Crowd Sourcing For Good

Text about galvanizing people to donate for different things. Kierra story covered by Alexandra Stone at KETV-7.

Omaha Magazine story on Benson High baseball.

Podcast Guest

Sat down with Chelsea and Liz from The Agency Rocket Show to discuss mentorship, the magic of collaboration, and how a growth mindset keeps the industry thriving.

The Bay Omaha Building Announcement

This project marked a major milestone for The Bay in Omaha. We announced and broke ground on a new youth center in the Benson neighborhood as part of a $20+ million investment, with the facility expected to open in early 2027.

I led communications and event coordination for the announcement. I wrote an embargoed press release and media invite, oversaw run of show, coordinated guest speakers, and ensured youth voice and representation were central. I also planned our owned content coverage with scheduled social posts and day of capture.

For earned media, I worked directly with reporters to shape two complementary story angles. One outlet focused on the building details and what is coming to the space. Another focused on the youth we serve and why this building matters to them.

I also provided the media with pre-approved photo and video assets that my team captured. This helps us further guide story direction, and provides flexibility for the reporters.

KETV-7

WOWT-6

Media: Omaha Girls Rock Joins The Bay

OGR joined The Bay…decision-making that went into it, and eventual sensitive work to draft a press release and place a story in the Omaha Magazine giving proper consideration for the transition.

Media: Co-Founder Exits the Organization

Sensitive challenges managing messaging as a co-founder left the organization.

Press release: https://www.thebay.org/the-bays-mike-smith-embarks-on-a-new-chapter/

Silicon Prairie News: https://nebraskapublicmedia.org/es/news/news-articles/the-bay-enters-a-new-chapter-with-expanded-youth-programming-in-omaha/

Organization Name Change + New Website + New Messaging

Rabble Mill was formed when The Bay and Hear Nebraska merged in 2017. In the seven years that followed, the organization suffered from fractured brand recognition, confused audiences and even more confused employees. In 2024, I helped guide the co-founders towards a strategic rebranding from Rabble Mill to The Bay, which clarified who we are and unified our story.

I led the communications strategy and rollout, working closely with other leaders on the team and cross-functional partners.

My team delivered a customer and stakeholder-centered full website rebuild, updated visual branding, refreshed messaging, and launched assets that helped staff, board, partners, and the public quickly understand the change.

Click on the featured assets and read about how they came together, below:

Website Rebuild

Myself, a designer on my team, our Operations director, and an outside developer were the project team tasked with building our new website. We scrapped the old (rabblemill.org) and built thebay.org from scratch.

We met with internal stakeholders to learn about their business needs and explore how the website could facilitate. From there, we created a wireframe, which provided the developer guidance on how to build out the website.

We leveraged in-house design experience to guide the developer on the look and style of the site, which not only helped us maintain branding cohesion, but also cut the overall project expense in half.

How We Talk About Ourselves

Our Programming teams experimented a lot on the way to figuring out what engages youth over the years. While necessary for a young organization, it led to challenges in how we talk about ourselves.

My team conducted a full-scale messaging audit, and developed a warehouse of evergreen printed materials, videos, one-sheets, presentation decks, design templates and copy. So whether you’re posting to social media, presenting to the board, or teaching a kid to ride a skateboard, we’re all speaking with one voice. [view brochure here and watch the video below]

NYSE Closing Bell

One of the many special events I managed recently was Union Pacific’s celebration for being on the New York Stock Exchange for 150 years. In addition to the half-dozen or so videos I produced to supplement the event, I also coordinated a complex multi-camera live stream to convert a normally in-person event to virtual.

Railway Age
Omaha World-Herald

Network Interviews

I developed processes and implemented technology that allowed Union Pacific to bring national television interview production completely in house. We originally contracted a satellite truck and producer to broadcast our signal to networks. Utilizing professional light/sound/camera and video capture devices, we are now able to connect with TV networks over Zoom, Hangouts and Skype, etc.

In addition to technical production, I have experience working with network producers to coordinate interviews and audible smoothly within a fast-moving live TV environment.