Elizabeth Cottrell Media Kit

Episode 21: Elizabeth Cottrell↗

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In the hands of author Elizabeth H. Cottrell, the handwritten note is set free from old-fashioned irrelevance to become a superpower tool for connecting with others. Heartspoken: How to Write Notes that Connect, Comfort, Encourage, and Inspire will guide you to cultivating your own unique note-writing voice and give you the confidence to use it. Consider the flipping of a light switch. You can’t see the electricity. You may not even understand how it works. But when power starts flowing through the open wire, it is nothing short of miraculous. She will show you how to find and flip that switch in your own note writing, both personal and professional. Grasp this beautiful process, and your writing will become alive, meaningful, and impactful in ways you could never have thought possible.

Elizabeth Cottrell Author Bio

Bios Elizabeth Different Lengths for use in articles or introductions

Cottrell is pronounced COT’-tral

Heartspoken is one word when used in my book or bio.

Short bio for guest posts  53 words 350 characters with spaces

Elizabeth is a writer, speaker, blogger, and award-winning author of HEARTSPOKEN: How to Write Notes that Connect, Comfort, Encourage, and Inspire. Above all, she is a connector and encourager whose passion for note writing has launched a #HeartspokenMovement to help readers find their own heartspoken voice and learn to harness their own note-writing superpower. Her message about the vital role of connection resonates with anyone seeking to build and nurture both personal and professional relationships.

101 words – 642 characters with spaces written in first person

After an idyllic childhood on a Virginia cattle farm, I traveled to New Orleans for graduate school and married a Louisiana boy. We enjoyed Louisiana for six years before he brought me back to Virginia, where we raised our children in the Shenandoah Valley. Besides freelance writing, I’ve been a community activist and leader, the first woman board chair in First National Corporation’s (First Bank) 100+ year history. Now a published author and founder of the Heartspoken Movement, my mission is to inspire and teach note writers to claim their connection superpower: writing heartspoken notes that connect, comfort, encourage, and inspire.

103 words 647 characters with spaces written in third person

Elizabeth H. Cottrell—writer, award-winning author, and speaker— has long been a business and nonprofit leader in the Shenandoah Valley and the Commonwealth of Virginia. When she was elected to the board of trustees of First Bank/First National Corporation in 1992, she was the first female board member in its almost 100-year history, and since 2016, she has been its first female Board Chairman. Her book HEARTSPOKEN: How to Write Notes that Connect, Comfort, Encourage, and Inspire, was published by Koehler Books in 2022, has launched the #HeartspokenMovement ,and has had a ripple effect among note writers as well as sales professionals. 

153 words, 989 characters with spaces

Elizabeth’s circuitous career has taken her from published leprosy researcher to stay-at-home mother, to community activist and leader on nonprofit and corporate boards, to ham radio operator, to freelance writer/editor and blogger at Heartspoken.com. 

Above all, she is a connector and encourager whose writing explores the four essential connections of the Heartspoken Life: with God, Self, Others, and Nature. Her expertise and passion for note writing in her 2022 book come at just the right time to touch a pandemic world desperately in search of connection. Elizabeth is the right person at the right time to help readers find their own heartspoken voice and learn to harness this powerful tool for nurturing their most precious relationships.

Elizabeth is an idea curator, sharing inspirational, interesting, and educational ideas from her own eclectic reading and harnessing them through her writing in pursuit of her own Heartspoken Life. She invites her readers along for the ride.

Author Contact Info

The best way to contact the author is through her website’s contact page: https://heartspoken.com/contact or through her email: elizabethc (at) heartspoken (dot) com. 

Connect with Elizabeth:

• Join our Facebook Group:  The Art of the Heartspoken Note
  This is a free, private group. Use the link below to request to join and we’ll welcome you into a lively group of note writers. You’ll find posts about etiquette and wording, stamps, calligraphy, artwork, papermaking, and much more. We learn from and encourage each other!
• Get “The HEARTSPOKEN Note” newsletter
  for further note and letter-writing support. Using the link below, you can subscribe for free to access the archives of past articles and to be notified by email when there is new content. I try to post weekly.
• Note and Letter Writing Articles on my Heartspoken Blog
  The larger themes of my blog are the four essential connections of the Heartspoken Life, but I’ve written many posts here about the powerful connection tool of the heartspoken note. The link below takes you to posts in this category, but while you’re there, I hope you’ll find other posts of interest.

