Bachelors

Binghamton University

Bachelor of Arts, Italian and Spanish Languages :: August 2003

In December 2006, I completed my course credits and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in extracurricular activities in addition to my majors in Italian and Spanish and a minor in International Studies. Throughout my 3.5 years at Binghamton University I pursued a mantra of, "do what you love, love what you do," worked as a Resident Assistant, got involved in student government, and enjoyed leadership roles in a handful of student clubs and organizations. I was busy and positioning myself to be an International Event Planner.

Prior to graduation, I spent my summer interning with David Tutera and Inside Sports & Entertainment Group (see below). Event planning as a career fascinated me. One fall afternoon, as I pulled together the final details, logistics, and documents for Taste Buds' (a culinary club on campus) annual apple-picking and pie-making event, I thought to myself, "I can get paid for all of these events that I'm planning?" So pursuing an internship in the field seemed appropriate, and I began to network with my teachers from high school and college for summer internship connections.  

When I graduated that December I had a job offer in hand, and a "super” daunting first task.

David Tutera

Event Planning Intern :: Summer 2006

Celebrity weddings, high-profile baby showers, and dinner parties for the elite. David Tutera has written books, started his own TV show (CELEBrations), and is a giant in the Special Events industry. I was lucky to join his organization, experience his planning style, and interact with his team. As lucky as I felt throughout the summer of 2006, I am most grateful for realizing through my part-time internship experience that I did not want to pursue a future career in special event planning. 

Inside Sports & Entertainment Group

Event Planning Intern :: Summer 2006

Sports marketing and entertainment hospitality, or as I came to find out: Destination Management, was where I spent the other half of my summer 2006 internship experience. Without much of an interest in sporting events, most of my time was spent learning about the company. By the end of my internship I had defined an open role, created the requisite for filling it, and developed a cover letter, resume, and presentation to apply. 

Special events were fun, but I was more interested in logistics, start-ups, and taking care of the 200+ InsideSEG clients expected to attend Super Bowl XLI that January... my first task when I graduated.

Work

INSIDE SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT GROUP

Event Coordinator :: January 2006

My first event at InsideSEG was Super Bowl XLI in Miami, Florida: February 4, 2007. Clients from around the country were flying in to experience the Super Bowl with all access passes. It was my job to ensure that their experiences were flawless from start-to-finish. From the moment that they stepped off the airplane to the moment they buckled their seat belts on their return flight, they were in our hands. No pressure. It was through executing these major sporting and entertainment event packages that I learned to keep good notes, follow-up on and confirm everything, deliver what you agreed to deliver, and reflect on the team's performance to make improvements.

My departure was bittersweet. I had grown from Event Coordinator to Manager of Marketing and Events. However, my long distance boyfriend of four-years accepted a residency position in Boston and we had agreed to make the move to be together. Staying with my team at InsideSEG was not feasible.

SCVNGR

Event Executioner :: Summer 2009

Applying for jobs during the recession in 2009 was, what some would call, professional suicide. Yet, I persevered. I found my job at SCVNGR through a posting on Craigslist. It sounded too good to be true (like everything on Craigslist). Having done enough due diligence, I decided that it was worth an application. So, I followed up persistently and after four tries, and apparently enough conversation to pass me through a phone screen, scored myself an interview. In the interview, I not only landed the job, but laid the foundations for a network of people that I will forever hold near and dear to my heart. I grew into my role as Event Executioner and subsequently Team Lead, and became the Manager of Operations for the new SCVNGR App. 

In 2011, SCVNGR and its team pivoted to become LevelUp, and I was asked to transition my operational efforts. I learned, through my roles at SCVNGR, that success has as much to do with the people you hire as it does the product that you're selling, that relationships should be cherished, and that the work is never done... There will always be something else to do.

LevelUp

Director of Operations :: January 2011

It was official. I made the jump from event planning to operations. (So where did that leave my definition of my "career"?) I transferred my uber-organized, people-and-results-oriented mindset, and eye-for-detail, event-planning self to a role that is more versatile and useful for companies... particularly start-ups. (Though, a piece of me will always live in the hospitality industry.) 

I learned the importance of orienting your company around a product, how significant managers can be to personal and professional growth and development, and how crucial it is to work within your teams’ and then your own best interests. I left LevelUp ("deplaned the rocket ship" as many said at the time) to advance my project management career in ways that LevelUp could no longer support. 

Prior to heading out, the team awarded me a Lifetime Achievement Award for my service. (Yes, I cried.)

