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