ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Name: Becky Helzer

Title: Lead Copy Editor, BobVila.com

Becky Helzer has been with the Bob Vila team as a copy editor since September 2020, transitioning from a freelance role to a full-time employee in 2022. She has worked as a reporter, editor, copy editor, and proofreader throughout her career.

Expertise and Experience

Becky is an experienced copy editor who began her career as a journalist in high school, where she served as the school newspaper’s copy editor and then editor in chief. She pursued a degree in technical journalism, working as a reporter for her college newspaper, The Rocky Mountain Collegian, and also as a freelance reporter and copy editor for her hometown’s now-defunct weekly newspaper, The Triangle Review. After graduation, she became a licensed insurance agent and worked with her dad for several years at his insurance agency. She then worked for one of the country’s first online schools, where she copyedited educational material for students pursuing careers in medical coding, computer science, and event planning. After taking time away from the workforce to raise her three kids, she returned to copyediting and worked for nearly 10 years at a publishing company as the copy editor for a bimonthly magazine, several curriculum lines, many product catalogs, and several product-specific websites.