Résumé

I help people solve problems. Whether it’s getting the Democratic Party’s endorsement for your Congressional campaign or getting a video up on YouTube to promote your law practice, I can probably figure it out.

I have more than ten years of experience handling the diverse needs of small business owners, political organizations, and candidates for public office. From graphic design to event planning, online course creation to marketing, customer service to product photography, I’ve done it.

I work primarily with people involved in politics, non-profits, law, and the arts.

In my free time, I am an artist, writer, and photographer. I run a small Etsy shop selling stickers.

STRENGTHS

writing • customer service/customer experience • marketing

I am also a champion envelope stuffer when it’s time for those office holiday cards to go out, FYI.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

January 2013-Present   

Freelance, Consulting, and Volunteer Work (Self-employed)

CANDIDATE COACHING

  • Created blog posts and social media content to give tips to candidates and voters, debunk myths, and answer common questions about Party policies and procedures
  • Coached candidates for public office through the political party endorsement process, helped them to whip delegate votes, and briefed them on relevant Party by-laws (Result: Both candidates won the Party’s endorsement.)
  • Hosted conference calls and workshops to train and mentor candidates for Party leadership positions (Result: Multiple candidates were elected to leadership positions.)
  • Worked with a local non-profit to train elected officials and candidates for public office on effective social media usage for political campaigns, with an emphasis on how to provide value and create compelling stories

EVENT SUPPORT AND VOLUNTEER COORDINATION/RECRUITMENT

  • Trained dozens of event volunteers for various roles at conventions, awards dinners, endorsement meetings, and elections
  • Worked in high-pressure environments with an all-volunteer staff to lead efficient, accurate, and transparent ballot counts (ranging from 100 to 800+ ballots) for Party leadership positions
  • Shadowed candidates for public office at major events (such as conventions) to provide support—such as introducing them to potential supporters, taking photos, handing out promotional materials, and updating social media accounts on the fly
  • Staffed registration tables at events to create a positive first impression for guests and VIPs and ensure an organized, efficient, and welcoming experience

GRAPHIC DESIGN AND PHOTOGRAPHY

  • Worked with graphic designers and printers to get promotional materials created for political campaigns, political organizations, non-profits, and small businesses
  • Designed promotional flyers for everything from fundraisers to book signings
  • Created graphics for t-shirts, greeting cards, stickers, and business cards
  • Photographed elected officials, candidates for public office, and VIPs at awards dinners, conventions, and fundraisers
  • Staged and photographed products for online store listings and promotions/ads

August 2020 – November 2020

Yu for Irvine School Board 2020

VIRTUAL ASSISTANT

  • Website setup: registered the domain name, installed WordPress, set up plug-ins, worked on search engine optimization and accessibility, and helped troubleshoot website issues as they came up
  • Photography: shot portraits of the candidate for use on campaign materials and social media
  • Social media marketing: created content and a content calendar for the candidate to use on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as needed

Outcome: The candidate won. 🙂

October 2019 – March 2020

Grandma Lucy’s

CUSTOMER SERVICE SUPPORT

  • Customer support: logged and resolved customer complaints to maintain customer loyalty and brand reputation, answered questions about the company’s products and product availability, processed occasional phone orders, took responsibility for the Frequent Buyer Program to ensure customer rewards were sent out promptly
  • Office support: assisted the Director of Operations with special projects as needed, documented policies and procedures to create more uniform and streamlined processes, updated the available inventory in Shopify, maintained the company’s internal Frequently Asked Questions for staff members to refer to when responding to common inquiries

September 2008 – April 2019

Law Offices of Steven R. Young, Steve Young for Congress, and California Democratic Party Region 18 Director Steve Young

MARKETING, EVENTS, OUTREACH, AND SPECIAL PROJECTS

  • Event planning and support: booked venues, scheduled guest speakers, recruited and trained volunteers, created the agenda, prepared presentations and handouts, drafted talking points for Mr. Young, designed promotional flyers and invitations, greeted and checked in attendees and VIPs, followed up with attendees after the event , handled other logistics as needed (food, signage, supplies, giveaways, etc.)
  • Membership Director: acted as a liaison between the state Democratic Party and local political organizations, provided support to 100+ Region 18 delegates, presented reports at central committee and executive board meetings on Mr. Young’s behalf, attended events throughout the county to keep delegates and local leaders updated on state Party news, recruited quality candidates to fill vacancies, traveled to Sacramento for conventions and executive board meetings as needed
  • Outreach: registered voters at community events, answered common questions about voting and voter registration, established relationships with local leaders and organizations to accomplish shared goals
  • Fundraising: used direct mail and email to boost the number of small donations
  • Online course creation: designed PowerPoint slides and presentations, recorded and edited videos, supported attendees and Mr. Young during webinars
  • Marketing: used social media channels to promote Mr. Young’s projects, increased traffic to the website through search engine optimization and Facebook advertising, formed relationships with local political bloggers and members of the press, created graphics to support marketing efforts, developed lead magnets for email list building, drafted and edited copy for email blasts and Facebook ads

LAW OFFICE ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

  • Moved the law firm website to WordPress and handled regular updates
  • Ran errands, entered data, filed documents, prepared exhibit logs

August – December 2006

California State University – Long Beach

LIBRARY CIRCULATION DESK STUDENT ASSISTANT

  • Checked books in and out for library patrons
  • Pulled materials for interlibrary loans

June 1996 – January 2002

Wherehouse Entertainment Inc. – Mission Viejo & Laguna Niguel locations

SALES ASSOCIATE, RECEIVING MANAGER, AND ASSISTANT MANAGER TRAINEE

  • Recipient of the 100% Service award for providing excellent customer service
  • Resolved customer disputes to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty
  • Handled loss prevention issues, including the supervision of sales and rental inventories
  • Assisted in training (and retaining) new employees
  • Handled scheduling for all store employees
  • Provided support for new managers and acted as a substitute for management as needed
  • Responsible for all shipping and receiving (using private carriers and UPS), plus maintenance of shipping log books and receiving files

EDUCATION

  • Bachelor of Arts, Political Science (Cum Laude), July 2008 from California State University Long Beach, Long Beach, CA. 
  • Additional training programs: Amy Porterfield’s Digital Course Academy

SOFTWARE

  • Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook
  • Adobe: Photoshop, InDesign, Acrobat, Illustrator, Lightroom
  • Google: Drive, Docs, Calendar, Analytics*, Voice, Campaign URL Builder, My Business*
  • Project management: Slack, Asana, Evernote, Dropbox
  • Web development: WordPress, HTML, CSS*, FTP/FileZilla, DreamHost, 1&1
  • Email Marketing: MailChimp
  • Social media marketing: Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn*, YouTube*
  • Graphics: Adobe Creative Suite, Canva, Procreate for iPad
  • Video editing: Camtasia*
  • E-commerce: Shopify, Etsy
  • Print on demand: Teespring, Threadless, Society6, TeePublic, RedBubble
  • Other:  Yelp*

*limited experience only