Are you curious about what it’s like to be an indexer? Join the Chicagoland Chapter for its Feb. 22 Zoom meeting when three EFA members will discuss their experience as freelance indexers. You’ll learn who they are, what attracted them to indexing, where they trained for this profession, when they entered the field, and why they joined the EFA. Perhaps most important, you’ll learn how they developed their freelance indexing businesses. Our panelists have varying years of experience and offer a broad perspective. They are Judi Gibbs (20-plus years of experience indexing), Gina Guilinger (12 years), and Kim Hayes (1 year).

This panel presentation is open to all who are curious about freelancing, indexing, or both—but registration is both limited and required. Meeting links will be included in the registration confirmation from Eventbrite (scroll way down to the bottom of the email to see it). Claim your spot today!

About Our Speakers

Judi Gibbs has been a writer in engineering and medical settings and a reference librarian in university and special libraries. In 1999, Microsoft hired her to help index Encarta products. She discovered she enjoyed indexing and has never looked back. Over the past 20-plus years, she has indexed a broad range of books, including many in art, anthropology, business, and labor history—which is one of her specialties. She is always open to new topics and new challenges. Based in Seattle, you can find out more about her at The Write Guru, where you’ll also find a selective list of books she has indexed.

Gina Guilinger owns Weight of the Word Indexing Service and has been indexing since 2011, specializing in back-of-the-book and database indexing. She has a bachelor’s degree in law, societies, and justice and completed her indexing training through the UC Berkeley Extension indexing course. Her indexing interests and specialties include religion, culinary arts, earth sciences, social sciences, and criminology. In addition to the EFA, Guilinger is a member of the National Association of Independent Writers & Editors, Indexing Society of Canada, and American Society for Indexing, for which she currently serves as president. She lives with her daughter in the suburbs of Denver, where, in their free time, they like to cook, read voraciously, and attend theatrical, musical, and circus arts events.

Kim Hayes has a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts and extensive experience in the customer service industry. She lives in Chicago with her husband and works for the Chicago Cubs, in the parking and transportation department. She recently completed the UC Berkeley Extension course on indexing and is a member of the American Society for Indexing, EFA, and ACES: The Society for Editing. Her hobbies include reading, cooking, thrifting, cross-stitching, exploring Chicago, and attending U2 concerts whenever possible. For more information, see her EFA profile.