My Story

A life-long storyteller and marketer, I bring more than 20 years’ experience in creating and leading communications and marketing strategies that elevate an organization’s profile and influence and produce a positive economic outcome.

My passion is communications, branding, story telling and marketing.  Talk to people, tell them intriguing details, gain trust, find that shared passion and lure them in, then transfer that passion. I have successfully done this for a Fortune 100 retailer, state and local government, a not-for-profit, one of sport’s most famous women, and a hospice company.

Doing good has its place.  While at Ingenuity, data is the driver for the organization’s ability to pursue its mission of ensuring every child in every school has access to arts education.  What we were not doing well was communicating the data to the widest range of stakeholders.  I helped design more accessible language and shorter summaries of reports so parents, teachers, students would read them and be inspired to take appropriate action to ensure the mission’s outcome.

Thinking differently has its place.  While at Chicago Public Schools, my team of five and I drove internal communications for the District where my work on the school closure communications earned me the opportunity to create a new team as the Executive Director of Digital and Marketing.  Our storytelling went digital for the first time, driving a dramatic increase across social media platforms and was highlighted by a bi-weekly YouTube broadcast of District news and features.  We also re-imagined the website.

Doing what you love has its place.  I was able to maximize Best Buy’s sponsorship of the Chicago Fire Soccer Club sponsorship to a $2.25-$1 profit ROI while driving $93 million in incremental store revenue around the 2010 World Cup.  And I was able to head to South Africa for the soccer and to pet a lion cub.

Self-belief has its place. My curiosity led me to create one of the very first pet sitting services in Chicago, growing it to one of the largest in the country and caring for more than 100 pets on a daily basis.  With no business point of reference, I sold potential clients on the concept through emotion and trust. 

Audacity has its place. My first job out of college came from my boldness to just show up at a business with a self-pitch about why they would want to hire me.  They did, and I was over-situated into the role of Commissioner of the Team Tennis league and one of my bosses was Billie Jean King.  I learned how not to do things before learning how to do them.  Perhaps that is why I have such a passion in mentoring less-experienced team members.

That’s the short story of my story.  Now let me tell yours.
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Sports Marketing
I directed more than $15 million in global soccer sponsorships for Best Buy, including their 3-year title sponsorship of MLS' Chicago Fire.  This sponsorship delivered a greater than 2-1 ROI, placing it in the top 2% of sponsorship evaluations by Navigate Research.  (Click here for link to highlights video)

While at one of the world's largest sports marketing firms, I directed and delivered profitable ROI results for seven professional tennis tournaments, two fundraisers and one international volleyball match in six cities and four states over four years. I also twice managed United Cerebral Palsy’s 2nd-largest fundraiser next to its telethon.  This Pro-Celebrity weekend raised more than $1.2M, netting more than $500,000 for UCP each year.

Entrepreneur
Prior to CPS, I ran my own consulting firm for 1.5 years, counting among my clients Manchester United, Ridgeline Productions, Sean Johnson of the USMNT and a local not-for-profit.

I also started one of Chicago's first pet sitting services, serving more than 100 clients daily and another 400 vacation clients.  When I sold the business, it was grossing $250,000 annually.  The business set the bar high with 16 pet sitters and offered medication, training, pet transportation and food delivery service.  The 28-year-old business is still serving pets and people.

In an effort to put a new spin on the boot camp fitness craze, I also created Kamikaze Camp, a martial arts based workout based on Karate.  We sold out each session during my 9 month involvement.