About Writehand Communications

Hi, I’m Cathy Shaw, Managing Director of Writehand Communications. I understand how important a decision it is to entrust someone with communicating your brand, so here’s a bit of background about me and my experience.

I have always been passionate about the written word.  From the age of four I would excitedly await my six year old sister’s return from school so I could master her spelling homework.  By the time I reached six I was writing poetry regularly and reading with a torch under the sheets until the early hours of the morning.  I was first published at age eleven when I won a poetry competition with a seemingly cynical, but as it turned out surprisingly accurate, poem about climate change.  Over the following years the stories I submitted to local papers were published frequently.

In 1996 I set up my own exchange to Yorkshire, England to complete the final year of my studies.  I graduated with a BA (Hons) in International Business majoring in marketing and management.  In 1997 I worked as a temporary employee for a number of London PR agencies, before being selected out of 500 applicants for an executive traineeship with a PR agency ranked within the top three in the UK.

Following my return to New Zealand in December 1999 I worked in communications and marketing for a number of New Zealand corporate organisations, including SKYCITY, IBM, Tower Insurance and NZINVEST.  In my spare time I dabbled in some freelance journalism for a fitness magazine.

Each of the roles I have carried out throughout my career has been part of my strategy to gain broad experience, allowing me to set up my own marketing communications consultancy.  Through this experience I wanted to be able to offer my clients a full suite of services, tailored to meet their individual needs.

In January 2008 I achieved my dream, establishing Writehand Communications with the objective of offering freelance support to corporate communications professionals.  Since then I have enjoyed working with a number of clients across all types of exciting communications projects.

I sincerely hope to have the opportunity to add you to my portfolio of delighted clients.

Best wishes,

Cathy