Skills

Skills & Expertise

Award-Winning Team Builder

Recognition

Marketing & Communications Awards

  • GEM Award for Marketing & Communications, Kay Jewelers, Jewelers of America
  • Platinum Award for Digital Marketing Campaign, JTV, AVA Digital Awards
  • Platinum Award for External Communication – Brand & Leadership Positioning, Associated Estates, MarCom Awards
  • Platinum Awards (multiple) for Digital & Social Media Campaigns, JTV, MarCom Awards
  • Gold Award for Digital Marketing Campaign, JTV, AVA Digital Awards
  • Gold Award for Strategic Rebranding – Revitalized Company Reputation, Associated Estates, MarCom Awards
  • Gold Awards (multiple) for Digital & Social Media Campaigns, JTV, MarCom Awards 
  • Honorable Mention for Digital & Social Media Campaign, JTV, PR News
  • Honorable Mention for Website Redesign, Associated Estates, PR News Digital
  • Honorable Mention for Internal Communications, Associated Estates, MarCom Awards

Content Creation Awards

Other Awards

  • “Signet’s Best” and “Emerging Leaders” awards (multiple) for team recognition, Signet 
  • Gold Award for Annual Report – Strategic Messaging & Design, Associated Estates, MarCom Awards
  • Excellence in Community Service, Communitas Award 
  • Pillars of the Industry, Associated Estates, NAHB

Accomplished Spokesperson & Presenter

 

As a poised and versatile communicator, I easily adapt to different audiences and messaging objectives – from the Board Room, to conferences and seminars, to high profile events, to media and crisis situations – my unflappable ability to adapt to the situation while maintaining poise and presence under pressure has served me well as an executive. 

As the company spokesperson for multiple corporations, I have conducted live and pre-recorded interviews for broadcast, radio, print, and online outlets, including the TODAY Show, Good Morning America, Access Hollywood, Extra, and many others.  I have been interviewed at high profile events, such as the Super Bowl, NCAA Final Four, the Disney Force4Fashion event, and others.  I have presented on behalf of the company/brands at Football and Basketball Hall of Fame Events, Celebrity Media Events, Leadership / Retail / eCommerce Conferences / Seminars, and more. 

I have hosted Facebook Live, Instagram Live, and livestreaming events from the red carpet and at high-profile or co-branded events, interviewing talent and presenting the brand story and/or product. 

I have also represented multiple organizations in crisis communications across a range of sensitive issues.

Creative Storyteller

 

At JTV, I conceptualized, trained, and launched “Content & Commerce” team / function to create compelling omni-channel content across linear TV, streaming & emerging platforms, eCommerce, and digital & social media to foster sales.  With the development of a content supply chain, we created, curated, and cultivated storytelling content to add value to the customer across multiple channels. Storytelling creates an emotional connection with consumers that drives brand awareness and affinity. Studies have also demonstrated that product tied to stories generates higher revenue than those without. To drive bottom line results for the business, the team created storytelling opportunities to foster sales, leveraging different strategies that have worked in the digital space and deploying them with a sales-driven, omni-channel focus.   

At Signet, I advanced the creative process from traditional-based to digital/mobile-first, while aligning with consumer insights and campaign objectives to drive the business.  I identified more efficient production partners, negotiated rates, and leveraged influencers to generate a well-rounded and high-volume content creation machine on an extremely lean non-working budget. In order to validate our approach, I conducted a creative test that yielded a 10.5% lift in response rate and 8% lift in revenue for custom social content vs. the traditional creative approach.

Additionally, video content produced under my direction has received recognition – both unprompted by the media and more formally through awards. The content has also generated strong brand lift metrics in ad recall, brand favorability, relative search, visit intent, and purchase intent. For example, at Signet, we produced a series of long-form emotive YouTube videos to support peak business periods. The lead video in the series, “What Words Can’t Say,” generated best-in-class search lifts (+84% for “Kay Jewelers” and +83% for “Kay.com”), and earned recognition by a top trade publication as the #1 Jewelry Promotion of Year (2016). Another video in the series, “Mom Is… Everything,” was also recognized as the #10 Jewelry Promotion of the Year (2017). In a similar vein, on Snapchat, our content generated an increase in purchase intent that was 3.6X higher than market norms. Additionally, at JTV, we developed YouTube channels focused on providing “edutainment” that generated best-in-class views, watch time, and engagement. For example, in one year alone, people watched over 40 million minutes of our educational and entertaining content – that’s 77 years worth of our content watched that year alone!

