My name is Beth Stallings and I am a writer and editor living in Columbus, Ohio.
My best friends are ice cream cones.
No really. I’ve been the lead copywriter and editor — at Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams since January 2016. I’m responsible for shaping and sharing the stories of our flavors (and making them sound as irresistible as they are) — on pints, on posters and flavor tags in our scoop shops, in product copy on our website, and in captions on Instagram. I work closely with our creative, marketing, and social teams to bring new flavor drops and campaigns to life in mouth-watering, engaging ways. And, yes, I do eat ice cream (almost) every day.
But words are my one and only.
All I’ve ever wanted to do is tell stories. Be it 5-word quips in a headline or 1,000-word narratives in a magazine or blog post. I’ve been a published journalist for 20 years — name a topic and I’ve likely written about it. I’ve been a crime and education reporter for competitive small-town daily, The Morning Journal. A health and wellness chief editor at a start-up magazine called Live Well in Cleveland (part of Great Lakes Publishing). A business reporter and customs projects editor working with clients to shape their stories—both at Inside Business Magazine in Cleveland. I was the No. 2 at women’s style magazine, Capital Style, where I spent my days sharing inspiring and empowering stories of the women in Columbus. Here I also ran the bi-annual wedding magazine, Capital Style Bride (fancy photoshoots and all).
And I love to eat my words.
No joke, for a story I once ate nothing but tacos for a week straight. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. A different restaurant for every meal. It might have been one of the best weeks of my life.
This is the sort of dedication I brought to my roles as dining editor and food writer at various magazines around the state of Ohio — dining editor of Cleveland Magazine and then Columbus Monthly, and editor-in-chief of award-winning Crave magazine (Columbus, Ohio). Under my guise, Crave became the most recognizable brand in the Dispatch Niche Publications department. The mission at Crave was to create smarter diners through authoritative and engaging writing — never alienating. We told stories in four issues a year, a daily blog, and a weekly newsletter. In my two years at the helm, Crave’s web traffic doubled, as did our social media followers.
Today, I keep my non-ice cream storytelling skills sharp by freelancing. I’m a regular contributor to Columbus Monthly and lead word zhooser at Royal Flamingo Coffee (my husband’s coffee company). And I’ve helped several growing D-to-C and B-to-C companies share their stories through creative copywriting.
So, let’s chat! Get in touch at stallings.beth@gmail.com
Not to get personal or anything…
But in case you want to know a little about me outside of what I do for a living.
If I’m home, you’ll most likely catch me reading (a lot of non-fiction, but I’m a sucker for a mystery novel) or in the kitchen trying out a new recipe or canning/dehydrating whatever I just plucked from my garden.
But it’s more likely you’ll find me lost in the woods somewhere on a long hike with my 70-pound puppy, Nellie, or traveling pretty much anywhere new. Wine is my latest obsession (I’m working on my wine certification through WSET). And I’m trying my hardest to become fluent in Spanish.