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

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