Tara Horstmeyer

Happy Words

I believe you were made to lead, not exhaustively create LinkedIn content.

ABOUT HAPPY WORDS ⬇️
Hi! I'm Tara. 

After a 20+ year career as an award-winning editor, writer + leader, my career evolved to building Happy Words: A writing, consulting + training team that supports executives around the country.

As The OG LinkedIn Ghostwriter, I've trained and influenced many of the best in the best in the business. I’ve also been featured in Business Insider, Vox and Morning Brew as a LinkedIn Ghostwriting industry expert and have spoken at events + workshops while appearing on dozens of podcasts.

This truly sets me apart as I can both appreciate + serve busy executives who desire to impact others through their LinkedIn presence.

Executives—like you.

WE GET IT—BECAUSE WE GET *YOU* ⬇️

We know firsthand the weight of leadership duties and professional ambition leaders carry daily.

In fact, my unique background in people leadership + professional writing has firmly cemented me and my Happy Words team's reputation as the obvious choice for world-class executives and their teams.

You can't afford to leave your professional reputation or company’s brand to chance with just any Ghostwriter or service.

You genuinely need trusted social strategists AND experienced media experts to guide you.

Experts—like us!

Bottom line:

You were made to lead, not exhaustively create a LinkedIn presence.

We're here to help you expand your influence, grow your presence and stand out as the authoritative thought leader you ARE.

LET'S CHAT. HERE TO SERVE YOU ⬇️
You could be (and, let's face it, *should be*) the talk of LinkedIn.

Serving individuals, founders, execs, teams + companies:

1. CONTENT: LinkedIn Post Strategy + Ghostwriting
2. WORKSHOPS: LinkedIn Mastery Workshop + Workbook

Founder

Gravy

Worked with the Channel Partnerships team to scale Gravy’s client relationships program by helping establish new relationships while optimizing existing one-to-many channel partnerships.

Director of Partner Success

Tested and proved Gravy’s inbound and outbound strategies through non-conventional SDR methods, including pioneering voice and video, resulting in new clients + MRR.

Built scalable Sales Development program from scratch, including proving prospecting methodology, testing messaging, strategies and approaches, resulting in new clients, referral partners and a new stream of predictable revenue.

Helped implement SalesLoft in Q1 2020, including writing and testing all cadences, snippets and more. 

Ultimately recruited, hired, trained, onboarded and led new SDRs to build out our SDR team, helping 3 out of 5 break previous quota records within their first 60 days of onboarding.

SDR / SDR Growth Manager

Provided Gravy's overall content direction by producing and repurposing original content, including client communications, lead magnets, blogs and webinar + email marketing campaigns. 

Built and launched "The Outsider" newsletter, which is quickly becoming a pillar piece of communication for clients and subscribers.

Awarded Gravy’s highest honor in August 2019: Gravy MVP.

Content Manager

Assisted the sales manager and project managed all sales-related activities, including prospecting, discovery, referrals, maintaining CRM updates, email campaigns and led sales enablement activities.

Inside Sales Specialist

RevGenius

www.revgenius.com/mag

- Laid foundational framework that helped establish scaleable systems and processes.
- Assessed all inbound authors before approving to submit for RevGenius Magazine. 
- Assigned deadlines and brainstorms article topics while maintaining pipeline of content and authors so magazine has articles well in advance of publish date. 
- Recruited new authors for RevGenius Magazine as needed, and strategized additional ways to expand magazine’s engagement and reach through promotion, video use, etc.

Founding Managing Editor: RevGenius Mag

North Point Community Church

Recruited, trained, developed and led more than 225 volunteers as a director in the United States' second-largest student ministry setting.

Directed leaders and coaches through regular one-on-ones, relationship building, pastoring and helping to navigate any situation that would affect the small group. Developed leaders through trainings, weekly communication and meetings run one-on-one and in large groups.

Supported ministry as a whole through assisting with events, camps, trainings, leader meetings, written communication and resourcing volunteer leaders to help students pursue and discover a faith of their own.

Developed, curated and wrote the Transit small group leadership training manual used across campuses and at partner churches across the globe.

Groups Director

Naylor Association Solutions (Naylor, LLC)

Worked with association clients to plan, vision cast and produce all materials for print, online and event publications, including monthly magazines, newsletters, directories and additional resources as needed. 

Liaison between clients and sales to produce content and annual editorial calendar both favorable for members and to promote advertising revenue. 

Collaborated with clients to create broad-scale vision for publications as well as fine-tune the details needed to execute established vision. 

Produced original editorial content, served as copy editor, chose appropriate art, wrote design worksheets and detailed plans to ensure production and design team maintained integrity and clients’ expectations in their print, online and trade show presences. 

Managed all relationships via consistent email and phone communication. 

Developed, encouraged and enforced tight deadline schedules for clients and production throughout the planning and publication process. 

