Welcome to Brazen Careerist!

About Me

About Me

I’m a 28-year-old Gen Y’er (that’s an early 80′s child, a Millenial, for those of you doing the math) and digital marketing and project management specialist for a Columbus, Ohio digital marketing agency.

I’ve always been passionate about helping peers discover in themselves the best qualities of our generation, and also the most likely to call them on their B.S. For every couple of C student, clubby mama’s boys or self-obsessed fashionistas, I can find you a new lawyer with a background in civil service to rival Gandhi, or a graphic designer who ate exclusively ramen for weeks to pay for a journey to Japan to study street art.

With an occasional wry look inward and a thoughtful learning-centric approach, I hope to discover what role Gen Y’ers can play in the future of business, then teach others how to maximize our dynamic generation under the new emerging paradigm of business in a serious global recession and beyond.

Oh. Were you looking for a real “About ME!!!” biography page? OK, fine.

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Digital Marketing Expert

In real life, Crystal is the Account Services Manager for Oxiem, leading the client services practice area and managing the Dublin office. Her leadership role includes helping clients create online strategies to do real business – from website development, content management and social media execution, to search engine marketing and optimization. Crystal supervises the Oxiem project and account management team and leads web projects and campaigns for our clients. Her expertise spans B2B marketing, public relations, information architecture and interactive project management.
Gen Y and Millennial Management Consultant and Speaker

Additionally, Crystal is an accomplished speaker and consultant on Generation Y workplace and management issues. Her presentation, “Gen Yers Who Get It” is one of the top Gen Y/Millennial management presentations on SlideShare with nearly 5,000 views. She consults privately with a handful of companies on Gen Y workplace issues, as well as the following recent public appearances:

Panelist, Phoenix Public Relations Society of America, Seminar on “What’s Next for 2009” (January 2009)
Selected as featured blog author, Brazen Careerist Blog, Multiple topics & posts (2009/2010)
Speaker, Denison University, Presentation on “Gen Y-ers Who Get It” (April 2010)
Speaker & Panelist, Columbus Young Professionals Conference, “Personal Branding for Gen-Y” (April 2010)
Speaker, 28th Annual Entrepreneurship Education FORUM with Rick Coplin, “Teaching Entrepreneurship to a Digital Generation” (November 2010)
Panelist, Ohio Growth Summit, “Understanding the Natives, Looking at the Web from a Gen Y Lens” (June 2011)

Work History

• Oxiem Marketing Technology
• Client Services Manager & Business Development
• November 2009 to Present

• http://www.oxiem.com

  Oxiem is a digital marketing agency providing high-performance web marketing modules, beautifully branded site design, blended search marketing programs and social media strategies.

  As client services lead and part of the business development team, I help real businesses uncover how to use the web best. Every business, no matter its size, can be big online -- big goals, big dreams and big profit. I help distill ideas into strategies, convert lurkers into participants and create experiences that invite engagement.

• Event Publishing & Event Solutions magazine
• Marketing & PR Manager
• August 2006 to August 2009

• http://www.event-solutions.com

  Event Publishing is an independent trade media company, publisher of Event Solutions magazine and Event-Solutions.com, and host of a national event industry conference and tradeshow in Las Vegas.

  • Managed $75,000 annual marketing budget for products including: Advertising display and online sales, circulation, conference and tradeshow, awards program, resource directory, annual industry forecast.

  • Developed 2008 strategic marketing plan: Established advertising revenue goals, identified public relations needs, created initiatives for circulation growth and audience engagement, collaborated with sales staff to improve tactics and collateral material, and initiated brand analysis and development. Represented company as a Gen Y leader for industry groups like MeCo, ISES.

• Schenkein PR
• Account Coordinator/Intern
• May 2006 to September 2006

• Schenkein was a Denver-based PR firm, a member of Pinnacle Worldwide PR network and consistently ranked one of the top agencies in the city by the Denver Business Journal through 2008.

  • Wrote news releases, media advisories, briefing sheets, and research reports for clients including Western Union, First Data, Denver Public Schools and Smoke Free Colorado.

  • Successfully pitched regional and national media outlets, achieving media exposure and impressions for clients.

  • Monitored regional, national and international news and blogs for clients, preparing clips and analyzing results.

  • Supported client service teams by logging daily billing reports for hourly work, tracking team activities, results and budget.

Education

• University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• Bachelor of Journalism, Advertising, Minor: Spanish, English, marketing
• 2002 - 2006