Today we’d like to introduce you to JoAnna Pendergrass.
Hi JoAnna, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
From the time I was 6 years old, I wanted to be a veterinarian. Although I had other interests, particularly music, I never deviated from my ultimate goal of becoming a veterinarian.
I was very focused on academics. When I entered college, I had two main goals: graduate with a 3.8 GPA and get accepted into veterinary school. I played in the orchestra and fit in some fun here and there, but I never wavered from those two goals.
Veterinary school was intense and incredibly difficult. So much information was thrown at us at one time, like water coming through a fast-moving water hose. I felt quickly overwhelmed and wanted to quit more than once. But I stayed the course and graduated with my Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree.
Working in clinical practice no longer appealed to me, so after graduating, I did a two-year research fellowship. But I quickly realized that the research world wasn’t for me, either. It was during my fellowship that I learned about medical writing and decided to pursue that as a career. I loved science and writing, so medical writing was something I felt I could hang my hat on.
After several years working as a medical writer in medical communication agencies, I decided to become a freelance medical writer to do the writing that I was most passionate about: pet owner education. I started my freelance medical writing business nearly eight years ago, and I haven’t looked back since.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Becoming a freelancer was relatively smooth, but I did encounter some bumps along the way. Working with a business coach definitely helped me establish a solid foundation as a new business owner. But initially, I struggled with what services to market. I decided to market the type of writing that I did at medical communication agencies, but that type of writing wasn’t my strong suit and I wasn’t passionate about it.
Fortunately, my first client, who reached out to me via LinkedIn, was a website in the veterinary space. Doing veterinary writing gave me more clarity on the writing services that I really wanted to provide. After a year or two, I revamped my business website to focus on my expertise as a veterinarian and passion for veterinary writing.
Although I was clear on the type of writing I wanted to do, I experienced some of the typical struggles that freelancers face: accepting low-paying work, working with bad clients, relying too much on one client for income. These struggles weren’t fun, of course, but they helped me grow as a writer and business owner and be more discerning with how I wanted to run and structure my business.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about JPen Communications?
JPen Communications is a medical communications company that focuses on pet owner education. I write articles about common pet health issues for websites such as Great Pet Care and Cats.com. To date, I’ve written hundreds of articles on pet care and absolutely love what I do.
As a veterinarian, I understand the complexity of veterinary medical care and can empathize with pet parents who want to do what’s best for their pets. I also understand that pet parents may struggle to understand what their vet is explaining about their pet’s care. Through my writing, my goal is close the gap between what the veterinarian says and what the pet parent understands. In this way, pet parents who read my articles feel empowered to make well-informed health decisions for their pets.
In addition to writing pet owner education articles, I am the managing editor of Modern Poultry, a website that publishes content on live production. This has been such a big growth opportunity for me, allowing me to stretch my skills as a writer and editor and learn the organizational skills necessary to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
One big thing I learned was the critical importance of public health in our country. Public health experts played an incredible role in educating the public about the pandemic and development of the COVID vaccine, but their message often got lost in the swell of misinformation and disinformation.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.jpencmc.com
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanna-pendergrass-dvm
Image Credits
Holland Reid Photography
