Her Story
About Aimee
I started my career in the early 2000s when my parents owned a coffee shop and needed help with social media, which was really new back then. I had already been doing website design and worked for a print shop doing graphic design, but I just fell in love with social media because you could reach so many more people and it was interactive in a way that print just isn't. I loved that I could make connections for people across the country and across the globe. I'm the connector of everybody - my friends will always tell you I know somebody who knows somebody who does something, and I can connect you. I've been in the association field for about 15 years now and am currently starting my fourth year at Grant Professionals Association, where I handle all of our marketing and communications for over 4,000 members with a small team of 8 people. I wear a lot of marketing hats, managing all the emails, website updates, social media posts, and video editing. What's been most rewarding throughout my career is just communicating and getting to know people and helping them, knowing that we're making a difference by giving them education and a community to either grow with or vent to.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Aimee
01What do you attribute your success to?
I've always had a great supportive team around me, especially at GPA where I'm at now. Everybody chips in where it's needed, we help each other, we brainstorm ideas, and we come up with ideas together, which is really nice when technically you're in a role of one, but at the same time, we can come together and support each other. What's helped me so much through the years is just so many supportive people helping me grow and learn and share information. I cannot say enough nice things about my team that I'm with now - they are just so amazing.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I ever received was just to keep showing up. Keep working through that, even though sometimes you feel like an imposter and you have that imposter syndrome. You are where you're supposed to be, and someday just showing up and doing the work is exactly what you need to do.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
It's a wonderful field, you'll meet lots of interesting people. Remember, data is important, but it's not the only thing. It's the connections you make, the communities that you can support, and the people that you can connect with each other.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think the biggest challenges in some ways is just the fact that they're constantly changing the analytics and how to reach people. There's online chatter that makes it hard sometimes to break through and get to the people that need to see you, that want to see you. There's just so many more social media sites now - you could spend all day doing nothing but social media, and while that's helpful at times, is that really where your ROI is? It's hard to tell sometimes. It feels overwhelming some days, and other days you're like, no, this is exciting, and this is new. I think sometimes it just depends how exhausted you are.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Definitely ethics and definitely a pride in work - pride in sharing what I'm doing and knowing that what I'm doing is making a difference.
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