City of Lexington: Marketing & Communications Manager

March 2024 - Present

  • Leads the City's public relations initiatives which includes maintaining professional relationships with local media outlets and developing press releases on City news. 55 press releases were sent from March 2024 to December 2024, resulting in 126 online articles and 18 TV interviews across 9 unique media outlets.

  • Diligently maintain marketing & communications files including documents and media for the purpose of public record retention. Orchestrates and disseminates communication for and on behalf of public officials and City departments to the news media.

  • Conduct professional and administrative work to compose and maintain City digital communications including our intranet and website. From March to December in 2024, the City of Lexington had 116,000 unique visitors and approximately 1,000,000 events (clicks, video plays, form submissions, and downloads). I also began tracking website traffic via Google Analytics which was not done prior to my arrival.

  • Serves as the Public Information Officer for public safety departments which include the Lexington Police Department and the Lexington Fire Department.

  • Curates content for and manage the City's social media accounts (including police and fire) with a focus on increased video content and high-resolution photography with a heavy focus on Facebook, the most-used social platform among Lexington residents. My increase in video content resulted in a 467% increase in video views, 94% increase in content engagement, over 7 hours of additional video watch time, 30% increase in Facebook page visits. My boost in activity on the City’s LinkedIn page resulted in 88% increase in LinkedIn followers, 16,195 impressions and 519 engagements over the course of nine months.

  • Produces, edits and disseminates the City of Lexington's first podcast. Being solely responsible for producing the podcast has included writing scripts, facilitating interview scheduling and preparing guests, utilizing audio equipment and training guests on interview etiquette and distributing among all major podcasting platforms. The podcast has received over 1,700 listens in a community of 20,000 residents.

  • Introduced and produces the Mayor Community Update, a monthly video newsletter created to keep the residents of Lexington up to date on what's happening with the city. Increased video activity with segments like the Mayor’s community update has resulted in a 228% increase in video views, 300% increase in channel watch time and a 55% increase in subscriber rate per month.

  • Develops communications policies such as media policies, branding guidelines and crisis communication protocols.

  • Coordinates crisis communications with city management, the local media and other parties such as department heads.

  • Preserve digital public records created through social media to practice state law regarding public records.

  • Collaborates with City departments to develop internal communication plans for employees such as the United Way Campaign, employee events and messaging.

City of Winston-Salem: Senior Community Educator

City of Winston-Salem/ Winston-Salem Fairgrounds

January 2019 - March 2024

  • Effectively manage paid media buys for events year-round, through tv, radio, print, paid social media campaigns and community partnerships

  • Responsible for the advertising of the Carolina Classic Fair with a budget of $250,000

  • Fostered relationships with local media outlets, sponsors and community partners

  • Served as the director on commercial production shoots

  • Manage social media pages owned by Winston-Salem Fairgrounds & Carolina Classic Fair

  • Create & nurture community partnerships & sponsorships

  • Primary spokes person of the Carolina Classic Fair which included TV interviews & coordinating media efforts.

  • Book year-round events held at the Fairgrounds, which include selling facilities to potential clients.

  • Maintain wsfairgrounds.com including SEO optimization, updating event calendar and content marketing.

  • Created and operate the official online retail store of the Fairgrounds

City of Winston-Salem: Marketing Intern

City of Winston-Salem Marketing & Communications

May 2017 - December 2018

  • Assistant to the City of Winston-Salem's Director of Marketing Director on projects revolving around strategic planning and raising public awareness on city-related campaigns.

  • Managed City of Winston-Salem & Fairgrounds Farmers Market social media pages to promote the farmers market, build an audience and drive awareness.

  • Coordinated special events to engage existing customers while attracting new customers and vendors.

  • Conducted interviews with vendors to educate customers on vendor products.

  • Shot photography for farmers market weekly shadow video production team on projects such as city park ribbon cuttings, police/fire graduations & special city events.

  • Served as an on-camera personality to interview vendors and be the voice of the Fairgrounds Farmers Market.

CERTIFICATIONS

HubSpot Academy Digital Marketing

HubSpot Academy Social Media Marketing

Canva Graphic Design Essentials