Sitting at Great American Ballpark watching the Reds play is one of my favorite past times. It’s just something our family truly enjoys doing together. But when I attend a Reds game, my experience is far different than other true fans. I find myself counting the number of ads delivered to me in my 3-hour span at Great American. I challenge you to try it!
I attended the College of Mount St. Joseph (now MSJ University) as a secondary education major, but changed my mind shortly before student teaching (despite the rewarding time I spent tutoring). I switched to English and Communications with an emphasis on Marketing. I completed my first internship at 19XIX (just before they became Fox19) in the Promotions Department and moved on to become the Marketing Assistant at MSJ in the Experiential Learning Department. After graduating, I returned to Fox19 working in the Traffic Department spending hours making sure competitors did not run ads next to each other; I started to thrive on the chaos and crazy deadlines. And it was an amazing opportunity to be there when the 10pm news signed on in Cincinnati for the first time. What a party we had!
After wanting so much more, I left Fox19 to pursue a marketing job with a company based out of Belgium and opening their first office of only three employees in the United States. I learned more about Magic The Gathering, collectible cards, casino cards, board game cards, etc. than I ever dreamed possible. But the stress of paper quality and curling of casino cards did not motivate me as much as the chaos back at the station. I landed an interview with an up-and-coming ad agency and somehow convinced them to take a chance on me. It was an awesome experience! The deadlines were not realistic and the client requests were over the top; yet I was totally motivated by this. I remember being so busy that I felt like I would pass myself in the hallways! I became obsessed with negotiations, market trends, ratings and so on. I was hired as a media market manager and was quickly promoted to local media supervisor managing a team of up to 30 people, and finally to senior market manager. I participated in new business pitches, researched and wrote media outlook POVs to forecast industry trends, traveled to active markets, created campaigns from scratch, studied data/reports all while estimating ratings, negotiating ad rates and promotions, and executing the campaigns even through political elections, Olympics, programming, the booming dot.coms and more. The agency was thriving and well on its way to becoming one of the largest agencies in Cincinnati!
After becoming a mom, I wanted to spend more time with my kids. My last day at the agency was on a Thursday, and I cried the whole way home fearing I would regret my decision to leave a place I loved. The following Monday, I received a call from another agency asking if I would help out on an as-needed basis. Fifteen+ years later, I am still working with the agency as a freelancer…a dream-come-true gig…and I never looked back. When my kids started school, I took a part-time job at BCPL and just waited for something to open up in Public Relations. I now manage the PR department for BCPL and look to use my expertise to make BCPL a better place for our community.
When there was not enough chaos in my life, I decided to get a license to coach soccer. I was fortunate to be paired with a coach I totally connected with, and we spent 21 seasons coaching soccer to one of the most amazing group of kids with awesome parents. Even after I hung up my cleats, I found myself still going to games for the players that all eventually ended up on different teams. I never get tired of watching soccer!
I am married to my best friend and my rock. We enjoy hiking local trails, trying new
restaurants, playing cards and hanging with friends. Although I am a born-and-raised Westsider, I agreed to move to Burlington when we married. From Burlington, we headed to Mason OH, then on to Chesapeake, VA before settling back in Hebron, KY to raise our kids. My daughter is heading to WKU in the fall to study nursing and my son is going to be a junior in high school. They both make me so proud in very different ways. Their sibling bond as teens is priceless. And the best part is that they still want to hang out with me!
My greatest achievement in life is the ability to overcome. I have faced many major
obstacles (some even put in place before I was born), and have managed to overcome these hurdles regardless of the challenge. I truly believe having the strength to overcome has made me a better person. And I am happy to be that person when representing BCPL.