About

Water Words That Work, LLC helps nature protection and pollution control organizations professionalize and modernize their communications. Let us help you succeed with your next fundraising, issue advocacy, or pollution prevention campaign! Depending on your needs, Water Words That Work can serve as a coach, a consultant, or as full-service advertising agency.

Water Words That Work, LLC is structured a lot like a general contractor. We have a core team of professionals who manage your projects — and an extensive network of graphic designers, copywriters, pollsters, web programmers, and other specialists we assign to your project. No matter what your campaign entails, we can assemble the team to bring your vision to life.

Core Team

Eric Eckl. Eric founded Water Words That Work, LLC and oversees all the company’s client projects. Eric has more than 15 years experience planning and carrying out issue advocacy, fundraising, and behavior change campaigns. Eric is a sought-after speaker for environmental, marketing, and technology conferences. He has appeared on CNN and been quoted in the New York Times. Eric sits on the editorial committee for the Center for Watershed Protection, and serves on the board of directors for the Green Media Toolshed.	Eric Eckl
Edwin Alferez	Edwin Alferez. As Water Words’s marketing and research specialist, Edwin helps our clients raise their profiles in the press and online. Edwin has worked on projects for Ogeechee Riverkeeper, the Chesapeake Bay Commission, the Northern Virginia Clean Water Partners, the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, Massachusetts Rivers Alliance, and many others.
Erika Howder. Erika is the company’s air traffic controller, managing our relationships with bloggers, graphic designers, copywriters, programmers, and other campaign contractors. Erika manages our contracts, invoicing systems, and internal reporting mechanisms. Erika has a masters degree in library science from the University of North Carolina.	Erika Howder
Laura Ganus	Laura Ganus handles business development — she identifies clients’ needs, develops proposals and quotes, and manages contracting. While on staff at the Stonybrook-Millstone Watershed Association and Cumberland River Compact, Laura partnered with dozens of watershed groups to develop their skills and capacity.

Our Wordsmiths, Artists, and Other Cool People

Betsy Franz	Betsy Franz is our social media ambassador to green thumbs, Betsy urges homeowners and gardeners to use water, fertilizer, and pesticides responsibly. When she’s not writing for us, Betsy freelances for various environmental and garden related publications and websites. Her work has appeared in American Forests, Bass Times, Bird Watcher’s Digest, E-The Environmental Magazine, Florida Wildlife, Lake Country Journal, Louisiana Conservationist, and many others.
Susan McCullough is the self described “Queen of Dog ^%$#@!,” Susan is our social media ambassador to pet owners, coaxing them to do their part to reduce this surprisingly important source of water pollution.When Susan isn’t writing for us, she always writing! Her articles have appeared in Family Circle, The Washington Post, and many others. She is the author of Housetraining For Dummies and related titles.	Susan McCullough
Scott James	Scott James is a Water Words That Work content writer, and has worked on projects for Blue Water Baltimore, Kentucky Waterways Alliance, Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, just to name a few. Trained in writing, he developed a love for outdoor issues from years of working as an outdoor educator and guide. Scott has with social media firms like Care2, Important Media, Attack!, and the Carbon Advice Group. When not working, he enjoys exploring the country and good coffee.
Michael Brandt. Michael is our graphic designer of first resort and has designed print and online pieces for Pamlico-Tar River Foundation, Northern Virginia Regional Commission, and Bluffton Department of Natural Resources, among others. When Michael is not working for us, he runs his own design business, the J. Brandt Studio of Design. Michael’s clients include Emani, Culligan, King Ranch, Zukor Entertainment, and Emerson.	Michael Brandt
	Chandra Brown helps our clients get their message out — via email, mail, and and on the phone. Before joining our team, Chandra was the Ogeechee Riverkeeper — part of a network of determined waterway guardians. Starting as a one-woman show, she learned on the job marketing and communications skills and grew her rural organization from nothing to nearly 2,000 members.

Partner Firms

	Junger Media provides website management for Water Words That Work’s network of sites, offering technical support for our blogs and keeping them up to date, backed up, and moving forward. Junger Media’s other clients include Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist, Fanspeak.com, Global Beads, Inc. and more.
	Water Words That Work and ThinkShout periodically team up to offer “website sprints” to build modern websites for grassroots conservation organizations in intense 4 day sessions. Thinkshout is web development and strategy firm based in Portland, Or. Thinkshout’s clients includes the Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership, Muddy Water Watch, North Saskatchewan Riverkeeper, Save Our Gulf, and many other conservation organizations.
	OpinionWorks is a team of talented researchers and writers promoting the public good, strongly focused on environmental protection, public health, education, mass transportation, culture and the arts, human services, economic development, and customer satisfaction.

Be Sociable, Share!

•