Merry Zide

She holds a degree in Philosophy with a minor in Creative Writing from Brown University. In graduate school, she studied the history of American criminal justice at UT Austin. Her early editorial background includes work with New York Magazine and Good Magazine, as well as research contributions to the Journal of Psychohistory.

As a private tutor, she specialized in reading comprehension, standardized test prep, and advanced writing skills for medical, legal, and graduate students. She also worked at a well-known national proofreading service, where she quickly became the most-requested copyeditor. Later, she served as Director of Quality at a media technology company catering to Fortune 500 executives, where she trained and managed a 15-person editorial team.

Since founding ReadWrite Strategies, she has worked with brands including HP, Hive & Colony, and Atrium Health. If asked what she’s proudest of, she’d probably mention her clients—their trust, their stories, and the fact that some of them still text her for dog photos years later. That focus on lasting connections is why she built ReadWrite to support individual consultants and coaches and launched Executive Narratives to serve companies and senior leadership teams.

Merry can read 900 words per minute if she’s really trying and has been known to finish entire books standing up, occasionally walking into furniture and walls along the way. A born and bred New Yorker, Merry now loves the city the best way she knows how: by living in Austin, TX. In her free time, you can likely find Merry on the phone with Sara.

Sara Watkins

Sara graduated summa cum laude from Holy Family University with a B.A. in English and a minor in Communications. She completed her degree in under three years while working as an academic tutor, guiding undergrad and grad students through thesis crises.

From there, she joined Elsevier, the world’s leading medical publisher, where she served as Developmental Editor for multiple journals, Content Development Specialist for frontlist texts, and finally, Acquisitions Editor in the books department.

After Elsevier, Sara transitioned into academic publishing, spearheading the developmental editing department at Cognella, where she specialized in flagship higher education textbooks on communications, sociology, and law. She then entered the world of executive branding, partnering with Fortune 1000 leaders to craft everything from thought leadership articles to memoirs.

Sara is also the founder of Spoonie Press, a nonprofit literary magazine designed to provide a platform for writers and artists with disabilities. Her own fiction, nonfiction, and journalism have appeared in over 50 magazines, newspapers, and anthologies, and she won the 2022 MASKS Literary Magazine Story Award.

When she finally pries herself away from a story (hers or someone else’s), she collects tiny, fat dragons with the help of her husband and three cats. She lives in Philadelphia, PA, and regularly fends off Merry’s efforts to relocate her to Texas—it’s simply too hot there for humans.