PASSIONATE ABOUT PLACES AND PEOPLE

I created this website as a repository for some of my favorite marketing projects—a way to look back on the work that I got to do with some amazing colleagues and friends. If you have found yourself here, I hope that my love for creative ideas and the people that inspire them shines through. Most of all, I hope you see the contributions of the individuals and teams that worked on these projects—they are what makes the work special.

MY CURRENT ROLE

As COO and Vice President of Marketing for Global Location Strategies (GLS), I have the unique fortune of working with Didi Caldwell, Tess Fay, and Sarah White to drive growth by implementing strategic priorities. GLS utilizes the Entrepreneurship Operating System (EOS), and Didi and I partner as a Visionary-Integrator team. Since Summer 2023, we have achieved major milestones for the company including hitting growth goals, opening a new office in Amsterdam, spinning off a new tech company (Strata Platforms), and implementing numerous new systems and processes.

MY BACKGROUND

From 2017-2023, I served as the Vice President of Marketing and Communications (M&C) at the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP). In this role, I managed all aspects of Virginia’s marketing program to improve perceptions of the Commonwealth’s business climate. During this time, VEDP re-branded, launched three new websites (including VEDP.org), developed and distributed 17 issues of the quarterly magazine Virginia Economic Review, recruited multiple site consultant conferences to Virginia, and implemented dozens of other strategic communications activities and events. We also launched Team Virginia, a private sector-funded partnership between the Virginia Chamber Foundation and VEDP to market Virginia.

In September 2017, I was tapped to support Virginia’s bid for Amazon’s HQ2. Within the submission timeline of approximately six weeks, we worked with stakeholders and consultants to develop proposals for three regional bids: Greater Richmond, Hampton Roads, and Northern Virginia. The proposals ultimately included lengthy proposal documents, custom websites, site drone videos, as well as new promotional videos for each region.

Once Northern Virginia was short-listed in January 2018, I coordinated the day-to-day communications and activities for Virginia’s pitch amongst the four NOVA jurisdictions (Alexandria, Arlington County, Fairfax County, and Loudoun County). This included overseeing the development of RFI documents, site visits, and partner relations; and ultimately communications coordination for the announcement. Landing HQ2 was truly a team effort—and would not have been possible without the hundreds of people who worked on the pitch. In particular, four women were the backbone of the NOVA bid: Christina Winn, Stephanie Landrum, Cathy Riley, and Colleen Kardasz.

My time in Virginia was transformative for me—our close-knit team in M&C grew a lot through the Covid-19 pandemic and they were there for me as I grew as a person and a leader. I will be forever grateful to these colleagues (and friends) who had tough conversations, shared countless laughs, supported one another, and did some incredible work together.

Prior to joining VEDP, I led economic development marketing efforts at Louisiana Economic Development (LED) and the Baton Rouge Area Chamber (BRAC). As Senior Director of Marketing and Communications for LED, we managed all of the marketing, advertising, and public relations activities for the agency as well as strategic outreach to both in-state stakeholders as well as national and international influencers. I can’t say enough about the M&C crew at LED—Chelsea Harris, Jennifer Berthelot, Katy Shingleton, Lauren Fournerat, Danielle Russo Eyre, in particular. They were/are passionate, thoughtful, fun, and unstoppable.

Our team led the effort to launch Louisiana Job Connection, a first-of-its-kind website that used an algorithm to match job seekers with job opportunities in Louisiana. To attract former residents back to the state for unprecedented job opportunities, her team also implemented the award-winning Come Home, Louisiana campaign as well as eight regional quality of life websites state designed to help companies recruit talent unfamiliar with Louisiana. 

In addition to my public sector roles, I have also worked with advertising agencies for placemaking organizations as well as private-sector clients. As Vice President of Agency Services for Atlas Advertising, I managed the agency’s client relationships and creative, while also serving on the company’s leadership team. At Peter Mayer Advertising in New Orleans, I had the pleasure of working on the LED account in addition to establishing and growing our public relations client relationships with ConAgra Lamb Weston and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana.

I received my master’s degree in Occupational Technology (Change Management) from the University of Houston (U of H) and a bachelor’s degree with College Honors from Louisiana State University (LSU).

As a Louisiana native, no matter where I move I always seem to find my way back to the state that poured so much into me—whether for work or for fun. I have a deep love for my Cajun heritage, the rich culture of New Orleans, and the vibrancy of Baton Rouge.

But it is not just the place that will forever be home for me—it is the people that shaped me. In particular, the many people who believed in and challenged me early in my career. First among those is Stephen Moret who hired me at BRAC in 2004, and then again at LED and VEDP. It all started with a conversation in a parking lot about the Louisiana Miracle, and since then I have had the privilege and honor of working beside him to bring bold visions to fruition. I am so thankful to Stephen for always standing for me and giving me the space to grow.

I have also been really lucky to work with Dianne Mikeska in multiple roles throughout my career. We started together at Peter Mayer Advertising on the same day—tasked with shepherding the Louisiana Economic Development account. I became her client when I moved to LED and as luck would have it, her client again in my role at VEDP. Dianne is a forever friend who ‘gets it’, all of it. I’m forever thankful for her partnership and for loving the authentic me.

There are simply too many other people to name here—but you’ll find many of them mentioned on the pages of this site. So much love to each and every one of them, with thanks for their contributions to me personally and the people in the communities we love.

When I’m not working, you can find me with my husband David Odom and our sheepadoodle Mambo out at about exploring the world and having adventures!