Current

Nation’s largest manufacturer of outdoor kitchens and leading direct-to-consumer retailer in outdoor kitchen entertainment, with a network of 38 showrooms and expanding.

►► ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

• Conceptualizing and building strategic marketing & advertising function and hiring in-house team, accountable for
brand management, SEO, digital & social media marketing, print and direct mail, content & creative development,
market research, promotions, PR, events & grand openings, and overall revenue and new customer growth.

• Launching inaugural eCommerce presence, enabling the company to expand from a regional retailer to a national
brand and propel the growth trajectory.

• Implemented strategic SEO techniques, resulting in a 20% increase in organic website traffic within the first
month; optimized Google Business Profiles & other local SEO to improve rankings and drive foot traffic.

• Executed initial digital ad campaign which out-performed previous top performing campaign by 232% on reach,
32% on traffic, and generated 9% incremental sales on 10% lower spend.

 2018 – 2023

JTV is one of the largest D2C jewelry retailers in the U.S. with a media network that reaches 95M television households and a robust and growing e-Commerce platform. Jedora is a start-up business jewelry marketplace that launched in fall of 2021. I serve on the Executive Committee and was promoted in 2021.

►► ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

• Built & led an award-winning team of 25 Director to Coordinator level professionals who earned awards including AVA Digital, Telly Awards, MarCom, Silver Creator, jewelry/gemology, etc. In addition to hiring and developing this team which started with only 3 professionals, I was directly accountable for budget of nearly $10M (which scaled from $1M when I was hired). 

• Delivered significant revenue by hiring, nurturing, and growing a highly skilled team; implementing, scaling, A/B testing, and optimizing digital, e-Commerce, and omni-channel marketing tactics; ensuring agencies and partners are held to the highest standards; and applying advanced data analytics to measure performance, develop forecasts, and budgets.

• Launched start-up jewelry marketplace (Jedora) by playing an integral role in all aspects of strategic development and execution, including brand conceptualization and building, guiding UI/UX plan and site taxonomy, establishing GTM strategy, conducting A/B testing, implementing sales funnel optimization, driving ongoing CRO tactics, and more.

• Conceived brand building and brand management programs; hired and cultivated talent; created synergistic GTM strategies across traditional and digital media, resulting in increased sales and productivity.  

• In 2022, relaunched PR with new team that generated 167 earned media placements with a reach of 3.9 billion impressions and advertising equivalency value of $4.25M through strategic PR efforts. Additionally, propagated 827 pieces of content and a reach of 8.75M through strategic influencer marketing campaigns.

2010 – 2018

Over 8 years, assumed progressive responsibilities and was promoted twice. Focused on instituting groundbreaking communications and digital/social media programs, which advanced the brand promise and exceeded traditional media ROI for the five North America national retail brands (Kay Jewelers, Jared, Zales, Piercing Pagoda, Peoples Jewellers), while providing consultation to strategic guidance to the UK brands.

►► ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

• MARKETING: Established and implemented performance-driven marketing programs; collaborated on overall marketing strategy and media plan; led the initiative to develop data-driven custom audience segmentation; piloted digital-first creative test that yeilded positive business results and earned media recognition.  

• SOCIAL MEDIA: Built and evolved social media function; established strategy and resources to drive incremental sales. Social media ROI outperformed total marketing by 54% (Kay) and 193% (Jared).

• PUBLIC RELATIONS: Elevated into strategic driver of brands’ reputation and relevancy; delivered $94M in advertising equivalency.

• TEAM LEADERSHIP: Hired and up-skilled team consistently selected for emerging leader programs/awards, including 4 consecutive winners of coveted “Signet’s Best” Award.

►► NOTABLE PROGRAMS:

• SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING: Launched first-to-market Augmented Reality Snapchat World Lens – top performing targeted Lens for all of retail in Q4 2017 in terms of user engagement and time spent.

• Created emotive YouTube videos that paved the way to new marketing approach, drove traffic, and earned recognition, including ranking as the #1 Jewelry Promotion of the Year.

• INFLUENCER MARKETING: Executed influencer program featuring macro, micro, and syndication influencers; generated 1K+ content assets and 541M impressions; resulted in 10% lift in $/HH.

• CAUSE-RELATED MARKETING: Developed campaigns to generate awareness and funding for charitable giving. Leveraged high-profile relationships (e.g., Pro Football Hall of Fame; Disney and Star Wars) to create unique programs which produced significant media coverage and raised philanthropic funds.

