My Career Chronicles
Throughout my career I have managed multiple campaigns, programs, and projects across healthcare, health technology, fintech and SaaS organizations.
It has been quite the career jungle gym, where I’ve encountered plenty of challenges and met the most inspiring researchers, innovators, and entrepreneurs who continually inspire me onward.
I'm excited to share the 10,000 foot view here in story format. You can just as easily get the high points on my Linkedin profile but I prefer to recount the journey like this ...
2008
In my college years at Texas State University in San Marcos between 2004 and 2008, I explored journalism through an internship with the Austin American Statesman and dabbled in event planning with Elite Weddings and Events. I made the Dean’s List consistently, which qualified me to join the Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society.
After graduating with a Bachelor in Mass Communications and Minor in Business, I joined McGarrah Jessee ad agency's PR team, working under an outstanding PR mentor with clients like Shiner Beers, Whataburger, and Texas Republic Tequila. I was honored by the Houston Chronicle as a breakout social media user for business, pioneering the Shiner Beers Facebook profile before Facebook for Business existed. While with McJ, I was invited by a revered former professor to talk about PR in real life with Mass Comm students pursuing the career.
2009
I then became a Marketing Assistant for Phillips Wide Lite (later renamed Signify) designing sales support collateral, shipping print materials across the country, and running weekly sales KPI update calls. I established Phillips Lighting’s first social media accounts, teaching the organization about ways to harness hashtags and built useful lists of similar companies and interests. I was responsible for handling local media relations and earned the company recognition from the San Marcos Chamber of Commerce for being a major local employer recognized for innovative technology on a national stage.
2009
My healthcare administration journey began at Ascension-Seton when I became the Nursing Education and Professional Development department’s assistant. For the 50+ person team and Sr. Director of Clinical Education and Professional Development I administered over the RN Residency program application and selection process, organized meetings, chased down action items, created training materials, managed events, and the office in general.
I discovered my passion for adult learning strategies, EdTech and the fascinating connections between marketing and teaching: Both professions aim to get a point across and inspire change. Yet we take different approaches and use different toolkits.
While with the Clinical Education department, in 2011 I earned an Excellence in Action award for outstanding work performance.
2012
Ascension-Seton
Network Clinical Research
Senior Project Coordinator
Within a couple of years, I was eager to take on more responsibility and transitioned to the Nursing Research department. As a Sr. Project Coordinator, I assisted clinical researchers in framing their studies, submitting plans for IRB approval, implementing those plans, securing sponsorships, reporting progress to the Senior Leadership Team, submitting and achieving publication in academic journals.
I loved coordinating the Writing for Nursing Publication Workshop Series, which resulted in many articles authored by Ascension nurses being officially published, bringing clout not only to the authors but to the entire organization.
My most exciting project in research, was partnering with an exiting roboticist and her brilliant partners to explore ways robots could be put to work in hospitals safely and efficiently. I helped with the study design and execution, and was honored to be included in the official proposal. I also arranged expert interviews, planning sessions, intranet updates to Central-Texas regional staff, and facilitated media coverage for the project.
I followed my education vs marketing curiosity by engaging directly with the Austin EdTech community. I was empowered to organize a cross-pollination event for all of Ascension Seton's clinical educators. The one-day session connected clinical educators with EdTech company owners and experts from multiple sectors to share their technology, strategies and success stories. It was so well received that my team was allowed to co-present about the event in a SXSW Edu breakout session.
🏆While with Nursing Research, I was recognized for outstanding work performance with an Excellence in Action Award in 2013.
2014
Buzz began to build about an Innovation and Technology Commercialization team forming for Ascension, positioned within the Seton Research Enterprise. I was introduced by many leaders to the team’s Executive Director, insisting I was a perfect fit for such a group. And so I was.
My role with the Innovation Team was multi-faceted and fun. involved I was responsible for helping employee inventors turn their ideas into patented, marketable products and programs. To this end, I held ideation sessions, managed media coverage and organized meetings with the right influencers for promising innovations. Our team put on a Dell Children's Hospital Innovation Competition and the Spark! Innovation and Technology Tradeshow to connect problems to problem solvers and technology. We partnered with design-thinking (UX, UI) agencies, IP law firms, and the vast startup community of Austin to get Ascension inventors to the resources necessary to implement their ideas.
