writing for advertising and marketing is about solving problems with language, adapting tone to the audience, and aligning storytelling with strategy. If you can write a punchy tweet, a compelling case study, and a 30-second video script in the same day and still hit deadlines, you’re on the right path. It’s also important to get serious about data. Learn how to interpret campaign metrics, open rates, and SEO performance to make your writing sharper and your value greater. Collaboration is also key. The best content often comes from cross-functional partnerships, and in this field, the strongest writers are the most flexible ones.

Whether I’m crafting a campaign or a single line of copy, the goal is always to connect, inform, and inspire action.”