How Daniel Ogbonnaya Transitioned from “Writer” to Cybersecurity Content Strategy Consultant

Daniel Ogbonnaya came into TechWriteable Academy already writing. Freelance gigs, editorial work, bylines across different publications. He wasn’t starting from zero. What he was missing was the why behind the work. A few weeks into the cohort, he walked out of a content strategy class, built a full strategy for a UK-based cybersecurity company, sent it over, and came back with a consultancy role.

Around the same time, he got promoted at his current job to editing and quality assurance. He’s still in January cohort, and I sat down with him to hear how it all came together.

What were you doing before you joined the Academy?

I was freelancing as a writer. I’d been writing for a while, actually. I started as a writer at a media company, worked my way up to editor, and from there, connections just kept opening new doors. A friend referred me to someone who needed writers, that led to more recommendations, and by December 2024 I had picked up a couple of new freelance opportunities at the same time.

So just before the Academy, I was writing across a few different clients, doing editorial work, and figuring out how to move from just executing briefs to actually understanding the bigger picture behind what I was doing.

How did you first hear about content marketing as a career?

My story is a bit unusual, honestly. I never really heard about content marketing until I was already doing it.

It started in 2023. I needed money, reached out to my cousin who worked at a media company, and asked if there were any paid internship opportunities. She got me into a content subsidiary they ran, and from there I was writing op-eds, blog posts, press releases, newsletters, all kinds of things for different clients. That was my first real introduction to content writing.

From there, word spread through connections. One friend referred me to someone else, that person referred me further, and eventually I was writing for Adé and others in the same space. It was through that network that I found TechWriteable.

What was the biggest thing holding you back before you enrolled?

Not money, not skepticism. Honestly, it was a lack of foundational knowledge, and that’s actually what excited me about joining.

I had been writing for a while, but I was mostly executing briefs. You get your instructions, you follow them, you deliver. But there was so much why behind what I was doing that I didn’t understand at all. Why certain formats work. Why content is structured a certain way for different audiences. Why the strategy behind it matters.

Getting that foundational knowledge was my whole reason for joining. Once I understood that the Academy would give me that, I was in.

Was there anything you were skeptical about before starting?

Not really. I had seen Peter run a few Spaces on Twitter before, and those were always solid. The Academy felt like a much more extended, intensive version of that, and I had already enjoyed the Spaces. So the interest was there from the start. I didn’t really have a reason to hold back.

Which module or session stuck with you the most?

Two come to mind. The first is Paula’s class. That was the one where I learned the most new things. There were so many aspects to content marketing that she introduced me to that I had never even thought about or considered before. She shared so much material, so many tools, and it got me thinking, how is she even working with all of this on a daily basis? That class had a lot in it.

The second one that really stood out was the AI and content session. I had already been working on improving how I use AI in my own processes, because clients have very different views on how much AI is acceptable. So when I saw how it was being used in that session, how to actually train AI to understand your style and your standards, it clicked immediately. That was one of the classes I wished we could have had a follow-up on.

Was there a specific thing a facilitator said that changed how you think about content?

Two things, actually.

The first was around building in public. As you’re improving, document it. Put yourself out there so people can see where you are in your career. I knew this in theory, but I hadn’t been doing it consistently. Now I’m a lot more conscious of it.

The second was something from Victoria’s class about social listening. The idea that great content ideas can just come from paying close attention to what you’re consuming. I actually found myself already doing this without realising it. I would be scrolling on LinkedIn or Twitter, something would catch my attention, and I’d already be forming an idea for something worth writing about. Victoria’s class just gave me the framework to understand what I was doing and be more intentional about it.

Both of those things changed how I think about content, not just as a writer, but as someone who wants to build a presence and stay relevant in this space.

What surprised you about the program that you didn’t expect going in?

How little gatekeeping there was. I genuinely did not expect facilitators to be that willing to share their actual processes, the tools they use personally, the things that have actually worked for them. I thought it was going to be more theoretical, and it turned out to be both practical and personal in a way I wasn’t expecting.

At one point, we were told the more practical sessions were coming up next, and I remember thinking, what do you mean? This has already been very practical.

What’s the best piece of work you created during the program?

The content strategy I built for a UK-based cybersecurity company. That’s the one.

It happened right after Paula’s class. I saw a job application from this company, went to their website, and it was like I was seeing it through completely different eyes. Things that I would never have noticed before were suddenly obvious. Where their content was falling short, what was missing, where the gaps were.

Using the same workflow Paula had walked us through in class, I just went ahead and built out a full content marketing strategy for them. Everything was still fresh in my head, so I used the opportunity as a case study.

I sent it over, they received it well, and I got a consultancy role from it. The timing was right, the knowledge was there, and it came together.

What are you doing now that you weren’t doing before?

Two big things.

First, I got promoted at my current job to editing and quality assurance. As a writer, your work goes through edits before it’s finalised, so it can always come back to you for changes. QA is completely different. You are the last stop before anything goes out. You have to know what good looks like, and you have to be sure of it.

The Academy gave me a much clearer sense of what good content is actually supposed to look like. I notice things now that I wasn’t conscious of before, and that’s made me a lot more effective in that role.

Second, I have a proper AI workflow now. Before the Academy, I was prompting AI the way most people do, just opening it and asking for things. Now I think about it differently. I use Claude for first drafts because it tends to give more than I need, which makes it easy to trim down. ChatGPT I’ve trained with a specific project for editing, where it analyses articles against a structure I’ve built and tells me exactly what’s missing or what needs to change. I do the editing myself, but having that analysis first means I catch a lot more.

My personal writing I still do entirely myself. AI for structure and analysis, my own voice for everything that actually goes out.

If someone is thinking about joining but hasn’t committed yet, what would you tell them?

There’s a 100% chance you will learn something that doubles what you already know. At least.

Nobody in this space knows everything. Even the most successful people are still picking up new things. There is always something someone else is doing that is more efficient, more creative, or more effective than how you’re currently doing it.

What TechWriteable gives you is access to people who have already figured some of those things out, and they actually share it. There’s no wasted knowledge in what they teach. If you genuinely want to improve, you will leave with something that helps you do that.

What’s one thing you wish you knew before you started?

The power of connection, and how seriously you need to take it.

I understood it in theory, but I hadn’t been acting on it the way I should. Connecting with other content marketers, staying plugged into what’s happening in the space, knowing what people are projecting for the future of content marketing. All of that matters more than I gave it credit for before the Academy.

You have to be out there. Not just posting, but engaging, starting conversations, reaching out. I’ve been a bit too detached, and that’s something I’m actively working to change.

Daniel Ogbonnaya is a freelance content marketer and editor currently consulting for a UK-based cybersecurity company while expanding his editorial work. He is part of TechWriteable Academy’s first cohort.