Brian J. O’Connor is an award-winning writer, editor and author. Brian studied writing coaching with Dr. Don Fry of the Poynter Institute, introducing the concept of coaching rather than rewriting to the newsrooms of The South Florida Business Journal and the personal finance site Bankrate.com.
Coaching writers produces consistently better writing, far less rewriting and increased satisfaction for both editors and writers. Now, as a partner of the Wow College Essay Experts, Brian brings his years of coaching knowledge and writing experience to college-bound students.
Brian’s Detroit News personal finance columns received nine national writing awards, including three awards for humor-writing from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. His first book — The $1,000 Challenge: How One Family Slashed Its Budget Without Moving Under a Bridge or Living on Government Cheese — was voted Best Money Management Book of the Year by The Institute for Financial Literacy. He also is a winner of the Christopher J. Welles Memorial Prize for business writing from the Knight-Bagehot Fellowship at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
As a freelance writer, Brian is a regular contributor to The New York Times, and has written for The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch.com, Entrepreneur, The Balance, Cigar Aficionado, Inc., DC Report, Next Avenue and Barron’s.