Masters

Babson College

Masters in Business Administration :: May 2012

Between graduating from Binghamton University and going into the business world, I looked back on my education and felt like I could have done something more – like business school. The overwhelming advice of my friends and family members was, "Wait five years." So I did… unintentionally.

Five years after I had graduated from Binghamton University I found myself in my office at LevelUp pondering my next steps. I felt like I needed a career boost, but didn't want to leave the company. Then it dawned on me that I was at that five-year mark, so I began to consider MBA programs to see if this was something that I still wanted to do. To get started I set my sights on rockin' the GMAT and applications for admission. Babson College, #1 in global entrepreneurship, quickly became my top choice and (thank you, lucky stars) accepted me to start in the summer of 2012.

From the moment I began the evening program, my team felt the positive impact of my coursework on my work work. Pursuing a part-time program was proving to be as valuable as I had anticipated. Throughout the next two years I changed jobs/companies (twice), went to Africa to teach entrepreneurship to high-school students (twice), got married (four times... to the same awesome guy who I moved with to Boston - find me later for the full-story), and had the best academic experiences of my life (every time).

At graduation I was presented with the Roger W. Babson award. The honor is bestowed upon one graduate student for becoming distinguished in the community for their character, orderly mind, sound judgement, and systematic business habits who has outstanding scholarship and leadership qualities, and a strong commitment to the Babson community. I take this award seriously and live out my gratitude and commitment to the Babson community each semester by participating in the Coaching for Leadership and Teamwork Program (CLTP) on campus.

Interlude

Upon departing from LevelUp, I had a general idea of what I wanted to do... or so I thought. My proposal to the LevelUp team prior to departing was for a hybrid product marketer/product manager/project manager/program manager role. When this role was not available at LevelUp, I was left to ask myself some really hard questions. (What am I good at? What do I love to do? What do I want to learn? In what industry do I want to work? What do I hate? What drives me crazy? What do I want out of my next role? What are my values?) At the time, I didn't even know that these types of positions existed in other companies... nor did I recognize their subtle varying responsibilities.

It took much more than the three months that I was unemployed to actually compose useful answers to these questions, but I asked them of myself at this time nonetheless. If you're curious, find me to chat about some of the resources I used that could help you find your answers.   

More Work

Visible Measures

Product Marketing, Advertisers :: Summer 2013

Product Marketing was positioned as a three-part job centered around my strengths. It was my first official introduction to the term, "product marketing" and so I was excited to learn from the team (most specifically, my manager). In my mind and in the absence of a formal title, I had already assumed responsibility for three positions from my prior companies: crafting a consistent pitch to be used throughout the organization, distributing materials to support sales efforts, and training current and incoming sales team members. The responsibilities were spot on; however, the organization's product did not resonate with me.  

My takeaways from the role were as follows: 1) It is important for me to be working on a product that I can share and explain to family and friends. 2) I thrive in a culture that promotes working hard. And 3) I have to listen to my gut (or make decisions based on 10-10-10). I wasn't anticipating departing as quickly as I did, but a dream opportunity came up at High Start Group. 

High Start Group

Product Launch Operations :: November 2013

Through my network I had been trying to learn more about all things product and had developed connections with High Start Group. It sounded great: Product Strategy Consulting. A role at the company would expose me to the science behind creating a product, the research methodology that goes into its development (i.e. design thinking), and how it's delivered to market (via a big company). Though there were no positions available when I had my initial phone interview, I sent a follow-up thank you note and persisted to follow-up… monthly. In October 2013, the team signed a new client that was looking for a project manager focused on launching new products (10 of them to be exact). When High Start Group reached out to me, I jumped at the opportunity to work at a start-up and consult for a big company. It was a two-for-one experience!

From my first day at High Start Group I was running. Within three months I was able to launch the first product in the series and was hungry for more. By month four I had developed the process for streamlining operations - both in development and in launch. Unfortunately, the client decided to cancel the series. My role, however, persisted, but my interest in the work did not.

In May of 2014, after a particularly frustrating week, I met with a mentor friend of mine with whom I shared my situation. Sensing I wanted to leave the company, she asked me one very important question: What am I learning from my tenure at High Start Group? Without an appropriate answer, or a hard skill to share, I went back to the office to figure it out.

At High Start Group, I learned about the importance of understanding your personality type and how you work with and interact with others (i.e. Myers Briggs), the competing priorities that everyone feels in work and in life, and how setting a clear direction and communicating that direction, for yourself and for the company, will increase your business and satisfaction on the job. 

