New & noteworthy.

COMING SOON

I got to share my story on national TV! Keep an eye on your local GBH station to catch my appearance on Stories From The Stage.

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My Most Popular Essay

Of more than 150 published works in 2025, the one that resonated most was What Lonely Men Won’t Say Online (Or In-Person).

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Praise For The Unobstructed Podcast

Debuting in February of 2025, the pod landed in the top 10% of most-shared shows on Spotify in its first year.

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Top Performers Of 2025

See what resonated most with readers from all I published in 2025.

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About me.

Hey, I’m Derek.

I help people make sense of complex systems and recalibrate them. My work has supported billion-dollar organizations, lean teams, and global audiences across 37+ countries.

Formative years spent as a wilderness guide and snowboard instructor showed me that stories—not explanations—are what help people navigate fear and uncertainty. That significantly shaped my 15+ year journey through editorial strategy, content operations, and organizational alignment.

Mostly, though, I’m a writer and editorial leader from Massachusetts—someone who chased a dream through the Rocky Mountain West before eventually finding home, and himself, in Vermont. Writing is how I continue to make sense of the world and my place in it. I started Unobstructed as a built-in-public, multi-media platform as a way of sharpening and further developing an editorial practice that prioritizes clarity, voice, and trust.

When not working, you can find me trail running, building websites, or getting lost in a Fredrik Backman novel with a strong cup of coffee.

onward.

My focus.

Protecting clarity, voice, and trust at scale—that’s what I do. I shape editorial direction and align brand voice across teams and platforms.

• Content systems & publishing governance.
• Editorial direction & voice alignment.
• Long-form narrative strategy.
• Audience trust & retention.

My work.

15+ years in editorial strategy, content operations, and leadership development. I build repeatable frameworks that protect strategy, decision-making, and publishing processes as things change.

• Founder, Director of Editorial Strategy at Unobstructed.
• Enabling and equipping teams, from early-stage to enterprise.
• Writer, Editor, Podcaster.