Andrea Uptmor

Senior Writer and Content Strategist

Senior writer and strategist with 10+ years of experience publishing research-based health articles, personal essays, grant proposals, magazine features, fiction, newsletters, academic papers, marketing materials, social media blasts, and more. Content expertise in health and wellness, mindfulness, and education.

These are sample clips from a much larger portfolio.

Portfolio

White Papers

Clarity Consultants
01/01/2017
Wearable Technology: How Learners Utilize and Benefit from It

There’s never been a better time to be working in learning and development. As the line between people and computers continues to blur, technology and daily life have become more interwoven, creating opportunities for fresh ways of engaging with content. Wearable technology is meant to be an enhancement of the mobile experience—a way to engage with ubiquitous technology without being inhibited by the device itself. Apple Watches, GoPros, and FitBits, are today’s most recognizable forms of...

Clarity Consultants
01/01/2017
How to Start Using Big Data and Expand Your User Profiles

In recent years, one advance in educational technology has quietly slipped from under the radar to become the most-watched trend across nearly every industry: big data. While the name implies a massive quantity of data—and often big data is high-volume—it’s actually the complexity of the information that makes a data set “big.” Big data is information pulled from a myriad of sources and analyzed to reveal patterns in behavior and interactions. It has huge potential for disrupting previous...

Clarity Consultants
01/01/2017
Migrating to an LMS: Everything You Need to Know

If content is the heart of eLearning, then the learning management system (LMS) is the backbone. It provides a structure to house the instructional schema, connects learners to instructors and one another, creates a space for the exchange of ideas, and tracks learner progress. It also must be adaptable to satisfy the needs of learners in a rapidly evolving industry. So when cloud-based systems were introduced, they became a must-have for companies dedicated to learning and development (L&D).

Journalism

Medical School - University of Minnesota
Reducing Stigma Through Research

An early advisor of Michael Ross, MedDr, PhD, MPH, MHPEd, MSt, framed a paper above her desk that he never forgot: If it's not published, it hasn't happened. This statement - a testament to the power of research to transform the lives of human beings - became a cornerstone of Dr. Ross's prolific career.

Medical School - University of Minnesota
When a Lawyer is the Best Medicine

Paul* had been a patient at Bethesda Family Medicine Clinic for a few years when he met attorney Rebecca Dodson. Homeless and struggling, Paul had mentioned during a medical appointment that he didn't have a safe place to store his much-needed insulin to treat his diabetes.

Cancer & Survivorship

Taking Charge of Your Survivorship
How to set goals that feel right for you

It can be difficult to narrow down your feeling of wanting to be a better caregiver into specific goals. Here are some steps to take.

Taking Charge of Your Survivorship
What is a mindful parent?

A mindful parent faces the same difficult emotions as any parent who is navigating their child's serious health challenge.

Taking Charge of Your Survivorship
Meaning & Purpose

Having a sense of purpose in life is being able to find meaning in the things that happen to you.

Social & Environmental Justice

Taking Charge of Your Health & Wellbeing
Inclusivity and Wellbeing

A group of marketing professionals at a large firm had a tight deadline to meet, and all week they gathered in the conference room for brainstorming discussions. The group mostly comprised young men in their late 20s, who had recently earned advanced degrees in marketing.

Taking Charge of Your Health & Wellbeing
Confronting the Climate Crisis: From ME to WE

When it comes to planetary health, many of us ask ourselves the same question: "What can I do to make a difference?" We might make changes at home, shifting our habits around water consumption, limiting our electricity usage, or changing the vehicle we park in our garage.

Taking Charge of Your Health & Wellbeing
Mindfulness for Racial Justice

Note: This article arose from a conversation with Rhonda Magee, a law professor and mindfulness teacher and the author of The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and Transforming Our Communities through Mindfulness. Magee writes about the importance of mindfulness for people of all and various racialized identities working toward racial justice.

Lifestyle & Wellness

Taking Charge of Your Health & Wellbeing
Common COVID-related Stressors

Here are some common sources of anxiety around COVID-19 and what you can do to address them.

