I have been working at the City of Sheridan for the past eleven years. I started out as a temp in the Engineering Department, and have had the opportunity to take over management of the Clerk’s Office back in 2017. This has been such a gratifying experience and I want to further my growth for current or future roles. There have been so many opportunities with the City to access greater educational opportunities and training, which I am so thankful for.
Ever since I was tasked with choosing the career that I would be saddled with for the rest of my life (no pressure), I have always been interested in Graphic Design. I was originally looking at attending school for this career path, but then I saw how much a designer gets paid…not so great unless you are the best of the best. I chose the Business Administration route because it seemed like I would have the most opportunities for a career that could sustain a family. Since finishing my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Business Administration, I have still maintained my love for creative endeavors. I earned my MBA back in 2020, which I guess was my pandemic project. I still felt the itch to do something more. I started school up again for accounting, which just didn’t hit the spot. Maybe it was because I was awful at it, but also it wasn’t something I was passionate about. I had begun talking to someone about taking on a bigger role with communication at the City, and that started a trail of events that led me to deciding to take the next step in my educational journey.
I have managed the City’s website (https://www.sheridanwy.gov/) since 2015 or so, and I have absolutely loved being able to engage with the public through this resource. I managed a project of redesigning the website around 2016, which was just a visual update. I led a website overhaul project in 2018, working with a municipal website developer called CivicLive. I absolutely love creating websites, which is a fantastic tool for marketing strategies. What if I was able to transition that into more of a career focus? I am looking forward to an education that will grant me a more holistic view of marketing and what the profession will provide in terms of job satisfaction. In the meantime, I can implement marketing strategies within the City. Even though it is a municipality, we provide services to the public even if they don’t have alternate options on who provides them with water, trash, or street maintenance services. Government transparency has been a major focus of mine, and “marketing” the City to citizens is one way to build a connection and gather feedback on how we can improve as an organization.
Pursuing a Master of Science in Marketing after working in municipal government for eleven years will be a strategic career move to enhance my skill set, align with my interests, and explore new opportunities in a dynamic field. It will also allow me to leverage my experience to open doors to various career paths, from public relations to corporate marketing or entrepreneurship.