Professional Experience
OBJECTIVE
To build strong teams and an internal infrastructure via standardization of workflows, language and tools that will guide the teams to becoming more effective and efficient in reaching business goals no matter where they sit.
TEAM MANAGEMENT
I am a True Leader and guide teams to success via collaboration, communication, transparency, trust, respect, and mentorship. I support my teams by problem solving the issues, streamlining work, and removing roadblocks so that they can remain focused.
02/2021 - Present
Companies
November 2022 - Current
Allina Health (Consultant- 2022)
(Just for fun! 2021 - current)
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS
UX DESIGN OPS MANAGER- Building an environment in which UX can operate efficiently and remain focused on creating higher value work.
DesignOps is a human-centered that focuses on how to generate value for the business, the leadership, and the design teams through the optimization of the existing operational models.
The three areas of DesignOps are:
How we work TOGETHER? (Organize, Collaboration, Human-Centered)
How we get the work DONE? (Standardize, Harmonize, Prioritize)
How the work creates IMPACT? (Measure, Socialize, Enable)
Design Ops builds the organizational structure for the UX design & research team to work within as well as work with cross-functional teams, such as Product, Innovation, and Development.
MARKETING & DESIGN OPERATIONS - Cross- Functional SOP development, process improvements, standardization of language and technology used, and scaling strategy for growing organizations.
I love working with teams to be more effective and efficient in reaching their business goals. Working together we identify organizational challenges, gaps and pain points and define the goals.
My three operational goals are:
Visibility
Consistency
Efficiency
Building a strong internal infrastructure (process, team, technology, culture, and clearly defined goals) is the foundation that will lead to achieving the business goals.
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT - Supporting development of good products and experiences for end users.
Certified Product Manager through Product School and currently applying the product development life cycle and management process to Marketing & Design Operations Transformation as well as a small, rapidly growing fragrance oil business.
Use in Operations Transformation:
Using the opportunity discovery process, I identify the “why”, “how”, and “what” to understand the company to define the goals, develop my opportunity hypothesis, validating via research, A/B testing and analyzing data. Then build a roadmap for development, implementation (IT requirements & risk assessment) and roll out. After roll out, I continue to monitor the new SOP’s, SaaS tool workflows, and feedback to make adjustments and measure the ROI.
Use in Consumer Product:
With an expanding customer base and high product demand, I am supporting growth and success by creating efficiencies in the production, fulfillment and distribution of the products. As well as contributing to new product development, monitoring the facebook page, addressing customer feedback, and managing the product inventory on the e-commerce platform.
SCRUM MASTER & AGILE PROJECT MANAGEMENT - Certified Scrum Master and experienced Agile Project Manager.
My passion for collaborative teamwork and working effectively and efficiently lead me to officially become a certified Scrum Master. I apply the empirical pillars of Scrum and Agile, as well as the Scrum Values of commitment, focus, openness, respect, and courage. Outside of traditional scrum with more technical projects, I have tested both scrum and agile methodology with creative development. Using agile vs waterfall resulted in quicker client feedback, fewer rounds, and much lower budget burn rate.
USER EXPERIENCE (UX/UI and Development) - Years of experience and wealth of knowledge in the digital world and certified Product Manager who values the development of good products and experiences for end users.
Throughout my career, I have worked closely with UX/UI and dev teams on several website audits, strategy development, design system executions, launches, micro-site development, content migrations, and maintenance. In addition, I have independently studied UX Strategy as well as attended UX workshops and working towards a professional certificate in UX and DesignOps.
LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT– Set individuals and teams up for success via process improvements, organization of information, and learning opportunities.
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True Leader - Collaboration, open communication, trust, respect, empathetic, and equality.
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Cross-functional leadership, working with stakeholders, IT, dev teams, design and vendors.
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Support my design teams by problem-solving, streamlining work and removing any roadblocks so that they can remain focused on the work.
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Approachable, knowledgeable and often a go to for career advice, support, and guidance.
04/2016 - 02/2021
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS
INTEGRATED PROJECT/PROGRAM MANAGEMENT - Well versed and experienced Project/Program Manager in the Marketing, Design & Advertising Industry who prefers to focus on the Outcome vs Output.
Never managing just one single project, but multiple programs across several clients throughout its entire life cycle. My role has always been cross-functional, working with stakeholders, IT, dev teams, and vendors. Other responsibilities included managing resources, freelance needs and contracts, digital asset management, operational support, process governance, and protector of my teams. I dislike the phrase “drive teams” and instead embrace and lead with collaboration, communication, trust, respect, and encourage self-organizing teams. I support my teams by problem-solving and removing any roadblocks so that they can remain focused on the work.
DIGITAL MARKETING AND WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT - Years of experience with the digital project management and production.
Throughout my career, I have worked both creative and dev teams on several website audits, strategy development, design system executions, launches, micro-site development, content migrations, and maintenance.
Other experience includes managing digital media development and production for banners, social content, SEO, SEM, ADA and 508 compliance.
