words that run wild
My name is Lydia Kozlowski. I’m a marketer, creative, and poet, often finding myself easily inspired by my personal and professional pursuits. As a daughter of Polish immigrants, I’m deeply proud to say I’ve learned everything I know second-hand, including the art of writing.
With past lives in academia, advertising, and the luxury floral world, I’ve always been drawn to the intersection of storytelling, design, and human experience. Today, I work in marketing at Emerson, where I manage content strategy for purpose-built tools in the utility and electrical contractor sectors. I lead campaign planning, write brand messaging across channels, and collaborate with everyone from compliance to product teams to make sure what we say actually resonates.
Before that, I spent 3.5 years in agency life as a copywriter and content strategist, crafting voices and campaigns for food & beverage and food ingredient brands— work that taught me how to shape stories people and businesses remember.
I also serve as my city’s Poet Laureate, which feels like both an honor and a kind of home. I believe good marketing and good poetry have this in common: they pay attention. They ask what matters. And they make space for people to feel seen.
line after line
I didn’t start out as an English major. I tried Nursing. Then Education. Both were noble paths, but neither felt like mine. It wasn’t until I landed in a classroom full of writers — people who believed in curiosity, nuance, and paying attention — that something clicked. I didn’t just find a major. I found a way to think, speak, and grow.
Kurt Vonnegut once said, “Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow.” I return to that often. Writing helped me find my voice — and more importantly, it taught me how to listen. That’s what I carry with me into every role, every project, every line of copy. A sense that the work should mean something, or at the very least, try to.
it starts with heart
To me, it’s not really a job unless it asks you to learn something unexpected.
At a floral e-commerce startup, that meant designing bouquets, handling dry ice, packaging arrangements for shipment, and writing hundreds of custom letters — sometimes all in the same afternoon. I stepped far outside my creative comfort zone and came away with a deeper understanding of how people want to feel cared for, seen, and surprised.
I chase that kind of learning — the kind that keeps your work alive. Even now, when I write brand messaging or shape campaign strategy, I think about the person opening the box, reading the note, standing in the room. The small moments where story meets experience — that’s where the work becomes real.