Employment

Senior Communications Advisor

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina

April 2022 – Present | Durham, N.C.

Health Care Division Communications

  • Develop, plan and execute communications and engagement activities that promote the company and/or division and position the company and/or division favorably to key stakeholders, including current and potential employees, the news media, business and community leaders, consumers, employer groups, the financial community and health care providers
  • Work closely with other departments, as well as external partners and stakeholders, to deliver, and execute on, superior communications plans that are strategic, measurable and aligned with corporate and/or divisional goals
  • Provide strategic communications counsel that supports the success of individual projects as well as enterprise goals
  • Provide advice and counsel to senior leaders on matters pertaining to communications
  • Consult with other team members, management, executive leadership and subject matter experts in the development of effective communications or engagement strategies and company positions on issues
  • Work collaboratively with other communications areas to ensure a consistent approach to corporate communication needs

Communications Public Relations Manager

Child Care Services Association

November 2018 – April 2022 | Chapel Hill, N.C.

National nonprofit in early early childhood education

  • Strategized communications goals for the organization focusing on building external awareness, developed and maintained multiple organization websites and reworked organizational messaging through a DEI lens for internal and external audiences to be an industry thought leader
  • Advanced a positive image and increased visibility of the organization’s internal and external relations, its programs and child care issues through public and media relations, and marketing activities
    • Planned 45th-anniversary gala and auction event in 2019
    • Raised awareness and funds for COVID-19 Relief Fund in 2020
    • Planned 2020 (pivoted to virtual) and 2022 (in-person) awards ceremonies
  • Provided leadership and oversight of the communications functions
    • Initiated and coordinated organization-wide social media committee; met quarterly; delegated and coordinated committee-wide mini online campaigns
    • Supervised Development Communications Associate on communications-focused projects and communications interns during academic semesters; mentored, trained, delegated tasks and evaluated performance
    • Audited all communications policies, procedures, protocols and materials; created a social media use policy, revised the organization-wide communications policy, created an organization-wide style guide, revised the organization-wide emergency action plan and created a crisis communications plan
    • Created a guide to writing blogs and train divisions on how to write blogs
    • Consulted division vice presidents on all internal and external communications, public relations and marketing research, goals and initiatives
  • Worked collaboratively with the Fund Development Manager on materials production and website maintenance
    • Created and updated existing marketing materials for all divisions, from posters to flyers to brochures, etc.
    • Managed multiple websites; launched two new websites with web design firm, edited website content, rewrote copy of website

Proprietor, Editorial Freelancer

jgfairytales Freelance Services

July 2016 – present | Remote

  • Deliver extensive developmental editing, critiquing and proofreading services of fiction, nonfiction and poetry manuscripts for emerging and self-publishing authors

Project Manager, Executive Administrative Assistant to the CEO/President

Carolina Ear & Hearing Clinic, PC

February 2017 – October 2018 | Raleigh, N.C.

  • Carolina Ear & Hearing Clinic
    • Supervised administrative staff and managed daily operations when Office Manager/CFO was not available
    • Assisted in the nonprofit annual day of camp, Camp Woodbine, for deaf and hard of hearing children including day-of set-up and logistics
  • Carolina Ear Research Institute
    • Managed local and regional Continued Medical Education (CME) activity planning, course logistics, record-keeping and accreditation, as well as attended meetings and webinars to stay up-to-date
    • Managed local, regional, national and international program development, venue and catering contracts, brochure development and marketing, speaker engagement, registration and evaluation, record-keeping and reporting
    • Managed on-site specifics for multiple clinical research studies; coordinated protocol development and IRB approvals, patient identification, screening and consent, source documentation; and CRFs and data entry (iMedidata, RAVE)
    • Managed scheduling, correspondence, confidential record-keeping, report and publication editing and submission for industry-related articles
    • Attained CITI certification for GCP and human subjects research

Freelance PR and Social Media Consultant

January 2016 – April 2016 | Plattsburgh, N.Y.