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY & WORK MANAGEMENT TOOLS
Years of experience and wealth of knowledge in vast market of SaaS and app-based communication and work management programs.
Understanding that one size does not fit them all when it comes to digital technology, I keep up with industry trends. While I have had exposure to most of the top programs in the market, I like to demo or learn about the others via online tutorials or reading tech review blogs.
LEADERSHIP, TRAINING & ONBOARDING - Understand the importance of setting new employees up for success from day one and providing an excellent onboarding experience. Using the skills I development in my TEFL certification (2008), I am patient, adaptable and empathetic to those I train and mentor.
AGILE PROJECT MANAGEMENT -Experience with Agile and Lean methodologies in creative development and technical projects.
In creative development projects, using agile vs waterfall resulted in quicker client feedback, fewer rounds, and much lower budget burn rate.
VENDOR & RESOURCE MANAGEMENT - Own and manage vendor, business partner, and contracted resource relationships with creative talent, production, and development teams with local, national, and international locations.
7/2012 - 4/2016
Companies
(FTE 2014 - 2016)
(FTE 2/2014 - 7/2014)
(FTE 1/2013 - 2/2014)
(Contract 6/2012 - 11/2012)
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS
DIGITAL PROGRAM MANAGEMENT & PRODUCER- Email Marketing & CRM; Digital banners; Website maintenance; SEO, 508 compliance updates; Monthly Analytic reports; Strategic Initiatives for site improvements
RESPONSIBILITIES:
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Liaison between internal teams, client and 3rd party vendors
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Managed creative teams to meet client expectations and deadlines
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Lead process change and implementation
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Managed all facets of documentation for project creation and execution including scope & brief creation, creative direction, timelines, creative reviews and development.
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Lead internal and external meetings covering all aspects of the project lifecycle from kick-offs to creative review.
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Trained and mentored Project Coordinators and Project Managers.
PROCESS DEVELOPMENT:
While at Wunderman, I worked with the Delivery Lead, Director of Operations and the clients to develop a solid workflow process on promo, weekly and inspiration and discovery emails. In addition, our team created methods to manage project intake capacity and forecasting.
SUCCESS METRICS:
Previously the process was owned by the PM working on that line of work. This often resulted in a very unorganized, siloed and confusing process for those outside of the work. Onboarding & training was very frustrating and often left the new PM spending more time trying to find information or answers and less time being productive.
Prior to the capacity calendar, work was coming in via emails to different people, resulting in too much work and not enough PM's.
OVERALL RESULTS:
Better project forecasting, planning and overall onboarding & training process.
AGILE & SaaS TOOLS:
When training project managers in agile, I worked with the Director of Project Management/Operations Lead in testing Smartsheet, which was later implemented at the agency.
PRODUCTION PROJECT MANAGEMENT - Managed final production project intake, assigned resources - production artists & proofreaders and oversaw final release to vendors.
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Managed a busy production team.
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Owned the existing process and shared any new workflow efficiencies discovered.
DIGITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT - Owned asset management & procurement process and relationship with product specialists and vendors.
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Managed Usage rights
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Metadata tagging and DAM data Management
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Tracking all assets used on website and paid digital media. Flagging assets in which usage rights did not match or were expired.
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Trained internal teams on new DAM system.
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Own and managed the retouching process.
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Developed and defined the Asset Manager role & process with SapientNitro Chicago.
While with Leo Burnett, I stepped in as Asset Manager to cover a leave. Their process was not yet digital, so all images pulled and used had to be located in books and confirmed.
RESOURCE COORDINATOR - Assigned creative teams to projects and managed project intake and teams.
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At Leo Burnett, I developed and rolled-out a working document for resourcing and project visibility
4/2011 - 7/2012
Art Coordinator
American Greetings - Recycled Paper Greetings
DEPARTMENT SUPPORT -
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Supported a busy creative department by acting as a central point of contract for the artists, managing artist relationships, and participated in creative input.
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Supported Management by maintaining artists’ contracts and/or creating new contracts as well as providing new artists onboarding.
ARTIST SUPPORT -
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Provided artists with creative briefs for new projects.
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Received, sorted through, and logged artists' submissions.
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Provided creative feedback and next steps post artwork sorts and selections.
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Ensured that artists received final product samples prior to in store releases.
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Provided artists with in-market testing results.
PRODUCTION SUPPORT -
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Requested final art from artists.
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Kicked off final art with Production
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Reviewed and approved mechanicals before releasing to the printers.
PROCESS DEVELOPMENT - This role was originally called an Art Assistant. However after connecting with the various departments and identifying gaps in how the creative department connected with the various retail marketing teams, I evolved this role into more.
Earlier Careers
(2005 - 2011)
In 2010, I was laid off from my travel consultant position. After a month of hunting for another position in the industry and having no success, I researched the industry trends and found that travel agent and consultant roles were on the decline. As a result, I pivoted my career by translating the skills I had built to other types of roles and industries. Taking on various temporary roles, I found my new path in Project Management in the creative industry.
