INTRODUCTION

 

Our senior direction works with the American Academy of Dermatology. As a Senior Director, she is in charge of supervising over 4 divisions of work. Learn what she had to do to get where she is today and how she is able to lead her team.

 

 

 

 

EDUCATION

 

What University did you go to? What was your major?

West Virginia University — Journalism.  I received a B.S.J.  (Bachelor of Science in Journalism)
 

What's a must take course for someone in college trying to enter your field?
media — multi-media—publishing—journalism —PR
 

What did you do at your university that has attributed to your success in the workforce?
Internship with the professor at the college who also ran an ad/PR agency
 

JOB TRANSITION

 

What inspired you to do what you do today? My professors and my life experience

How did you land the job that you have today — worked my way into this after years of working my way up the ladder
 

How would you describe your transition from college to the real world?

Trial and error on what was working and not 

 

JOB INSIGHT

 

Tell me about the role that you have with your firm

Senior Director, Integrated Communications

I supervise the work of 4 divisions — creative, marketing, advertising and communications for the American Academy of Dermatology. (AAD) 

 

When did you realize that this was the career that you wanted to be in?
I love creating and communicating, and healthcare has always fascinated me — I think I realized this and it all came together when I was about 28 - 30 years old.  Before that, I was searching for my true calling.  I believe that you continually evolve in your life and your career.
 

What does a typical work schedule look like for you?
There is no typical day, but I do a lot of work with our board to resolve issues, consult with our D.C. firm on emerging regulatory and legislative issues relating to healthcare, work on branding, positioning, issues management, as well as managing a staff that is getting creative, marketing and communications work done for various departments in our organization.  This includes education, philanthropy, business development, practice management, scientific quality, advocacy and strategic projects.

 

What are your thoughts on business trips (traveling)?
I love to travel.  It helps contribute to creative flow and gets you out of your ‘usual’ environment
 

Describe the atmosphere in the office.
Collaborative, quiet but sometimes bursts of noise when something is being celebrated, respectful, collegial and sometimes respectfully challenging a premise.  Highly skilled and talented individuals work at AAD.
 

JOB OPINION

 

What is challenging about your role?
Personnel issues are always the most challenging, when they do occur, which is not often.

How do you overcome the challenges that you face?
I challenge my staff to bring their personal best, decide if this is the workplace for them, take control of their own careers and abide by the 4 agreements — bring your best, be impeccable in your words and actions, realize that 99% of the challenges that are brought to you are not personal, and don’t make assumptions… Take everyone at their word.  I find if people abide by these, things go much more smoothly.

 

What keeps you motivated at work?
The people who work with me — the creativity we produce and the differences we can make.
 

What do you like most about your firm?
See question about atmosphere — very talented, knowledgable people doing their best to bring professionalism and creativity to the dermatology world, educate the public about its importance and bringing passion to the table.
 

How long did it take for you to adapt to the workforce before you were able to feel

comfortable?
I have been working since I was 12 and so I don’t know how to not work.  I think I was comfortable from day one.
 

How do you demonstrate leadership at your position?
I allow people to work with me and not for me.  I assert my opinion only when I think it is going down a path that would be detrimental to the work product, my staff or my members.  I am there to remove roadblocks of creativity or process, contribute and guide staff to creating excellence.

 

JOB SPECIFIC

 

I notice that you have 33 staff members that report to you. What do you do to stay organized while ensuring that everyone stays on track and meet the company goals?
I am very lucky to have 3 people in positions to direct staff in an operational way while I interface with them on a more strategic level.  I cannot take credit for organizing the work of all 33 people on board.
 

What is an effective marketing technique?
It depends.  Every project is different.  What works in one instance may not work in another.  But there is one key that is constant:  you always have to remain relevant to the audience you are trying to educate, influence or incite action.  That means the message and the vehicle need to relate to the audience to make them care enough to act.
 

How has social media impact the way you market?

Yes. It is a fabulous vehicle for targeting certain audiences to think about issues in a different way.

 

How do you prepare for presentations? 

Research!! Lots of research.  Physicians want to see that you have done your homework.
 

What are some of the changes that you have to adapt to in order to stay ahead of your competitors?

Smaller organizations who are our competitors have the ability to be agile.  We have worked on that significantly in the last two years and have become a much more timely organization.  
 

How do you target your audience when marketing?
Target audiences will vary with each project, but when we start a project that is one of the first questions we ask, along with ‘what is the business objective we want to achieve’?
 

As many fields such as marketing are trending towards data analytics, how has it assisted or changed the way you look at your clientele?
Ours is a data-rich environment and we are constantly evaluating our ways in which we utilize data to conduct targeted marketing campaigns, with evaluation specifically on customer segmentation and the wants/needs of these segments.
 

ADVICE

 

What does it take to excel in your field?
Tenacity, curiosity, flexibility with changing circumstances, intuition, intelligent responsiveness

 

What makes someone unsuccessful in your field?

Rigidity, formulaic responses to real-world problems, unwillingness to continually learn and adapt.
 

What advice do you have for a aspiring college student trying to make it into the "real" world?
If you are going into marketing/communications/creative/publishing or PR, please keep in mind that this is a rapidly changing/fluid field.  You must be ok with a degree (sometimes very high) of ambiguity. 
 

What are some important skill set that make an candidate stand out?
Excellent verbal/communications skills are key.  The creative field is only as good as we are able to communicate its importance and impact.  Yes, there are certain creative activities that stand alone without a lot of explanation, but that’s in the execution.  You need to sell in the idea to management before it ever gets out the door.
 

Are there any skills that one should learn to differentiate themselves in your field?
Learn how to be brilliant and brief for a senior management presentation.