Career Path of a Senior Communications Consultant at a Leading Midwest Health System

In college, I worked for college radio stations as a sports broadcaster. I also interned for the local cable access channel as a color commentator for high school football.

Additionally, I conducted interviews and filed stories for Gator Nationals, the NHRA National Hot Rod Association drag racing circuit in Gainesville, Florida. My first job out of college was in Sioux City, Iowa, where I was hired as an assistant news director. I worked a split shift, handling both morning and evening drive times.

While in Iowa, I also worked as a sportscaster for the local NBC affiliate. After that, I was an assistant news director at a different radio station, AM and FM. During my media career, I always had a second job because the pay was not enough to cover rent and food.

I left the media industry to become the communications director for a nonprofit. This position paid $5,000 more per year than working in radio and TV at that time. I was the director of communications for the local United Way organization and stayed there until my husband and I moved to Quincy, Illinois in May of 1993.

We lived in Quincy for six years, and I worked for the local newspaper in marketing and public relations. I was also a weekly columnist and a weekend sports writer. From September 1999 until October 2012, I worked as a freelance writer and a part-time editor in the St. Louis metropolitan area for three family-owned publications. This was great because I could take my kids to school, pick them up, and still stay current with communications, writing, and public relations.

In November 2012, when my youngest child was a senior in high school, I got a full-time job at an air medical company. I was a public relations specialist for just over two years before being promoted to public relations manager. However, that was just the title. I did anything and everything PR-wise, keeping many plates spinning for the next four years as I was a one-woman show.

I handled internal and external communications, media relations, crisis communications, special events, marketing plans and materials, patient testimonials, and advertising and PR supplies. It was a lot, but it was by far the most amazing job; it was wonderful. In late 2019, that role changed because our company merged with another one. My only role then was public relations and media relations, and in reality, 75% of that was crisis communications. I was a national director of public relations, and as I said, 75% of that job was crisis communications.

In April 2022, I left that organization and started a new role with my current organization, a large Midwest healthcare system. I started as a writer and am now a senior communications consultant.