We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Elita Summers a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Elita, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

Hi. Here is a blog post outlining some of this content.

Feel free to use whatever you like here.

https://www.plumepenpencil.com/blog/what-makes-working-with-us-different

So….What Makes Working With Us Different?
Nov 19
Written By Elita Summers
Have you ever had such a negative experience working with someone that you’re utterly perplexed? At Plume, Pen, & Pencil we offer something different. Are you curious? Here are the facets that set us apart:

People-centric: We love people. Serving people is important to us. We welcome the opportunity to partner with people diverse in thought, background, and experiences. Each person has something valuable and unique to share and we welcome that.

Personality and Professionalism: Can personality and professionalism coexist? Yes! We encourage both clients and partners to let their personality shine while adding value to their endeavors. When you can be yourself around people, it is easier to work.

Personable: We encourage both clients and partners to be friendly and treat one another with mutual respect. Regardless of your personality type, we encourage everyone to be understanding and considerate in an authentic way, void of bureaucracy. Regardless of status, it pleases us to treat people well.

Practical and Purposeful: We understand that it can be difficult to work on something you can’t put your effort behind. Our work resonates with us and that effort is reflected in the final product.

If you’re looking for an approach that is both people-centric and productive, we look forward to partnering with you.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Disclaimer: Please forgive any typos, errors, etc. I’m really tired today but didn’t want to delay this opportunity any longer. As such, answers will be in a raw, unedited, and stream of consciousness style. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Am happy to share a portfolio for credibility if needed.

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My name is Elita Summers and I’m the lead writer and owner of Plume, Pen, and Pencil LLC. We’re a boutique content writing and editing service with a people-centric and productive approach to elevating content and polishing ideas. Doing this all in a clear, concise and creative manner is what makes us stand out.

We mainly serve small businesses, independent authors, and client in the tech industry but are open to all who may need support. If we aren’t able to support a client directly, we’d be happy to refer them or point them in the right direction.

We’ve won award an award for our content too! Will attach a photo.

I’ve worked with a lot of big tech clients like Indeed Inc. and smaller award winning businesses like IShine Music Productions (also featured in this publication). Although that’s been such a cool experience, what I’m most proud of being able to make people’s lives easier. Working with independent authors is an especially rewarding experience because I get to support them in making their dream a reality.

Publication can be expensive and the publishing and editing process can be super overwhelming. When I work with independent author, we partner together cohesively and at a pace and cost that is fair to the author and keep their original ideas and voice in tact. Many big name publishing companies or editing services have scared off prospective clients after seeing that the process and cost isn’t viable for the average American’s income. Or on a more personal level, receiving their original manuscript that’s now been edited into oblivion and has no trace of their voice or original intent.

When I have the opportunity to work with a client, it’s my mission not to work for them, but to partner with them. It’s really important to me to just to know what the deliverables and deadlines are, but how they work also. What’s important to them? What do they need support with and what would like like to do differently? What are even some of their professional dislikes with working with someone? The more I know, the more comfortable I’m able to make my clients feel with me as a person, and with the work process.

This all goes into making a smooth and amicable working experience where clients feel empowered to work more efficiently and express their ideas with ease.

Content is created with a unique mix of creativity, clarity, and conciseness, whether you’re an independent author prepping your manuscript for publication, a small business nurturing their blog and email sequence, or a tech professional trying to balance writing documentation with their daily responsibilities.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

After being laid off in 2020 and experiencing a death in the family, I had the courage the course correct my life. In 2021 I took the brave steps into healing: setting personal boundaries, overcoming life’s difficulties, and building a life I love.

For many years I struggled with low-self worth, poor self image, and people pleasing, amongst the backdrop of a volatile childhood.

After experiencing the job loss and wading through a professional identity crisis, I began to seriously think about what life I want to live and how I can use my desire to help others for good. In June of 2020, I began volunteering as a writer with the non-profit and magazine, Envision Proven Success.

After writing many women’s stories of success and overcoming hardship, I had the opportunity within the magazine to share my own story. You can read it in Perspective and 2021 MARCOM Gold Award Winning Publication of Envision Proven Success Magazine: https://publizr.com/envisionprovensuccess/perspective?html=true#/0/

My journey from has been a long and rewarding one, from being broken to being a business woman. Running my own business and providing services and resources to clients is a challenge that is far more rewarding and successful than I could have ever imagined. I really want people to feel that no matter how difficult their situation, or how messed up their life has been, it’s never too late to take a chance on yourself and do something you love.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

As a note, please forgive the stream of consciousness type of responses to these questions. Feel free to reach out with any questions.

After getting laid off in the summer of 2020, I had to pivot. It was difficult at first, mostly because it was a hit to my ego. I had put so much of my worth into my job that I didn’t know who I was outside of it. After I shut down my own pitty party, I decided to step into action. With the help of my husband, and lots of quiet time, I began thinking about what my next steps should be. I had always loved writing but I wasn’t sure I could really make a living off of it unless I wrote a best seller.

By June of 2020, I was writing for EPS magazine and was loving it. I began to think that maybe I could really do this, this writing thing. So I looked at writing jobs. All I really knew about writing jobs were journalism and being an author.

After endlessly scouring job boards, I found the intersection of two things that I was passionate about: writing and technology as a technical writer. For weeks began applying for those types of positions and content writing positions. During this time, I was increasingly interested in the language part of writing so I obtained two certificates from Poynter Institute in lieu of a bachelors degree: 1 editing, and another in English language.

While I was working on myself professionally, I was working on myself personally as well. Historically I’d had trouble interviewing. I’d get super nervous and pretty much sabotage my chances of getting a second interview. After months of doing the deep inner work of self reflection, I was able to get to the root of my hangups with interviewing and develop a solution!

Once those details were in place, I went full steam ahead. Previously I’d had 1 or 2 interviews a week with hardly any followups. After 2-3 week, I went from 3+ interviews per day (which I had to scale back from!) and in less that a month I had several final round interviews. That experience forced my to conquer my fear of interviewing and dive into an enjoyable field of work that I didn’t even know existed.

After working in that field for some time, I decided I wanted to do this for myself. I get a lot of really cool ideas outside of work hours and that was wearing on my sleep and family dynamic. By having my own business with overlapping client hours, I can use my 2am or 2pm creativity to it’s fullest without overworking myself or being inefficient.

Since starting my business, I’ve developed long standing relationships with 3 independent authors, one which is due to publish soon, 2 small businesses, 2 non-profits, and over 17 other clients in industries like software and technology, manufacturing, and content writing.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.plumepenpencil.com
• Instagram: @plumepenpencil
• Facebook: Elita Summers
• Linkedin: Elita Summers
• Other: When I’m not writing, I’m baking or being active like hiking, skating, tennis, and swimming! You can check out my best selling blueberry muffins and double chocolate muffins on instagram: @culinarycreationsconfections.

Image Credits
None. Use company logos with permission.