Collaborative Leader

 

I believe in building collaborative relationships across the business.  While we are all striving to make the business more successful, we often approach that objective from different viewpoints.  I believe in seeking to understand different perspectives in order to make the most informed business decisions.  While not everyone will reach the same conclusion in every circumstance, a collaborative approach fosters mutual respect in both the short- and long-term.

In addition to collaborating with internal and external business partners, I believe another aspect of collaborative leadership comes in the form of service.  Benefitting other professionals (both formally and informally) is a rewarding way to help shape the future workforce and ensure attributes such as collaboration and servant leadership continue to be valued. 

As such, I’m honored to have served on the Board of Directors for a Scholarship Organization, to have co-chaired a professional trade group event called “In The Know,” to have served on professional development and mentorship committees and presentation panels, and more.  I’m also privileged to have recently been appointed to the University of Tennessee’s Women in Leadership Advisory Board where I’ll have the opportunity to further shape this incredible professional development program.

Digital / Social Media Expert

 

At JTV, I advanced the social media function from being focused on “soft” metrics such as fans, followers, and engagement to driving business value.  Our strategic approach to Social Media Marketing entails taking a full funnel approach to drive brand awareness and consideration for new audiences, while activating consumers through their purchase decision journey to conversion.  My team takes a strategic approach from consumer insights and audience identification to content development and platform strategy and finally through to strategic measurement and advanced analytics to ensure our campaigns are well optimized and performance-driven. As a result, social media is one of the top digital marketing tactics for the business, driving an efficient CAC (well below company benchmarks), an exceptional ROAS (often touted by the social media platform reps), and an above average AOV.  As an example, on Meta and Pinterest alone, we drove $57M in revenue in 2020 (FB ROAS of $56 and Pinterest ROAS of $10), $89M in revenue in 2021 (FB ROAS of $59 and Pinterest ROAS of $13), and $101M in revenue in 2022 (FB ROAS of $64 and Pinterest ROAS of $21).   

At Signet, I built and launched the brands’ social media presence.  In six years, I grew social media from having one team member and a $300,000 budget to a team of nearly 20 people with a $35M budget.  Over this time, established and evolved the strategy, team, and tools to drive incremental sales. Social media ROI outperformed total marketing ROI by 54% for Kay and 193% for Jared and drove significant in-store conversion rates. Upon acquisition of the brand, I elevated Zales social media ROI from less than break-even to outperforming total marketing by 51% within just a couple of months. 

I also led the company in developing data-driven custom audience segmentation, which connected our offline and online data for the first time, resulting in new customer acquisition at 2-3x lift in revenue, while retaining share of profitable existing customers.

After developing the custom audiences, I pioneered social media ROI studies, which were industry firsts, that generated $35.5 million in incremental revenue off $2 million in spend on Facebook/Instagram and another $2.5 million in incremental revenue off $500,000 in spend on Twitter, both within a 2-month period.

Results-Driven Marketer

 

Each marketing tactic should serve to deliver on a business objective, depending on each company’s most important KPIs. I take a thoughtful and strategic approach to assessing the performance of the media mix and leveraging data to make budget management and optimization decisions. 

 I have leveraged a number of measurement methodologies, including MMM, MTA, conversion lift, incrementality, first- and last-click, platform data, brand lift, and more. 

 That said, in short, this strategic approach to effective marketing and advertising really begins with the customer – what consumer insights should be considered, how do we best reach those target audiences, where are they within their purchase decision journey, are we prospecting or retargeting, etc.  Then, take into account media, message, and market factors.  For example, when considering what platforms/channels will best enable us to achieve our objective, the content should be formulated to best resonate with those audiences, taking into account the consumer mindset within the target platforms/channels, as well as any external or market factors that may impact those audiences’ behaviors. This will help determine an optimization plan to maximize performance. Finally, the measurement plan must be established in advance and carefully monitored to ensure the best results.  

I also believe that results-driven leaders focus on all aspects of the function, including hiring and cultivating world-class teams, maximizing agency and external partners’ performance, and skillfully negotiating cost reductions on agreements and/or added value opportunities on media plans.  These are also where I’ve excelled throughout my career.