I consulted with health tech startups, most operating from the Capital Factory, who wanted to pitch their products to Ascension, helping them understand the hospital supply chain, revenue cycle, funding sources, decision makers, regulatory bodies and the key performance indicators (KPIs) they’d have to impact. I found consulting work incredibly rewarding, and continued it in a freelance capacity for years thereafter.
I was invited to serve as a SXSW Interactive pitch competition judge, rating startups based on their business’ viability, creativity and pitch clarity (among other factors).
Meanwhile, for the Research Institute, I served as editor of the Lone Star Stroke Consortium e-newsletter, interviewing stroke researchers, neurologists, and their teams to share stories and progress with funding bodies, patients and Consortium members throughout Central Texas.
🏆I was awarded for Excellence in Action again in 2015 and nominated to join the Rising Star program by my executive leaders, joining a cohort of future health system leaders.
2016
As telemedicine gained traction, the Innovation and Technology Commercialization team evolved into the Virtual Care and Innovation department. I played a pivotal role in establishing the Good Health Solutions Center, which reorganized multiple ambulatory care and remote monitoring departments, integrating their technology, processes, and procedures under one roof. I organized media relations for the Center’s Grand Opening, touring journalists around the new facility.
Later, for the Good Health Solutions Center, I traveled across Texas installing and testing telemedicine equipment, training care teams to conduct and document virtual urgent care visits. I established workflows and teamed up with Ascension Marketing and fundraising teams to promote programs like TeleNeonatology, which connected parents with their premature babies through remote care technology.
Ascension-Seton
Virtual Care and Innovation
Project Manager
2018
I moved on from telemedicine, but didn’t travel far. In fact, I stayed in the Austin Innovation District, as a Project Manager for the new Dell Medical School multi-specialty clinic called UT Health Austin.
For UT Health Austin I assessed new service line and acquisition opportunities, and worked on clinic process improvement plans to maximize efficiencies, reimbursements, provider and patient satisfaction.
I particularly enjoyed telling the stories of physicians, professors, and academic researchers who dreamed of launching innovative programs like Nuclear Medicine and the impactful Big Pink Bus mobile mammography unit.
I worked on our on-site visitor program, setting up workflows, streamlining documentation, badge distribution, identity and background checks for medical residents, volunteers and other guests to maximize safety and efficiency.
I orchestrated Request for Proposal (RFP) processes, gathering key stakeholders in defining requirements, selecting and ultimately implementing new technology the clinics and Patient Access Center needed to function.
I managed the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) implementation project to ensure maximum reimbursement from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) based on documented care quality and cost efficiency.
2019-Now
Everyware
Director of Product Marketing
Senior Marketing Project Manager
Marketing Project Manager
Realizing that making a meaningful impact on healthcare delivery would require digging deeper into the financial aspects of the business, when the opportunity to take the leap into fintech presented, I took it.
I was brought aboard by the founding team of Everyware, who had recently joined the Capital Factory Accelerator program in Austin and secured HIPAA certification for their text messaging and pay-by-text and two-way messaging SaaS platform.
At Everyware, I have thrived, starting as a Marketing Project Manager, then Senior Project Manager, and ultimately becoming the Director of Product Marketing reporting directly to the CEO.
In the early days, our product was simple, and as we grew, so did the product and team—from about 15 to 150 employees.
As the product portfolio expanded with more concentration on payments and billing features than on two-way text messaging, I immersed myself in the world of finance, fintech, and payments. I became dedicated to understanding the needs of accountants and CFOs across various industries, though we have seen most traction with retail pharmacy, small to medium healthcare practices, automotive dealerships, billing agencies, home and professional service providers.
For a time, I wore many hats. I was the sole member of an unofficial Product team. I engineered custom workflows for ISV clients, published Everyware's first online developer documentation, learned to test calls in Postman, designed multiple UIs as new feature ideas poured in, produced clickable prototypes with InvisionApp, wrote tickets for developers as the IT PMO took shape using a few different platforms (until the devs settled on Clickup), trained staff and reseller partners as new features were pushed to production.
