I’m Karen Zusman (KZ).
I help organizations communicate complex ideas with clarity, truth, and resonance.
For more than fifteen years, I've worked as a copywriter and Associate Creative Director across healthcare, wellness, beauty, telecom and a wide variety of consumer categories. I've built brand voices, developed messaging systems, scripted films, supervised shoots and edits, and led creative from concept through production.
But writing is only part of my process.
Before I write, I listen.
I've spent countless hours interviewing scientists, physicians, engineers, founders, farmers, parents, and patients. Every project begins with understanding what matters, then distilling complexity without losing what's true.
Whether I'm developing a voice guide for a biotech company, scripting a film, or shaping communication across every touchpoint, I'm guided by one question:
What has this organization actually earned the right to say?
Outside the agency world, I document fiercely. I'm a Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting grantee and a Leica Women's Foto Project Awardee for an early Super Power of Me photo series. I've also built things from scratch — founding Super Power of Me, now a storytelling platform for young people worldwide, and co-founding myME, which brought mobile classrooms to child laborers in Myanmar.
A selection of brands I've worked with over 15+ years, across agencies and direct engagements.
Consumer
Much of this work began with a blank page — building a brand voice from the ground up.
Whether working alongside strategists or shaping the voice myself, I've developed messaging systems, films, websites, product launches, campaigns, and social for brands across beauty, wellness, and cannabis. Most recently, that includes IRYS, a photography app built in direct response to photographers' growing dissatisfaction with Instagram.
I'm drawn to organizations with something meaningful to say — and to helping them say it with clarity, precision, and resonance.
No password needed — just use the nav.
Pharma
Healthcare demands a different kind of writing—grounded in evidence, shaped by regulation, and built to earn trust.
Since 2019, I've worked across DTC and HCP, translating complex science into communication that's accurate, accessible, and deeply human. My work spans brand voice, broadcast campaigns, websites, patient education, social, and film across immunology, respiratory, oncology, neurology, gastroenterology, dermatology, nephrology, mental health, and rare disease.
Please contact me for the password to view recent pharma work.
Why is The Super Power of Me part of this portfolio?
In addition to being a copywriter, I'm an award-winning photographer, journalist, and poet. The Super Power of Me is a storytelling platform I created to help young people discover their own voices through portraiture and reflective writing.
The project has taken me from New York City youth, to a New Jersey high school for recently resettled teens, to Zanzibar and the UAE, and has been recognized by the Leica Women's Foto Project — coverage that included features by The New York Times, ABC News, and NY1.
More than anything, it reminds me that meaningful communication doesn't begin with writing. It begins with listening.
Take a look.
photo: ©karen zusman
The homepage hero image at top of this page is a still from one of my favorite commercial film projects. I chose it because it reflects the kind of visual language I'm drawn to: clarity, precision, restraint, and quiet resonance. Cinematography by Martin Ahlgren.