“I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom I can tell you I don’t have money, but what I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career.
-Liam Neeson as some character whose name I don’t know, Taken
No, I’m not Liam Neeson from the movie Taken, but this part of his famous quote rings true for me.
My career has been shaped by roles in marketing, communications, media, and production and it’s all about the stories, baby.
It all started at the Calgary Sun, I was hired as a media library assistant without any experience. I was digging up research and fact-checking for editors and reporters, integral to the fast-paced flow of the newsroom and was asked to write features highlighting successful and influential women in Alberta to share their stories and also my own, as I also wrote a few op-eds.
Newspapers have always been plagued with cutbacks and I started a part-time job with Deschenes Regnier – a marketing and design studio – to help set-up their Calgary office and answer phones. After a few months, the clients loved speaking with me so much on those calls that I was promoted to an Account/Project Manager and ultimately managed most of the clients and the full lifecycle of their projects including website development, branding, events, photoshoots, print collateral, and more. I was fortunate to work within several awesome clients: Enmax, ATCO, First Calgary Financial, Alberta Ballet, Heritage Park, ING, CUPS, and many, many oil and gas companies – it is Calgary after all.
After learning, loving, and living in the marcomm industry; I wanted to learn more about production and went to university for Broadcasting and graduated at the top of my class. I completed a practicum with CBC News at 6:00, producing and reporting many stories, including one about underwear. We all gotta start somewhere.
From there I moved on to Shaw Communications as a traffic coordinator and managed commercial buys, audio/visual quality for spots, and programming on the specialty channels. I literally had to watch TV all day in a giant VTR studio in the head office – a dream starter job for someone who discovered she loved everything to do with production, storytelling, programming, media and more. With that passion I absorbed everything I could and ultimately was promoted to a Producer at Shaw TV.
It was there that I brought all my previous experience and skills together to create programming including STIR. I created, developed, and directed STIR – an arts and entertainment program that was wildly successful. I was nominated for an AMPIA award and lost to a show about horses, because Alberta. STIR ran for two years and I secured high profile guests from Ben Affleck to Anne Murray – yes, Canadian legend Anne Murray! The program also highlighted stories from artists, actors, dancers, musicians, and the like, from all over the world. It was so successful that the mainstream broadcasters suddenly started covering the same type of content. During my time at Shaw TV I also produced live content from the Calgary Stampede, and hundreds of local news stories and segments and covered the Juno awards on the red carpet.
With my fill of prairie life quenched it was time to head west to Vancouver. My first role was with Best Buy Canada in the head office. As Manager – Broadcast, Video, and Digital Content Production, I wore many hats including Producer, Creative Director, Brand Manager, Project Manager, Budget Manager, Casting Director, Director, Wardrobe Assistant, MUA & Hair Assistant, Writer, Reporter, Researcher, Approver, Trafficker, Distributor, Photographer, Team Leader, Negotiator, Wellness Champion, Grip, Gaffer, Camera Op, and Traveler extraordinaire. Seriously, there was a lot of travel to Toronto, New York, LA, and many places in between. The role was robust, and I produced TV and Radio spots, video content, events, stunts, and successfully transformed the brand story over my eight years there.
Within this time, I also created content for many of our top tier vendor partners including Samsung, Fit Bit, Sony, Bose, Monster, DJI, Microsoft, and worked with a tonne of celebs, pro athletes, and influencers including Jann Arden, Debra DiGiovanni, Rick Hansen, Jillian Harris, Cory Joseph, and Chef David Rocco.
I then jumped back to agency life with Rethink and produced content for BC Hydro, BCAA, FairTrade Canada, A&W, and Vancouver Canucks. The ride was short and sweet at Rethink; Covid hit and that was the end of that and I’m extremely proud of the work I did and the brand stories told through my work. I’m also super-proud of my car as it is front and centre (since 2019!) in many of the BCAA ads I produced and is still used today. Can a gal get some resids?! (No she cannot.)
And that brings us to the present – 2020-2021. I’m currently with Eminence Organic Skin Care on the Customer Education team as a Project Manager. Over the past year I’ve developed workflow efficiencies and contributed to telling the story of our products and brand by producing video, print, and virtual content for our product launches and tradeshows and events. Most recently, we partnered with Allure to develop content for their first brick and mortar store in New York, which is très cool.
If you made it this far, congratulations! This is A LOT about moi. When I’m not working I’m birdwatching, and taking pictures of birds, and rescuing birds. I’m also a watercolour artist, swimmer, and a hilarious human being.
The Life and Times of a Mills(y) 