Rising Stars: Meet Ali Hinman

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ali Hinman.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
As a kid, I enjoyed writing. I wrote in my diary like I was speaking to an audience, and I even wrote some short books like “How To Be Happy” with such life-changing tips as “listen to music” and “hug your mommy.” Then, writing just became homework.

It wasn’t until college that I started to do it for fun again. I started writing and performing stand-up on and around my college campus. I submitted a video of myself performing to a college humor blog just to be featured, but they hired me on the spot.

I was already in my university’s speech-language pathology program, so writing became a fun thing I did on the side for extra cash. Then, in grad school, I got a graduate assistantship at the campus writing center. I was studying to be a SLP while continuing to write on the side and work for the writing center.

I graduated and landed a job in a subacute rehab, a difficult feat for a first-year SLP. Two weeks after I started, COVID hit. I was the only SLP in the building, watching patients rapidly deteriorate from an unknown virus in front of my eyes. Writing was still a side hustle, but also a way to keep myself from losing my mind entirely.

After a year and a half at subacute rehab, I switched to an outpatient clinic that was fully remote. To fill in the gaps in my schedule, I picked up more writing jobs. Most of the writing I was doing was editorial, but I started to explore the idea of making writing a career. I was recommended for a copywriter position at PufCreativ, a cannabis marketing agency, by a friend from high school who had read my writing. I started with a few assignments a month, then a few more, and in less than a year, I was splitting my time half writing and half speech therapy.

Balancing two careers came to a head, and after a lot of reflection, I found that writing was the way I wanted to go. Around the same time, PufCreativ offered me a full-time job, and I became the professional writer I always wanted to be.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The biggest struggle was switching careers after completing a master’s program for something entirely different.

Letting go of my fear of what others would think and following what felt best for me was difficult. However, I argue that being a writer and an SLP both focus on communication and are therefore intertwined in a lot of ways.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
As a marketing copywriter, my specialty is blog writing. It’s a lot more important than companies might think when considering branding, but blogging helps build a reputation and drive views to company sites. When you google a question about cannabis, I might have been the one who writes the answer!

I am most proud of any of my first-person pieces. The most rewarding part of writing is getting feedback that I made people feel understood or less alone. My ultimate goal as a writer is to connect with an audience, not just to hear myself talk. That’s what stand-up is for.

Do you have any advice for those just starting?
My advice to any aspiring writers or copywriters is to find your niche.

A lot of my work has been for very specific audiences (cannabis industry, LGBTQ+ community, college-aged women), and that helped me zero in on my voice and message. If there’s something that you’re interested in, there’s probably someone else out there who wants to read about it. So start there.