Lori Soard has a B.S, in English and Education with a major in English and holds a Ph.D. in Journalism and Creative Writing. She has more than 17 years of experience as a freelance writer, editor, web designer, and business consultant. In addition to writing hundreds of articles on various topics, she has had seven books published in both fiction and nonfiction. She has taught workshops to various writing groups all over the United States and helps small businesses with web design and marketing. Her work has been published in Woman's World and various newspapers in locations like Greenfield, Indianapolis, Abilene, and online for publications owned by the New York Times and USA Today.

Expertise

Cheerleading Coaching,Photography,Blogging,Gardening

Occupation

  • Web Design
  • Homeschool Teacher
  • Author
  • Cake Decorating

Certifications and Awards

  • Indiana State Teaching Liscense

Affiliations and Memberships

  • AWANA leader
  • 4-H

Detailed Experience


Cheerleading Expertise

Lori is a cheerleading devotee. While in school, she spent four years as a cheerleader. She served five years coaching for both youth leagues and school squads. She also helped her daughter start a recreational dance team.

Over the years, she has absorbed information from college cheerleading coaches, owners of private gyms, and cheerleaders who have overcome the odds, such as those with physical disabilities who still find success in the cheer world. She found inspiration and learned new stunts through her teen daughter's spot on a top-rated competitive cheerleading squad.

Photography

Lori has spent over 20 years studying photography and staying up-to-date on technological advances with SLR and point-and-shoot cameras. She has studied photography through non-credit college courses, local seminars offered at studios, and through avid reading about the craft of digital photography.

Laurie's photographs have appeared in magazines and newspapers all over the country in conjunction with her published articles. She is enjoying taking snapshots and experimenting with different ISO and aperture settings to create artistic pieces, which she shares with family and friends. Her passion is for nature photography, but she also takes portraits.

Web Design

Lori creates unique graphics, banners, and layouts for each client through her web design and promotion business, Promo Divas. She knows PHP, SQL, HTML, CSS and is proficient at creating and customizing the ever-popular WordPress, Joomla, or Mambo-based sites. She has written on web design topics for publications like Web Hosting Secrets and Executive Update.

Homeschool Experience

Lori is the mother of two daughters she homeschooled for 11 years. She also holds an Indiana teaching license; to keep the license current, she must take graduate-level education courses and earn six credit hours every few years. These courses keep her up-to-date on current education trends. In addition, she attends at least one homeschool conference each year to learn about the latest trends in home education and is a supporter of her local homeschool group.

Kids and Teens

Lori and her husband served as youth ministers for three years, overseeing tweens and teens in sixth through twelfth grade. Throughout her life, she has also coached youth sports, volunteered to work as an AWANA leader for fifth graders, taught Sunday school to preschoolers, and taught writing classes to homeschoolers.

Her parenting articles have appeared in newspapers like the Abilene Reporter-News, and she has been published in educational magazines like FACES, Cobblestone, and AppleSeeds. Lori occasionally serves as a substitute teacher in the local schools to keep her finger on the pulse of the local education system and stay up-to-date on issues facing parents and children today.

Business and Social Networking Expertise

Lori often says she was "born into the small business world." As a child, she sat at the knees of her parents, who started several small businesses. Throughout her childhood, Lori was given various tasks in running these businesses, taking on more responsibilities as she got older. She has done everything from order processing to marketing to management.

Promo Divas

When Lori first graduated from college, she owned her own direct sales business. Later, she started a web design and author promotion business, which today has morphed into a small business consultation, web design, and marketing company called Promo Divas. Through this business, she advises clients on how to reach customers online through social media and helps them gain a solid online presence.

Blogging

Lori retains relationships with dozens of web design experts, communicating about new ideas and changes in the industry. She offers free advice through her blog Rat Race Mutiny for those wanting to start a business and work from home.

Children's Books

Lori taught a literature course for first and second graders at a local cottage school and has enjoyed nightly reading with her own children. Some of the family's favorite books include Runaway Ralph, Matilda, and Charlotte's Web.

Lori has also written books for children and young adults, including It's Hard to Go Home (out of print) and a yet-to-be-published picture book titled Mommy in the Clouds that is written to help children deal with the death of a parent.

Toys

Lori has written about traditional toys such as Legos and Mr. Potato Head for Consumer Search (owned by the New York Times). In addition, she's written about good toys for bath time for the Abilene Reporter News and reviewed toys for different occasions for her local newspaper.

Pets

Lori has written extensively on dogs, cats, and small pets. In addition to writing about cat breeds, dog training, and how to care for small pets, her family was involved in 4-H agility training and obedience classes. She's interviewed everyone from cat breeders to search-and-rescue dog owners to rabbit breeders and the president of ARBA. She's never been without dogs and cats since her birth, usually owning multiples of both. She's also owned rescued baby squirrels, hamsters, rats, gerbils, fish, lizards, frogs, turtles, and even salamanders.

Cake Decorating

In high school, Lori worked for a local bakery. When she graduated, she began taking a series of Wilton cake decorating classes from beginner to advanced. This led to her opening a cake decorating business called Lori's Cakery. Her specialty was wedding cakes, but she also created other special occasion cakes.

Over the years, Lori has kept up with new techniques and trends, such as fondant cakes, airbrushing, images on cakes, and cupcake designs. Today, she still makes the occasional wedding cake as a gift to family or friends and frequently makes special occasion cakes. Her favorite task is creating unique cupcakes and cupcake towers for all occasions.

Other Interests and Hobbies

Lori enjoys learning new things and has several hobbies. She maintains a frugal living blog called Crabby Housewife, loves to read, and creates websites and marketing plans for non-profits in her area. In her spare time, she grows organic fruit and vegetables and enjoys raised bed and container gardening.

Keep Up With Lori Soard

If you're in need of any of Lori's services, you can find her profile on LinkedIn and her personal website. You can also follow her on Twitter.