• SPORTS MARKETING/CELEBRITY SEEDING: Implemented targeted campaigns to foster brand equity among men (primary purchasers) and women (primary users/purchase influencers); launched sports marketing/PR programs; secured product placement on celebrities at red carpet events (e.g., Oscars, Golden Globes, Emmys).

2008-2010

After nearly a year with National City Corp., I was recruited back to Associated Estates to fill a newly created role overseeing all internal and external communications, brand management, and marketing. My focus was on elevating the brand through executive communications, image management, and both digital and traditional media strategies. Results include an 800% boost in media exposure and the launch of an award-winning corporate website.

►► ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

• BRAND MANAGEMENT: Launched a comprehensive rebranding program to positively engage both internal and external audiences and transform the company’s image, which was suffering due to lack of communication around recent divestitures and lack of coverage by analysts.

• CORPORATE REBRANDING: Overhauled and modernized brand with new, insights-driven positioning and accompanying creative, including logo, tagline, colors, fonts, signage, website, and marketing materials.

• MEDIA RELATIONS: Ramped up media relations and turned around executive team’s perspective on the value of media. Prepared executives for interviews and presentations with key business, financial, and trade publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones Newswire, Forbes, Smart Business Magazine, and more.

• COMPANY SPOKESPERSON: Served as principal national company spokesperson with sole responsibility for crisis communications, media relations, and proactive public relations to support key business objectives for 50+ properties and corporate headquarters.

• SOCIAL MEDIA: Launched the company’s social media presence; decentralized approach required development of assets, playbooks, and ongoing training for 50+ communities.

• ANNUAL REPORT: Reframed annual report into an opportunity to tell the company’s story in a more meaningful and compelling way. Revamped the format and added content to provide both financial information and branding elements.

2007 – 2008

I was recruited to National City Corporation (acquired by PNC in 2008) to oversee retail communications projects with an audience of 30,000 team members. Serving as strategic lead, I directed creative and production teams in providing unified and holistic communications plans to drive the adoption of tools, programs, and technology required to foster sales.

►► ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

• SALES ENABLEMENT: Enabled business leaders to shape the sales culture and improve performance by defining behaviors for success and managing development, distribution, and reinforcement of incentive plans for each unit of the retail bank.

• INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS: Developed internal communications that generated 24,000+ unique visitors—representing 80% of the total internal audience—with double-digit engagement rates, outperforming benchmarks.

• EVENT COMMUNICATIONS: Chaired the Leadership Conference planning and presentation development committee with responsibility for preparing speakers, developing customer-employee videos, and ensuring presentations aligned the value proposition with sales strategy.

• STRATEGIC BUSINESS PLANNING: Challenged to reenergize the business banking unit and help realize the channel’s growth opportunity.

2005 – 2007

I joined Associated Estates Realty Corporation in 2005 to build out the communications function and support the VP with Investor Relations responsibilities and was promoted a year later. I served as the company co-spokesperson and developed more than 100 communications pieces per month, including customer and employee newsletters, all company press releases, annual report and other investor information (including quarterly conference call/webcast), executive communications, customer letters, corporate and all property websites, intranet, and other marketing communications.

►► ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

• CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: Established the company’s first CSR plan to position company as more environmentally friendly and conscious of relevant socioeconomic issues.

• CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS: Developed the crisis communications plan and facilitated the company’s first-ever crisis training for all department managers.

• REPUTATION MANAGEMENT: Increased analyst, customer, and employee confidence by crafting high-profile presentations and scripts.

• CHARITABLE GIVING: Reversed multi-year trend of declining donations by championing the company’s most successful charitable campaign to date with +70% United Way contributions and +50% Harvest for Hunger contributions vs. prior year.

2003 – 2005

I joined the J.M. Smucker Company as a PR Coordinator in 2003 and was promoted to Supervisor of Corporate Communications & Community Initiatives the following year. In these roles, I assisted in coordinating communications for major company events and strategized with the PR agency to strengthen brand awareness.

►► ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

• COMPANY SPOKESPERSON / CRISIS MANAGEMENT: Served as 1 of 2 company spokespeople worldwide. Crafted press materials and talking points for corporate statements, parlayed with media, and collaborated with crisis management agency to develop responses to reputational challenges.

• MEDIA RELATIONS: Played key role in communications initiatives around Smucker’s #1 ranking on the Fortune “100 Best Companies to Work For” list. Orchestrated press releases and composed co-CEOs’ talking points for national media appearances, including NBC and CNN.

• COMMUNITY RELATIONS: Drove community relations by building giving programs such as the inaugural Jif’s Most Creative Peanut Butter Sandwich Scholarship Contest, which continues to award a $25,000 scholarship annually.