Meet Ellen

Ellen Gardner is drawn to change. She has always regarded her career as a journey, one that would require energy, multiple skills and lead her to different people and experiences.

Ellen began working in communications as a writer and editor at Southam Communications and Maclean Hunter. She moved on to positions in public relations at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and marketing communications and event planning at Royal Trust. At the Service Employees International Union, a million-member health care union, she wrote speeches, took photographs and produced publications with stories about the struggles of frontline workers.

Write to Know Communications opened its doors in 1998 and has assisted large corporations and smaller non-profit organizations in writing their websites, Intranets and employee publications. We have worked with companies on creating transition plans and minimizing employee upheaval during company mergers. At Hewlett-Packard Canada, Ellen was the editor of the Intranet site and sat on the crisis team during SARS and the Asian Tsunami. As Philanthropy Manager at HP, she enhanced the Canada’s community engagement program through employee involvement and donations of technology to schools and nonprofit organizations.

Her most recent contract was with the Region of Peel, Family Health. Ellen media trained the public health nurses, facilitated media coverage of their programs, and helped create marketing materials to boost awareness of public health in the region.

As well as change, the two constants in Ellen’s career are writing and photography, skills that have added value in every position. To promote better writing skills on the job, she has delivered business writing and editing training courses in several corporations. She earned her Masters degree in Education at the University of Toronto and has a certificate in magazine journalism from Ryerson University. She is a professional photographer and is IABC accredited.

Awards

HP Canada, One Voice Marketing Award for participation in Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives, 2006
IABC Award of Merit, Ovation Awards 2003, Performance Canada Magazine (Honeywell)
Canadian Association of Labour Media, Douglas Coldwell Writing Award, 1997
Health Care Public Relations Association (HCPRA), Excellence in Writing Award, 1988