Executive Assistant
Poetry Foundation
ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT & BOARD
Calendar management, scheduling, travel arrangements for president as well as the senior managers, board announcements and organizing board committee meetings, taking minutes, set up conferences, filing, writing memos, organizing lunch meetings, and event planning.
EVENT & LOGISTICS COORDINATOR
Planned and organized 1st quarter board meeting and board member retreat for the foundation.
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Vendor Management
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Transportation, accommodations and air travel
Organized and managed transportation and travel for the executive team to attend conference in Boston.
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Challenges occurred when travel happened during a blizzard in Chicago.
Travel Consultant and Coordinator
Rail Europe, Inc
Customer & Travel Agent Sales, Customer Service, and Web order processing & trouble shooting.
Client & Customer Relations- Developed and maintained client (travel agents) relationships. Assisted direct customers (public) with sales, refunds, dealing with the unexpected and resolving travel related issues.
Consultant - Having lived in Europe for two years in addition to previously having traveled there, I used my wealth of knowledge to advise clients, book travel itineraries, forecast their needs, while working within their budgets.
Training - Assisted in new employee training, built and developed training materials, and shared personal travel research.
Translation - German- English translation when working with Deutsche Bahn, ÖBB and SBB
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Learned basic Italian in order to also assist with the Italian rail system.
Flight Attendant
Delta Air Lines
Hired during Delta Airline's 2007 Rebrand Launch. The rebrand included new colors, logo, uniforms, company values and customer focus.
Language of Destination (L.o.D) Flight Attendant-
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German - responsible for announcement and general translations.
International Qualified - completed various cultural training courses for Israel, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Japan, China, and African countries.
Domestic Lead Flight Attendant - Responsible for my flight crew, final passenger manifest, communication between the cabin and flight deck, and communication with gate agents.
MY PROFESSIONAL KEYWORDS
Non- Profit Work
Member of the Board & Program Manager
AdFed MN
2019 - Current
I joined the AdFed board in 2019 as the first Project Manager board chair and set my focus on SOP development for a busy non-profit with board member turnover each year.
Year 1 Accomplishments:
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Thoroughly reviewed the existing internal project intake process and identified solutions to create clear lines of communications and workflow efficiencies.
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Successfully launched new branding and www.adfed.org website.
Year 2 Accomplishments:
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Further developed and rolled out the mar/comm project process, created more visibility and mapped out social content posts & needs. Improved internal communications.
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Worked with team to further evolve the website.
Year 3 Accomplishments:
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Continued to improve process, set up Adfed with Google Workspace to create a more efficient workflows and processes for board turn over, communications and created a better overall onboarding experience.
Year 4 Objectives:
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Fully implement and roll-out Google Workspace SOP's, including project request intakes, file management, and guidelines.
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Structure and build MarComm team by defining roles & responsibilities, strategic goals, and alignment on workflow processes.
PROJECTS:
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Project Managed the redesign, build and launch of the new Adfed website - www.adfed.org
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New program brainstorm sessions & creative identities for Open Minds, Behind the Pin and Round Table programs.
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Introduction and rollout of Google Workspace as our centralized hub & source of truth.
OPERATIONAL TRANSFORMATION:
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Created project intake process and automated workflows
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Built and rolled out an internal Intranet for Adfed & Ad 2.
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Coordinated and implemented Google Workspace for AdFed
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Standardizing project plans and process
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Onboarding SOP's
PROGRAMS & TOOLS:
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WordPress - page builds, content entry and media management.
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Google Workspace - Sheets, Forms, Slides, Drive, Sites, User & Group Management.
Level II Volunteer, Trainer & Adoption Counselor
PAWS Chicago
2012 - 2014
Provided an excellent customer experience for potential adopters, helped keep the center and animal suites clean, helped potential adopters meet animals and provided them with pet education, information and resources to help them find their perfect match.
Served as a Lead Volunteer and helped train or guide “Level 1” volunteers and ensured that Kitty City etiquette was followed.
Weekday Lead: Managed a team of volunteers. Made sure that all the closing duties were performed and the shelter was ready for the next morning.
Kitty City New Volunteer Orientation & Training: Taught the introduction class operations in Kitty City, cleaning, safety, cat "resident" care, PAWS Chicago's preferred ways of interaction with the cats, e.g. petting, holding, etc. In addition, I coached new volunteers on how to handle situations such as nervous or shy cats, aggressive cats, and potentially dangerous situations, such as cat fights.
Kitty City Mentoring Program: Provided more 1:1 training with new volunteers in Kitty City. Program was designed for volunteers who were working towards a Level 2 volunteer or other lead roles.
Adoption Counselor: Prior to bringing the new cat/kitten home, adopters met with the adoption counselor. Provided cat/kitten care information and answered questions.
Languages
English (native)
German - Professional working proficiency