Beth Jendro Noël

I attribute my success to having strong mentors who believed in me and opened doors early in my career. I had a mentor from my early days at Leslie University who was really critical in helping me identify that I have a seat at the table. He was a colleague of mine who had more access to senior leadership than I did, and he created a dotted line from me to him that made it possible for me to take on new projects and learn new skills because he was advocating for me. As a female employee, it's just not common that you get a respected male at your business who is willing to put their neck out there and really give you the opportunities. That was over 20 years ago, and we've come back together and connected again - he's a consultant himself now, and I was able to reconnect with him and bring him to my institution to help me do some work here. Having somebody who's willing to be a mentor and do that for you for basically life at this point is pretty special. Beyond mentorship, I've also found success through being passionate about education and sharing what I know with others. My husband came to see me present at a conference and was blown away - he said he'd never seen me like that before, so happy and passionate, with people scrambling to talk to me after. Being able to take what I learned and share it with someone else, and maybe make their working experience better or help the people they serve be more supported because of something I presented on - that's what drives me.

The best career advice I’ve received came early in my professional journey: seek out mentors who not only provide guidance, but actively create opportunities for growth. I credit a former colleague at Lesley University as a key mentor who opened doors for me by connecting me to meaningful projects, expanding my network, and encouraging me to step into new challenges with confidence.

That experience shaped my understanding that career advancement is not solely about individual effort, but also about relationships, trust, and the willingness of others to invest in your potential. It continues to influence my leadership approach today, as I prioritize mentoring others, creating pathways for growth, and fostering an environment where individuals feel supported in developing their skills and pursuing new opportunities.

When I'm working with younger women entering higher education, I impress upon them the importance of self-advocacy and professional development.

Although higher education is more diverse than many other workplaces, misogyny still exists. Even after 25 years in the industry, there are times when I have to ask to be invited to the meeting or I have to remind others about my skill set. Title alone does not guarantee a place for you at the table. My advice is to trust yourself and be brave enough to ask for a seat and to ask to be heard.

Professional development comes in all shapes and sizes and can be both formal and informal. If you are offered the opportunity to attend a conference or networking event, say "yes." If there is a campus committee that you are interested in, ask if you can join. Start a book club with colleagues or set aside time each week to learn about a new topic in your field. Being proactive about your growth is one of the best ways you can build agency at your job.

The opportunities that exist for marketers in the community college space really come down to flexibility. Community colleges are really good at being flexible to meet the needs of their communities - that's their function. Does the community need more machinists? Does the community need more nurses? How can we adjust our programming to get more graduates to complete and out in the workforce faster? That type of flexible thinking from a community college really makes being a marketer exciting in that space, because there's less of 'well, we've always done it this way,' and it's more 'alright, how do we solve this problem?'

To me, marketing and communication is really problem solving - there's information that people need to know, so let's figure out how to get that to them in the best way possible. Being at a community college is a great place to be because there's continual changes and opportunities to really stretch oneself and find really different and interesting solutions. The big challenge right now is the federal government. The dismantling of the Department of Higher Ed and the lack of clarity around expectations for higher ed institutions, the changes that are coming to accreditation from the federal government - they're all making it much harder to do the work because funding is going away and new potential executive orders are coming out banning certain words or certain types of work. That's made it hard, for sure, especially at the community college level. When you have a group of students on your campus that are sheltering in place because ICE is outside, that makes it hard to do your job. How do you communicate to that community that this is still a safe place for you, even though we have had ICE camped out across the street from the college for two weeks? One of my colleagues in Illinois - this was their reality. So that's one of the challenges - doing this work at a time when things are just so confusing at the federal level.

The values most important to me are equity, belonging, and accessibility.

In the last six years, I've really focused my personal work — and the work of my team — around equity and inclusion. Creating communications that meet students where they are and provide them with the information they need while also fostering the feeling of belonging. Fostering belonging is particularly important for community colleges like mine, where students come from different cultures with different abilities. It is difficult to tell stories authentically and build marketing that resonates if the lens being used is not diverse. This is not always easy and requires a cultural shift. I spent the last 3 years ensuring that the people on my team are representative of the students we serve. Having different cultures on my team, different languages spoken, different identities and different ways of thinking allows us to think empathetically about our work. It's about using language and images that don't cause harm and don't perpetuate stereotypes. It's about making sure your prospective audience sees themselves in your creative. It's about deep listening to what it is that students need to see themselves at your college and it's about creating content that everyone can understand.

I've had the privilege to lecture around the country about communicating with diverse and neuro-different audiences and the one thing that I hear each time I present is "I have a family member/colleague/friend who is neurodivergent and now I have the tools to communicate more effectively. I am on a mission to help marketing professionals