  • Short-term contracted project for Lake City Books
    • Created action plan to produce client’s desired increase in social media following
    • Coordinated social media posts and proposed potential promotional and fundraising events
    • Assisted in maximizing profits, focusing on merchandising orders and displays
    • Wrote up a formal consulting contract and kept a log of hours

Executive Board Secretary & Senior Account Executive (Internship)

Cardinal PR

May 2015 – Dec 2015 | Plattsburgh, N.Y.

  • Delegated to the firm of 16 junior account executives with three other fellow executive board members
  • Met with the executive board weekly and clients monthly; took attendance, logged hours
  • Researched and prepared communications, public relations and marketing plans for the 2015-16 client, CV-TEC, which included rebranding and increasing enrollment (Graduated halfway through campaign)

Planning Committee Member (Internship)

Shine On!

August 2014 – December 2015 | Plattsburgh, N.Y.

Nonprofit youth development

  • Assisted in planning and managing the first set of parent workshop series, generated a larger inquiry of potential mentors for annual recruitment and the annual overnight conference with more than 500 attendees
  • Acted as liaison with many of Shine On!’s clients
  • Presented to potential sponsors through a marketing roadshow
  • Managed social media posts and following on Facebook and Twitter
  • Wrote and edited grants, sponsorship kits, and news and feature releases
  • Spoke and interviewed with media for event coverage

Public Relations Course Campaign Team Leader & Member (Internship)

Ted K. Center

August 2014 – May 2015 | Plattsburgh, N.Y.

  • Nominated as Team Leader Fall 2014 semester
    • Charged with raising $15,000 and increasing client awareness by planning a full-scale public relations campaign
    • Communicated with the client, researched the nonprofit youth center industry, tracked team’s attendance and logged hours; planned and delegated campaign, key messages, Q&A session, timeline and budget
  • Team Member Spring 2015 semester
    • Implemented campaign plan and evaluation; created promotional material; kept in contact with sponsors, such as PepsiCo and Casella Waste; and presented a roadshow to all local Plattsburgh businesses regarding donations
    • Collaborated with team to draft and edit press releases
    • Drafted and submitted a Letter to the Editor of the Press Republican, showing appreciation for the community’s support of the campaign
    • Campaign raised more than $11,000; support from sponsors included monetary donations, manpower and supplies, equating to $5,000; exceeded the campaign goal
  • Learn more about the campaign goal, strategy, tactics, etc.

Editorial Assistant Supervisor and Administrative Assistant

Saranac Review

January 2012 – May 2015 | Plattsburgh, N.Y.

Internationally published literary journal

  • Supervised between three and nine editorial assistant interns each semester, including managing interns’ social media and blog posts; supervised a total of 40 interns
  • Assisted in planning and managing annual launch events
  • Rebranded sponsorship kit and increased sponsorship numbers
  • Assisted in the evolution of a new brand image, new website and to only accepting manuscripts online via Submittable.com
  • Managed and distributed manuscripts to the respective editors using Submittable.com, created the index for journals, contacted all accepted submitters and assisted in formatting the journal
  • Created and maintained positive relationships with other literary magazines for advertisement exchanges
  • Reviewed and interviewed potential employees and interns; responsible for training new employees and interns
  • Featured in a promotional and informational video created by an intern

Marketing, Sales, Customer Service, and Clinical Research Coordinator Intern

Harvest Technologies

June 2014 – August 2014 | Plymouth, M.A.

International medical technology

  • Courtesy called more than 600 private practice accounts about products and updating contact information, created a patient brochure for a product, filed leads, organized literature, reformatted many presentations and forms, set up conferences and presentations and ran errands
  • Forwarded along the accounts that needed assistance to their respective sales representatives and updated Salesforce.com
  • Answered calls ranging from directing customers to the right employee to helping customers place orders
  • Created and organized a library database of more than 500 references