Director of Marketing & Communications | Duke University Talent Identification Program (Duke TIP) | 2014 to 2021

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Duke TIP had an annual budget of $32 million and served nearly 900,000 students and their families in grades 4 through 12 annually as well as over 48,000 educators. Responsibilities included:

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• Marketing of all Duke TIP’s educational programs, including two national talent searches, three online educational programs, and five flagship face-to-face residential programs held on 26 campus sites nationwide.

• Managing TIP’s main website and system of eight blogs. Main site traffic averaged nearly one million visits a month while TIP’s monthly student magazines had a combined monthly circulation of over one million students and parents. Spearheaded a complete overhaul of the blog system and oversaw the development of a new main website. Total cost was 1/10th the amount paid for a website five years before.

• Communicating with Duke TIP’s students, families, educators, staff, alumni, and the public via email, direct mail, web platforms, and social media. TIP’s email volume topped 12 million annually and our social media presence had the largest following of any non-athletic Duke unit.

• Heading up TIP’s internal communications area, including working with TIP’s human resources director to implement an effective staff relations plan, revitalize TIP’s Intranet, and advise leadership on internal communications strategies.

• Managing a staff of six full-time employees and numerous interns, including content creation, design, bulk email, videography, project management, and social media specialists.

• Providing top leadership and divisional leads with communications advice, troubleshooting problematic internal and external situations, and providing Customer Service Reps with suggested messaging to ensure consistency of response.

• Managing media relationships, including crisis communications and press releases.

• Developing strategic marketing and communications plans for increasing Duke TIP awareness and participation among statewide gifted education directors; school districts; public, private, and charter schools; and individual educators.

• Creating recruiting strategies to convert teachers, counselors, school administrators, and other professionals into applicants for 1,800 seasonal staff positions annually.

• Serving on TIP’s strategic plan steering committee, with specific responsibility for communicating plan progress to employees, fostering internal collaboration across all TIP departments, and developing a value statement for Duke TIP.

 

Advocacy & Outreach Director | Democracy NC and Progress NC | 2008 to 2014

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• Completed strategic planning, communications planning, branding, and website initiatives for various nonpartisan organizations focused primarily on education, healthcare access, labor conditions, and voter rights. Specific responsibilities included:

• Acted as liaison to nonprofit partners and educational advocacy organizations.

• Created issue campaigns on education and voter rights, then implemented these campaigns using on-the-ground and online tactics.

• Advocated for issues with local and statewide government officials.

• Responsible for content strategy and copywriting for websites and print materials.

• Built and maintained over 30 microsites to bring attention to specific issues.

• Oversaw communications to volunteers and donors, including online, in-person, and email.

• Participated in media outreach as well as public relations efforts.

• Served on a statewide rapid response team formed to focus the news cycle and media attention on a variety of issues.

• Organized events, including rallies, press conferences, educational forums, and fundraisers.

• Recruited and managed thousands of volunteers for media events and behind-the-scenes campaigns.