Testimonials, Props, & Praise

Tyler reached out to me offering to do essentially volunteer work, but it became immediately clear that his services were far more helpful than he’d let on and I added him to our paid editorial contributor roster basically immediately. He has a keen eye for detail, fact checking, story development, and inclusive language use that goes far beyond copy editing or proofreading.

On top of that, Tyler is a joy to work with. We meet periodically on the phone to stay up to date with our respective needs and limitations, as well as to go over certain edits. Tyler is friendly, engaging, and receptive to feedback. When there’s a complicated edit or something that may seem out of “left field,” he takes the time to give his thought process and reasoning so we aren’t left wondering why a change was made or why a question is being brought up.

I’ll admit Tyler has even done a lot of heavy lifting on stories that have required additional developmental edits, especially on those where I’d been too focused on translating a language or tense, and he does it with grace and compassion for me, the story, and the author.

I hope we get to work together in the future. He is a gifted writer and editor and I feel lucky that our paths crossed when they did and I had the benefit of learning from him while also teaching him the ropes of magazine production.

- Carolyne Whelan, former Editor-in-Chief of Adventure Cyclist

Tyler worked for me for most of an academic year as a writer and as an editor/manger of the campus news team. From Day One it was clear he was more mature than most of his student cohort as well as particularly talented at journalism and public relations. He immediately grasped the difference between news and marketing, yet could easily handle assignments using the different approach each discipline requires.

He was an exceptional leader, taking the news team to new heights and suggesting new ways to use the team in marketing efforts. He is innately talented as a writer, requiring little editing. He can handle the most complex news assignment and at the same time construct long-form journalism stories that were beyond most students.

One work example: He showed tremendous initiative after just a week or two on the job, when he identified a faculty member's controversial remarks on Twitter. His immediate understanding of the consequences of the intemperate remarks gave the public relations director a jump on defusing what could have been a media controversy--this two weeks after starting the job!

Tyler's stint in the military has obviously honed his leadership skills and his language study in the service will serve him well in the increasingly diverse world of public relations. I would recommend Tyler ahead of any student or entry-level employee I have worked with. I would hire him without hesitation.

- John Wall, former Media Relations Director at Juniata College

I worked with Tyler Ayres when he was a communications intern on my team at Juniata College. His maturity was immediately evident in how he approached his work, in his desire to grow and his drive to become involved in increasingly complex work. As a result, he worked with his supervisor through all elements of the editorial cycle for both media releases and owned channel stories as well as for a piece in the College’s magazine. He learned and excelled at story invention, interviews, transcription, copy generation as a "green" writer in a fast-paced environment.

His success and leadership ability led to us moving him into a higher-level intern position in which he successfully managed a staff of student writers. He identified strengths in student writers and then assigned stories and guided them through the production process. He worked more as editor and coach, really, than as a simple assignment manager. He regularly helped them troubleshoot issues and provided feedback to develop their writing into publishable material.

I am aware of some of his work since Juniata, and how he has continued to seek challenges and learning opportunities—the embodiment of a driven learner who will add significant value to whatever organization is fortunate enough to have him join the team.

- Gabriel Welsch, VP of Marketing and Communication at Duquesne University