not your high school english teachers
(But they would probably love us.)
We believe editing is creative, not corrective. We love helping our clients publish work that’s precise, effective, and memorable—more than just error-free.
With our combined expertise and enthusiasm for really good sentences, we offer a small but powerful team to support your communications, marketing, and publishing goals.
meet your editors
lauren thurman
Lauren is a writer and editor based in Denver, Colorado. Hopeless at team sports from a young age, she found her competitive edge by looking for typos in standardized tests and restaurant menus. She has an eye for details and loves to help writers get them right, from worldbuilding to punctuating.
Specializations:
Structural & developmental editing (fiction, nonprofit, advocacy)
Copy editing (fiction, nonfiction)
Experience:
7+ years in communications, including writing, editing, and strategy
3+ years in literary editing
Education:
University of Edinburgh | master’s in creative writing
University of Colorado—Boulder | bachelor’s in English literature
Likes: cutting fluff, disambiguating, alliteration (good)
Dislikes: clichés, hyphen misuse, alliteration (bad)
dale van ollefen
Dale is an editor, designer, and all-around wordsmith based in Raleigh, North Carolina. She enjoys helping writers and creators perfect their work and convey their message with precision and impact. And maybe she gets a little too much joy from spotting and deleting extra spaces after periods.
Specializations:
Copy editing (nonfiction, nonprofit, commercial)
Publishing
Copywriting
Experience:
7+ years in marketing, including writing, editing, and project management
3+ years in publishing
Education:
The George Washington University | master’s in publishing
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | bachelor’s in English, bachelor’s in journalism and mass communication
Favorite author quote: “I consistently break a rule I consider to be not only fake but pernicious. I know what I'm doing and why.” – Ursula Le Guin
certifications & affiliations
our story
It’s probably one you’ve heard before: Two girls majored in English, started working in communications, and became instant friends when we were the only people to catch each other’s 30 Rock references during meetings.
Over the years, we worked different jobs and lived in different cities—at one point, different continents—but we always came back to the same idea: What if we started a business together? One where we could put our shared passion and skills to the best possible use? In 2022, that idea finally took shape as Lowercase Editorial Services.
Why Lowercase? Our company name is based on the edit we make the most often.