As a product marketer, I dive deep into the technical aspects of our products, mastering APIs, testing use cases, and teaching others. This hands-on approach helps me find new pitch angles, improve documentation, and contribute to product efficiency without disrupting Agile processes.
After a couple of years, the business had grown exponentially and we were in a position to hire an official Product owner with an extensive history in payments, allowing me to pass the product roadmap and switch from mocking up UIs to returning to product marketing. I relished the chance to promote beautiful technology to businesses that needed it again, and spent less time than before on designing and troubleshooting it.
Leading a team of digital marketing, social media, public relations, and graphic design professionals now I maintain dotted-line relationships to the new Product Managers and UI Designer. We partner to craft stories for our clients about new features like Identity Verification, Instant Payouts, and Hosted Checkout solutions.
My team collaborates with our Public Relations agency to plan media outreach campaigns, thought leadership articles, award applications, and press releases.
My team also organizes tradeshow participation for our sales reps, sponsorships and speaking engagements at 30-50 events annually.
In all capacities with Everyware, I’ve worked closely with the company’s Business Development Representatives and Sales Account Executives. My goal is always to prepare them well to speak to our solution suite. I create dashboards, pitch decks, research new verticals and advise on strategies to penetrate them by highlighting Everyware's most attractive features, products, services, and APIs.
The Marketing team at Everyware has worked with a handful of SEO and ad agencies through the years to redesign and improve our website content and performance. ⬅️ This, and whatever comes next in the journey, is my current obsession.
My Extra Curriculars
Aging2.0
When it comes to healthcare innovation, my special focus was always on Geriatric Care. I volunteered for the Aging2.0 Austin Chapter Leadership Team and took responsibility for organizing chapter communications and strategic planning. We connected Austin's entrepreneurs, elders, care providers, technologists, community groups, businesses, educators and designers interested in creating innovations that aid in innovation.
AustinUp
In 2016, I was so invested in improving care programs structured around seniors, I joined AustinUp, a nonprofit organization commissioned by the mayor to make Austin a city where seniors could live independently and happily. There, I helped organize community forums and events to gather information on problems facing Austin’s 65+ residents and to empower innovators focused on aging-supportive solutions.
Drive a Senior
My Executive Director of Innovation was gracious enough to allow our team to volunteer for a cause we believed in. I chose to drive seniors in need through Drive a Senior Austin. Mostly we traveled to doctor visits, sometimes to the grocery store or nail salon. These were some of the best moments and conversations I’ve ever had. I kept a journal of every story I was told by a senior I drove, and every piece of wisdom that was imparted with the intention of one day putting it all in to a book.
Smartsheet Certified Expert
I always managed Ascension projects tasks, dashboards, stakeholders and teams using Smartsheet since 2009 and earned my Smartsheet Expert Certification in 2015. I was an active participant in Smartsheet’s beta tester and super user program early on, determined to master all the tool had to offer. Once I did, I was invited to advise Ascension’s enterprise PMO on the how to use Smartsheet for national standardized project management.
(Some of) My Freelance Services
AngelSpan
AngelSpan provides investor relations for early-stage startups. We facilitate consistent communication on the progress of our startup clients to better engage their investors and enable all stakeholders to actively participate in each venture’s success. Better investor engagement also results in easier financing, higher valuations, and more M&A opportunities.
For AngelSpan, I assisted in establishing a project management system for account managers to track communication between clients and update collections to be used for investor update dashboards.
The R.O.C.K. Ride On Center for Kids
Ride On Center for Kids (ROCK), a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization, provides equine-assisted services to children, adults, and veterans with physical, cognitive and emotional challenges.
For the ROCK, I advised on automating lead flow from the organization’s website to their Salesforce Customer Relationship Management system.
ComfortQue
For a small (and delicious) BBQ startup hosting a first-annual Music & Meat Festival I developed event sponsorship package material, messaging and promotional assets. The organizers successfully secured three major sponsors to carry out their vision to “Make memories, savor every bite and let the music take you away!”