Interlude

Around the same time as I was leaving High Start Group the love of my life, my now husband, accepted a job in Dallas starting Summer 2015. Knowing myself, and being forever loyal to my employers, I decided to withhold employment at another Boston-based company for six months to prepare myself for the Big move. With my shiny new degree I was desperate to test the entrepreneurial waters.

My days unemployed were spent preparing my personal pitch at the Cambridge Innovation Center / Impact Hub, establishing a non-profit organization (IDEA for Africa), creating my own consulting brand (LBD Producers), and researching the Dallas startup ecosystem. I knew where we were headed and I was bracing myself for the impact of “Texas.” (Remember, I’m from the Northeast.)

Hindsight is 20/20. Moving across the country, launching a non-profit and small business, in addition to establishing oneself in a new city and building a new network of support will eventually catch up with you. Or will it? 

Upon landing in Texas I hit the ground running and introduced myself to the community. On my first Tuesday I started as The Grove’s Community Animator, on Wednesday I assumed my second row / second seat spot at 1 Million Cups, and by Friday I was mentoring at The Dallas Entrepreneur Center. It took some time to get into Tech Wildcatters, meet the organizers of Collide Village and RevTech, and win over the hearts of a few influencers… but I knew who they were and did my due diligence. 

It didn’t take long to learn that it’s really easy to say yes (and really hard to say no), that having a strong community to support your ups and downs makes everything better, that the consistency of Wine Down Wednesday is about more than just wine, and that love is all you need.

IDEA for Africa

Executive Director :: November 2014

I left High Start Group craving to work towards a mission and have a vision. I was desperate to use my MBA degree in useful ways and do something awesome. Recognizing the impact of entrepreneurship on the African students I taught in Ghana and Rwanda (and the personal / professional transformation that I saw in myself in teaching) I wanted to keep the African teaching program alive. So, I co-founded a non-profit: IDEA for Africa. 

IDEA for Africa (www.idea4africa.org) is a platform to inspire and equip African youth to develop social and economic value in their communities and around the world. IDEA stands for Inspiring Development through Entrepreneurship and Action. As a founder and the Executive Director I established the organization, recruited the Board of Directors, and worked with the Rwanda country director to steward the entrepreneurial spirit. We hosted events (i.e. Global Entrepreneurship Week), built partnerships with local officials, and conducted trainings to engage the secondary school population. 

Though part of a winning team with 15-years of experience teaching the African youth community, I recognized when to step back from the Executive Director role, become a board member, and pass off the leadership reigns.

Consulting

LBD Producers

Founder & Managing Principal :: August 2015

Landing in Dallas was the start of my consulting career. From the moment my plane touched down my goal was to get paid for “doing what I love” and love it. Never before had I been forced to hustle for sales, make my own money, pay my own way, and, of course, plan my own workload. 

LBD Producers (www.lbdproducers.com) went through several iterations according to what the market needed at the time. I started with employee onboarding and training for Series A and Series B funded companies. Recognizing the scarcity of these deals, I adjusted and refocused my efforts on helping people and companies effectively deliver their message. I worked with early-stage companies to hone in on their brand message, develop their pitch, and apply their desired first impression to their customers, new employees, investors, and/or partners. I called it engineering customer and employee experiences (minus the UI/UX, plus the marketing and operations). 

In launching my own consulting brand I learned how odd it feels to invoice for “doing what you love to do,” how delightful it is to get paid for “doing what you love to do,” and how much more I like to “do what I love to do” with people that I love than find my own work to do. 

Work Again

LionsMouth Digital

Lead Producer :: October 2016

When you start your anecdotal resume with “do what you love, love what you do” your metric of success is how much you love what you do. Since finding my own work to do wasn’t something that I loved, I knew that I needed to find a team that shared my same values and that wanted to improve the lives of those that it touched. 

LionsMouth Digital (www.lionsmouth.digital) is a digital agency that focuses on leveraging web technology to help clients overcome their toughest challenges. My focus on engineering better customer and employee experiences by consistently communicating the right message to the right people could not be better served in my role.

I’m just getting started, so stay tuned for all that I have yet to learn!

Present Day

Check out my Current Projects to see the latest evolution of LBD Producers. For insight into my past projects, check out my portfolio. (I’ll be updating it regularly to include client work and community engagements.) If you’re interested in understanding my personal and professional development efforts, hop over to my Journal. (It’s not a blog.) Or, if you’re just looking for a good cup of tea, find me and we’ll chat.