Worked closely with production, design and shipping to ensure clients’ expectation of excellence in both overall experience and product results was exceeded.

Maintained a workload of approximately 50 projects per year.

Awarded 2008 Editor of the Year, a highly coveted award spanning the U.S. and Canadian staff.

Editor

The Gainesville Sun

Reviewed articles for grammar, punctuation, flow, AP style and accuracy.

Wrote headlines and subheads. Produced breakout boxes as needed.

Selected appropriate stories and art to fill selected internal sections, capture readers’ interest and encourage advertising support.

Copy Editor

Sun Sentinel Media Group

Reviewed articles for grammar, punctuation, flow, AP style and accuracy. 

Wrote headlines, subhead and summary decks. 

Collaborated with reporters to clear up any ambiguities.

Copy Desk Summer Intern

Simplifying LinkedIn | Individual + team training you need to succeed on LinkedIn | Executive Ghostwriting | Content Coaching | Hands-on Workshops

"One person posts, and I now know them. Multiple people post, and I now know their company..." - MJ Peters. (Powerful, huh?)

Execs: I believe you were made to lead—NOT exhaustively create LinkedIn content.

Yet:
> Figuring out how to engage + leverage the power of LinkedIn.
> Finding a TRUSTED Executive LinkedIn Thought Leadership team that understand business.
> One that also offers content strategy, company LinkedIn training and high-level, strategic writing execution...

...can feel like another full-time job.

I'm here to remove this burden.

HI! I'M TARA ⬇️

The Original LinkedIn Ghostwriter + Founder of Happy Words. 

My 20+ year career as an award-winning editor, writer + leader gives me a unique understanding of not only what it takes to leverage content in a digital world...

But also what it takes to work with impactful leaders—in the REAL world.

After scaling to 30K+ followers + driving well more than 6-figures of revenue solely from my LinkedIn as THE Original AND highly sought-after LinkedIn Ghostwriter...

My career evolved to building Happy Words: A writing, consulting + training team that supports executives like you.

I’ve since been featured in Business Insider, Vox and Morning Brew as a LinkedIn Ghostwriting industry expert and have spoken at events + workshops while appearing on dozens of podcasts.

This truly sets me apart as I can both appreciate + serve busy executives who desire to impact others through their LinkedIn presence.

Executives—like you.

Bottom line:

You were made to lead, not exhaustively create a LinkedIn presence.

I'm here to help you expand your influence, grow your presence and stand out as the authoritative thought leader you ARE.

LET'S CHAT. HERE TO SERVE YOU ⬇️
Serving individuals, founders, execs, teams + companies:

1. CONTENT: LinkedIn Post Strategy + Ghostwriting
2. WORKSHOPS: LinkedIn Mastery Workshop + Workbook

---

So, that's a little bit about who I am, what I built (for years) and how I've served countless leaders (like you!) on LinkedIn.

I am ALWAYS up for a chat in the DMs. So...

Drop me a note.
Say hi.

DMs always open.
Cheering for you!

- T

Executive LinkedIn + Leadership Trainer

I help executives, companies and teams build their LinkedIn reputation at scale.

------

Leading is a full-time job.
Exhaustively figuring out LinkedIn shouldn't be.

No matter if you are looking to build your executive personal brand on LinkedIn, bring visibility and opportunity to you, your company or team or create an employee advocacy program, I can help you achieve it all.

You were created to lead — not spend your time writing for LinkedIn.

Let’s work together to bring YOU, your business, your team and your company to those who need it the most.

🔥 Expand your influence. Grow your reputation. Ignite your opportunities.🔥

3 WAYS I CAN HELP YOU ⬇️

1. LinkedIn GHOSTWRITING:
Writing WITH you + AS you is what I'm known for.
DM or email for information, packages and availability.

2. LinkedIn 1:1 + Corporate TRAINING:
From corporate workshops to 1:1 consulting + employee coaching, I've worked with the best to leverage LinkedIn.

Shoot me a DM to design your session now.

3. LinkedIn Brand CONSULTING + COACHING:
Whether you are looking for an all-encompassing LinkedIn strategy that works or need a professional editor's eyes on your (or your team’s) posts, I'm your guide to help you along the way. 

Shoot me a DM to discuss a Coaching or Consulting plan or visit me here:

tara@happywordssell.com
www.happywordssell.com

Amy Volas

I help SaaS startups hire executive Sales and CS leaders without the cringe ⋆ Personally closed $100MM+ ⋆ 2 Exits ⋆ LP ⋆ Strategic Advisor ⋆ Speaker ⋆ Writing My First Book

I don’t believe in guesswork hiring. And I don’t do transactional anything.

I work with founders, CEOs, and investors who are tired of wasting time, money, and trust on Sales and CS executive hires that don’t stick... or worse, do damage.

