Clare Lynch, Neighbor

<strong>Email:</strong> clare.lynch&#64;patch.com

<strong>Hometown:</strong> Pittsburgh, PA by way of Basking Ridge, NJ and Bethlehem, PA

<strong>Birthday:</strong> July 11

A graduate of Duquesne University (M.A. Corporate Communications) and La Roche College (B.S. Graphic Design), Clare  has more than 12 years of professional and freelance writing experience in the region.

Her first job out of college was working for the Northern Allegheny County Chamber of Commerce as the Marketing &amp; Sales Coordinator, where she enjoyed getting to know the hundreds of members and learning more about her surrounding communities through their businesses.

Taking the connections and knowledge made at the Chamber, Clare took the next step in her career by working for UPMC Passavant as a Marketing &amp; Public Relations Specialist. For 7.5 years, Clare spent every day learning something new from her boss/mentor and really began to grow as a writer.

After feeling the need to take on new challenges, Clare left UPMC to work for Ernst &amp; Young as a proposal writer - a type of writing she had never done before and really grew to love.

Life took an unexpected turn for Clare in January 2010, when she found herself unemployed. She spent the next 8 months getting to know her brand new son while finding the best playgrounds in the area, for her oldest son.

Now she spends her days in the banking world working, once again, as a proposal writer.

Her idea of the perfect work-life balance is to build her freelance business so that she can spend more time at home being outnumbered by the testosterone.