Lynda Sydney is a freelance advertising copywriter from Toronto, Canada with more than ten years of writing experience. She has a solid agency background, having worked in both creative and account management. In 2001 she began freelancing full-time as a copywriter, and has worked with clients in industries including telecommunications, technology, financial services, insurance, romance publishing, media, education and household products. The nature of her work is “have laptop, will travel,” and with a passion for France and clients on both sides of the pond, she divides her time between Toronto and Paris.

Her career as a copywriter is supported by her marketing expertise, as she has held several marketing positions in educational publishing, catalogue and telecommunications. She has specialized in direct marketing, managing campaigns, working with the creative and production departments and editing copy. She has always been very interested in the strategy and results-driven trackability of direct mail – it was not enough just to produce great advertising, it had to get results. Still, she most enjoyed the creative aspects of her job, and wanting to engage in her true passion, writing, she simultaneously took on freelance writing assignments.

Lynda gained her advertising agency experience at Bimm Communications Group, a direct marketing agency. She liked the variety of this position, as she was able to work with clients in different industries – from enterprise software to computer hardware, cable TV to state-of-the-art vacuum cleaners and more. She was involved in new business pitches and welcomed the challenge of learning about diverse industries, products and competitors with a natural curiosity she still brings to her work today. She was also very involved in the creative process, collaborating with copywriters and art directors to refine the message. In 2000 she made the move from account management to creative, realizing her goal of writing.

Academically, her love of books, reading and words that started at an early age led her to the study of English Literature. She graduated from the University of Toronto in 1989, where she later studied direct marketing and marketing for public and non-profit organizations. At Ryerson Polytechnic University, she took courses in copywriting, market research, writing for newspapers and magazines and short story writing. She has also studied the French language, taking courses in Toronto, Paris and Nice.

As a volunteer, Lynda has written for Woman newsmagazine, for Sistering, a non-profit organization providing practical and emotional support to disadvantaged women, and for RyeWriter, the newsletter of Ryerson’s writing program. This allowed her to develop her interviewing and journalistic writing skills. One article she wrote about Sistering’s participant run programs was praised as being a favourite among staff members as it gave a face to the courageous women who were benefiting from their services. Lynda won the Sistering Volunteer Award in 2000. She is currently working on a screenplay set in Toronto and a novel set in Paris.

With her combined experience in marketing and writing, whether she’s working on a sales letter or screenplay, newsletter or novel, Lynda thinks strategically and writes creatively.