Because here's the thing:

A bad executive hire isn’t just a hiccup.
It’s a domino effect that fractures teams, tanks morale, stalls growth, and erodes boardroom credibility.

I’ve seen it all:

▸ CEOs and founders covering for a Sales leader who’s lost the room
▸ Execs spending more time firefighting than scaling
▸ Boards questioning if you can hire while the burn rate screams you can't
▸ Reacting to noise, chasing titles, and hiring before knowing what you’re actually solving for
▸ Watching progress stall, targets slip, and the trust in your decision-making fade

Sound familiar? You’re not alone. 
And, there’s a better way.

I'm Amy Volas, founder of Avenue Talent Partners (ATP).

Since 2015, I’ve helped tech founders and CEOs get executive GTM hiring right the first time, without the fluff, without the guesswork, and without the cleanup later.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗱𝗼 𝗮𝘁 𝗔𝗧𝗣:

𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵

Intentional, high-impact GTM hires that drive growth while sidestepping expensive missteps. 

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗢𝗦™ 𝗯𝘆 𝗔𝗧𝗣

When a search isn’t needed, but clarity is. Our proven hiring system that structures hiring for scale, eliminates guesswork, and arms you with the clarity, data, and process your board expects.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲? 20%
𝗔𝗧𝗣 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀? 80%+ and a 98% interview-to-hire success rate

Because it’s not just about who you hire.
It’s about why the hire is happening, how the process is run, and whether it fuels the kind of team that scales, not stalls.

I’m not for everyone, and that’s okay.
The founders, CEOs, and investors who get the best results with me:

▸ Prioritize hiring as a core strategy
▸ Embrace real, open communication
▸ Value people over transactions
▸ Think beyond the next quarter
▸ Know asking for help is a strength, not a weakness

Hiring is hard.
It’s supposed to be.

But it’s also the highest-leverage move you’ll ever make.

Let’s make people strategy your secret weapon.

We partner with focused executives who know the best products don’t always win, but the best teams do.

Ready to build one? So are we.

Founder & CEO

Great executives aren't hired on guesswork.

And starting + scaling a business is no joke.

The odds are against you and the people you hire to grow your business can make or break your ability to defy those odds.

The dynamic world of sales in early- stage startups is complex, busy, and ever-changing.

Trying to uncover, engage, and hire the cream of the crop is challenging when your plate is already full and the average tenure is 19 months for a VP of Sales.

That's why Avenue Talent Partners was built…

We help startups hire the right executive revenue leaders to defy the turnover odds to truly grow and scale.

The best part? We do it without the cringe!

With a collective sales experience of 40+ years and $100MM+ in deals closed, ATP's team knows what it takes to win at startup sales.

We're the recruiting firm you should be working with if you...

▹ Want to defy the odds of hiring the right sales leader who will stick around for more than 19 months

▹ Want to hire a high-growth sales leader who will build/lead a team to drive growth for the long haul

▹ Want a recruiting partner who speaks the sales language fluently, knows how to vet the right person for your stage of business, and has the experience to back it up

▹ Want a recruiting partner who truly cares about your success, takes the time to understand what you need, and knows exactly how to help

▹ Want a recruiting partner that celebrates candidate experience while representing your brand well throughout the recruiting process regardless of the outcome

The depth and breadth of our sales and startup experience coupled with our second to none people-centric, process-driven approach is here to help you get sales hiring right the first time to avoid the painful effects of a mishire.

Nothing you do is more important than finding and hiring the right people; we work tirelessly to help you do just that.

Welp… this wasn't on my 2025 vision board.

I have brain cancer.
I'm ready to fight it.
And I'm starting this fight strong.

I feel good. I'm mobile, clear-headed, and still working. 
ATP is busy, active, and here to support the founders, CEOs, and investors we partner with. 

Taryn has been an absolute force, and we are pressing forward in Q4 with intention.

So, why share this here?

Because life reminds us we can hold more than one serious thing at the same time.

Things are not always what they look like on the surface.

And even with something this heavy, I'm grateful to be alive, awake, and able to fight.

I may be quieter here while treatment begins, but I'm still here and still me.

For anyone who wants to follow along, I'm sharing updates on CaringBridge. I only ask that you start with the first post so you know what is helpful and what is not as I navigate this.

https://lnkd.in/eMBewxns

Cheers to kicking brain cancer in the pants 💪

AWAY FROM LINKEDIN · High-Precision Sales & CS Exec Search · The Hiring OS™: A Proven System for Hiring in the AI Era · 98% Interview-to-Hire Success · Writing my first hiring book · Windex-obsessed

Open article: Amy's CaringBridge by caringbridge.org

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The Battle

Tara Horstmeyer

Amy Volas

Followers

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Performance ScoreAmy Volas's LinkedIn Performance

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The Battle

Tara Horstmeyer

Amy Volas

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Amy Volas's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreAmy Volas's LinkedIn Performance