Taking Charge of Your Health & Wellbeing
Plug Into a Harmonious Relationship with Technology

Modern technology gets a bad rap these days. There are plenty of critics of social media ("It's a waste of time!"), television ("It rots your brain!"), and cell phones ("You're missing out on real life!").

Taking Charge of Your Health & Wellbeing
10 Ways to Be a More Thankful Person

Consider the last time you had a good cup of coffee—did you pay attention to the warmth of the cup on your hands, or the feeling of pleasure as you took the first sip?

Taking Charge of Your Health & Wellbeing
08/01/2017
Social Learning of Fear: Reducing Your Fear of the News

Simply witnessing or hearing about a frightening event—which can happen daily for those who read the news or engage in social media—can trigger debilitating anxiety and decrease wellbeing.

Taking Charge of Your Health & Wellbeing
Using Resilience to Build a Flourishing Life

The impact of stress on the body is well-documented, from its effect on blood pressure and mood to digestive disorders and immune functioning. Chronic stress, left unchecked, can cause a host of physical and emotional conditions that impact our quality of life. But what about the stress we experienced as young children?

Business & Tech

Clarity Consultants - Training Development
08/30/2016
How to Enhance the Productivity of Millennials in the Workplace

A certain amount of stigma is associated with the millennial generation that is now entering the workforce for the first time. Wisecracks about participation trophies and social media obsessions have negatively influenced the popular impression of the character of millennials.

Clarity Consultants - Training Development
09/20/2016
Micro Learning Made Easy

Have you ever taken a complex skill and broken it down into bite-size pieces? Micro learning is easier and more constructive, particularly in smaller amounts of time, with minimal cost involved.

Web Essays

Paperdarts Magazine
Sabrina Chapadjiev Takes on Female Creativity

Two weeks ago, in a dimly lit backroom of Boneshaker Books, Sabrina Chap began to sneeze. "I'm severely allergic to cats," she explained as she set up the projector for her talk on Live Through This: On Creativity and Self-Destruction, the all-star collection of essays, stories, comics, and photographs she edited.

Paper Darts
07/20/2012
Six Reasons Elizabeth Strout Is Your Soul Mate

I went to a quiet AWP panel last year to see Strout read a portion of Olive Kitteridge. She was amazing, and lucky for me, her leg was broken, so I was able to overtake her afterwards as she was hobbling toward the exit.

Magazine Features

Mandala Magazine
04/15/2014
Healing the Healers

“I love my work as a nurse,” she told Todd. “But I thought I was going to have to leave. I couldn’t nd happiness or joy or resilience to show up day after day. Until now.”

Mandala Magazine
05/15/2014
Wellbeing in Action: The Waters Senior Living

When I visit the Edina location in early February, a friendly concierge asks me if I’d like to help myself to the hot cocoa bar while I wait. I sit on a couch and watch a Wellscapes DVD play images of a green Minnesota spring. There’s a word for this, I think—and it’s on the tip of my tongue.

Mandala Magazine
08/02/2016
A Healing Journey: Michael Bischoff's Story

Within a week, the biopsy results were in: glioblastoma, an aggressive cancer that spreads quickly. Michael would need radiation and chemo to prevent what was left of the tumor from spreading, and even then the prognosis looked grim. His oncologist drew a chart with a large curve in the middle to represent the median survival rate: 18 months.

Marketing & Recruitment Materials

2014-2015 SAIC Graduate Programs Viewbook
Chicago

Chicago has character. People who live here admit to being changed by the urban contours. They know it’s impossible to get lost in a city whose lake is always on the east. They learn to love deep-dish pizza and the low rumble of the trains overhead. They become not just citizens of one of the largest and most famous cities in America, they also become part of its fabric.

2014-2015 SAIC Graduate Programs Viewbook
The Activist Collective

“One of the important things to come out of the research is the incredible gender bias in the comics industry.”

2014-2015 SAIC Graduate Programs Viewbook
The Cannes Winner

When filmmaker Jane Campion took the stage at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival to announce the first-prize film of the Cinéfondation short film competition, Anahita Ghazvinizadeh felt a spark of envy.

Humor