Follow me elsewhere for additional inspiration and tips:

• I am @HeartspokenLife on
  • Facebook: https://facebook.com/heartspokenlife
  • Twitter: https://twitter.com/heartspokenlife 
  • Instagram: https://instagram.com/heartspokenlife
  • Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/heartspokenlife 
  • YouTube: https://youtube.com/@Heartspokenlife
• Monthly newsletter on LinkedIn: The Heartspoken Connection: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethcottrell/
• My articles on Medium: https://heartspoken.medium.com

Book Tip Sheet

Click to view or download: Heartspoken Book Tip Sheet

Press Releases

Book Launch press release August 1, 2022:  Heartspoken Book Press Release 08-2022

Firebird Book Award press release August 8, 2022: Firebird Book Award Press Release 07-2022

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Awards

Interviews

Here’s a playlist of video interviews in which I was a guest.

Relatonships Rule podcast, hosted by Janice Porter: “Writing from the Heart in a Digital World” (Episode 329), September 2025.

• Relationships Rule podcast, hosted by Janice Porter: “Writing from the Heart in a Digital World” (Episode 329), September 2025.
• “The Price and Value Journey podcast, hosted by John Ray: Heartspoken Notes for Genuine Connection,” (Episode 143), August 2025.
• Uncopyable Women in Business podcast, hosted by Kay Miller: “Your Secret Weapon for Winning Connections – with Elizabeth Cottrell” and “Fun Facts about Elizabeth Cottrell” (Episodes 72 and 73), July 2025.
• The Book Drop Mic with Jason Wright, Season 1, Episode 6, hosted by New York Times bestselling author Jason F. Wright, October 2023.
• Jack Rants with Modern Bankers podcast, hosted by Jack Hubbard: ”Unlocking the Power of Personal Notes” (Episode 21), September, 2023.
• The Admired Advisor podcast, hosted by Steve Atkinson, Buckingham Strategic Partners: “How Handwritten Notes Build Modern Relationships with Elizabeth Cottrell,” September 2023.
• Awesome Etiquette podcast, hosted by Lizzie Post and Daniel Post Senning, Episode 464, interview with co-host Lizzie Post for The Emily Post Institute, July, 2023. My interview was the bonus section, starting at about 43:30 and ending at about 1:06.
• On The Knows podcast, hosted by Randall Kenneth Jones: “Elizabeth Cottrell on HEARTSPOKEN: How to Write Notes that Connect, Comfort, Encourage & Inspire.” January 2023.
• Queens of Moxie podcast, hosted by Mary Kay Campbell, January 2023.
• Selling from the Heart podcast, hosted by Larry Levine and Darrell Amy: “Heart Spoken Notes.” December 2022.
• Zen Bag Lady podcast, hosted by Lynn Haraldson: “Writing Notes From The Heart: An Interview with Elizabeth Cottrell,” October, 2022.  Lynn is author of Common Ground: Writings on Family, Change, Loss & Resilience as well as her memoir An Obesity of Grief. 
• Speak Up Talk Radio, hosted by Pat Rullo: “Elizabeth Cottrell Firebird Winner Author Interview:” Summary and Audio file of interview – 32 minutes. Transcription of Pat Rullo Interview. September 2022.
• Boom Bang Oh My Gosh Wow! podcast, hosted by Pat Rullo: “Elizabeth’s Short Tip for Authors” – 2 minutes. September 2022.

• Soul Care Summit 2021, hosted by Taryn Nergaard. Recorded Interview with Elizabeth Cottrell: Video file of interview – 15 minutes. Transcription of Taryn Nergaard interview. May 2021.

Appearances, in person and in print

Numerous civic and local speaking programs/presentations: Partial listing.

• Public workshop at Wakeman’s Grove Church of the Brethren, January 2022
• The Mountain Courier, front page article by Joan Anderson, December 2022
• Keynote speaker and Presenter for Women’s Leadership Symposium, Shenandoah County Chamber of Commerce, November, 2022, 2023, and 2024.
• “Confessions of a Serial Note Writer” presentation at the Greeting Card Association’s (GCA) Fall Retreat and Workshop in September, 2022: Video of GCA presentation – 19 minutes. Text of GCA presentation.

• Woman’s World Book Club, July 25, 2022 (page 8)

Karen R. Sanderson’s Blog: “The Making of a Serial Note Writer” Summer 2022

• Karen R. Sanderson’s Blog: “The Making of a Serial Note Writer” Summer 2022
• Northern Virginia Daily and Winchester Star, article by Josette Keelor, June, 2022

Author and Book Cover Images

Author images and book cover files are in this Google Docs folder

Book Preview and Testimonials

CLICK HERE and scroll down to peruse the first 28 pages of the book. Below the testimonials are many testimonials for the book.