A note from Tricia about our EEP team:
It’s been several glorious years since I’ve graced EnvisionEdPlus with a blog from me. Our intern-turned-digital platform media specialist-turned-marketing manager, Kelley Albright has become so prolific and effective as the voice of EnvisionEdPlus that I’ve forgotten the last time I had to weigh in.
Here I am, though, to share some exciting news, even if I am sad to do it. Kelley has accepted a new opportunity with a larger company, where she will grow her strategic marketing career as part of a talented and experienced marketing team. I’m confident her new team will value her as much as we have.
The good news for our newsletter readers and social media followers (and me!) is that Kelley plans to stay on with us part-time and will continue to shepherd those responsibilities. But we are definitely going to miss her support for our website, events and probably a bunch of other things we haven’t even realized yet.
The other good news is that the Ohio College Technology Internship Program is available again this fall. We’ve already submitted our application, but if your organization could use a superstar college intern you have only a few more days to apply.
The state handles recruitment and screening of the student applicants and pays a portion of the intern’s salary. In our case, we were sent three strong candidates whose skills and interests matched our job description. That part of the process was easy.
We were thrilled to bring Kelley on board, but I admit to being a little nervous about how well a college student would adapt to our independent work styles, how quickly she could learn about our industry, and whether we would be able to provide the meaningful experience she deserved, especially in a remote-work setting during the pandemic. It was a great opportunity to practice what we preach about work-based learning.
Here are three things we learned:
- We don’t have to be the experts. Some of the most mutually beneficial assignments happened when Michele and I were unsure how to solve a problem and lacked time to figure it out. We asked Kelley to do the research and come back to us with recommendations, which resulted in significant changes in the tools we used to communicate with our stakeholders.
- Professional development yields returns. Michele prioritized Kelley’s continued learning through her internship and as she grew into her eventual leadership role. She incentivized Kelley to complete her degree and earn other certifications; hired a short-term consultant to help with strategic marketing campaigns while mentoring Kelley; and, provided opportunities for Kelley to participate in work outside the marketing scope to broaden her experience.
- Leadership leads to ownership. Involving our whole team in strategic decisions has fostered a culture in which each of us feels personally invested in outcomes. Beyond leading our marketing strategy, Kelley actively contributed to setting long-term company goals and short-term strategies to achieve them, defining new roles and selecting candidates to join our team, growing relationships with our partners and clients, and monitoring our success.
So, I’m looking forward to starting again, even as I recognize that the process is likely to have different outcomes, influenced by new circumstances, interests and needs all around.
Michele, Thomie, Fallon and I will miss Kelley’s contributions in ways we already appreciate and probably in ways we’ve taken for granted. But we are proud and excited to see what she – and we – accomplish next.