By Kyle Kittredge

Staff Writer

In the MUB this past Thursday, Beth Rice shared the experiences she has learned from for the Lessons in Leadership talk.

While at UNH, Rice worked at the Public Relations office, the Office of Admissions, and was the editor-in-chief of Main Street Magazine.

“I went over to the PR office with my binder of articles from ‘Main Street Magazine,’ and other stuff around campus and said I wanted to talk to someone about an internship,” Rice said, “so I completely walked in cold and got a job.”

Coordinator of Student Organizations and Leadership, Nate Hastings, led the talk and introduced Rice, who graduated from UNH in 2009 with a dual degree in English and communication.

The series, which is hosted six times each semester, was sponsored by the University Advising and Career Center and the Memorial Union & Student Activities. The series allows former students or community members to share their leadership experiences and discuss the role leadership plays in the work they do every day.

“My experience in admissions probably was the big thing that formed my life after UNH because in admissions I worked with people one-on-one and gave presentations to groups of up to 500 people,” Rice said. “So that taught me a lot about handling things under pressure and thinking on my feet.

“In college I constantly felt like I was under-water and I was always drowning. I was always working, there was always something to work on, something to study for, a meeting to go to, or something,” Rice added. “But it taught me a lot about committing to things, balance time and [prioritizing].”

After college, Rice worked at Cengage Learning as a production assistant.    

“I had an awesome boss who was well worth it because I was also given manuscripts to read and recommend for publishing on the side when I got my assistant work done,”  she said.

Rice completed a Masters of Liberal Arts degree at Harvard University in extension studies with a concentration in English. While working she became the associate content developer, working with freelancers, and then became a freelancer herself.

“I wanted to spend more time actually doing the work of what I went there to do: be an editor,” Rice said.   

“I learned a ton about working with writers, and there’s a right way and a wrong way to handle a writer when you need to be an editor,” she said. “To take the person’s feelings into account, and writing is a very personal thing…It is a very delicate process.”

Now she is the owner, writer and development editor of Blue Anchor Editorial.

“Like everything else, it’s all about networking and I was able to because the company that I left was able to offer me contract work when I was leaving,” Rice explained. “So that gave me time to go out and find other clients which is huge, being able to sort of ride the wave.”

However, Rice’s future goals include “developing writing and editing skills to translate to many more industries,” and to “grow her company beyond academic publishing.”