Vannessa Margarita Blea

She/Her/Hers
360.402.4077 | vannmblea@gmail.com

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS EXPERIENCE

Social Media Specialist

King County Metro Transit
February 2024 - Present | Seattle, WA

Developing effective social media campaigns to improve the rider experience, increase transit ridership, and/or improve perceptions of Metro. These efforts include copyediting, editing photos and videos, writing scripts, and designing graphics for the social media produced.
To create effective content, I am working with colleagues across the creative, marketing, on-demand services, public affairs, service information, and other teams on social media aspects of projects and campaigns.
Propose and implement paid, targeted social media and/or digital campaigns. Currently, highlights include more than 80k visits from paid ads to our website and a significant increase in survey results for community engagement campaigns for RapidRide K Line, South Link connections, and the Future of Paratransit. Results show a Unique CTR (all) of 13.06% and $0.31 CPC (cost per click) across 26 paid Meta ad campaigns.
Recommending approaches to improve channels, content, and voice across social media and other channels. Developing goals and tracking progress—requesting resources and support as necessary. Currently resulting in a combined net follower growth of 231.3% across all our platforms, an increase of 192.8% engagement on Instagram profiles, and 1,321.7% engagement on LinkedIn; and an increase in engagement rate for X (46.3%), Instagram (162.7%), and LinkedIn (182.5%).

Senior Director of Communications

YMCA of Greater Seattle (YGS)
April 2022 - February 2024 | Seattle, WA

Led the communications strategy for our senior leadership team and more than twelve locations and various departments throughout multiple platforms. This effort included writing and overseeing content for social media, emails, events (scripts, communications, and materials), newsletters, crisis communications, and public relations and media.
Developed a crisis communications cadence, training materials, copy, and graphic templates for PR incidents, childcare incident reports, and inclement weather.
Collaborated on developing an internal HUB to help employees find training resources and editorial calendars for communications, PR templates, marketing, creative, crisis communications and key campaigns.
Developed a monthly volunteer newsletter to engage with more than 7,000 volunteers, which led to an overall increase in recruited volunteers, retention, and volunteer hours.
Oversaw the strategy and implementation of our social media for more than 40 accounts. Developed a team of 17 social media champions across the association to help manage and drive social media content, including developing and providing monthly resources and professional training. This effort helped grow the Y’s social media platforms from April 2022 through November 2023 (compared to the previous period). On Instagram, 17 accounts increased by 755%+ in followers, 212%+ clicks, and 190%+ in engagements. Efforts on LinkedIn resulted in an increase of 425%+ Followers, 570%+ Engagements, 227%+ Impressions, 167%+ Page Views, and 901%+ Clicks.
Built relationships with local reporters and media outlets by developing connections between department subject matter experts and reporter beats. This also included media training volunteers and staff for media interviews. In 2023, helped grow our media strategy, increasing by 17%+ mentions (2.19k vs. 1.87k in 2022), 30%+ reach (1.06B vs. 820M in 2022), 64%+ positive sentiment (41 rating vs. 25 rating in 2022)
Led communications strategy for our annual Changemakers luncheon during 2022 and 2023, including email communications, co-producing video content, running PowerPoints during events, coordinating speakers and performers, writing the event script, and preparing speaker materials.
Led marketing and communications for the Equity and Justice Center of Excellence, including creating a brand new website, HUB, for external visitors to learn more about the Y’s efforts toward social justice.

Senior Brand Marketing Director

Girl Scouts of Western Washington (GSWW)
January 2021 - April 2022 | Seattle, WA

PR & Media

Led the brand voice in PR and Media. Represented the brand during crises and key marketing campaigns by appearing in interviews, articles, and on the radio. Media trained Girl Scouts, troop leaders, volunteers, and staff for media interviews.
Developed organizational-wide communications plans and resources, including story pitch templates and guidelines so staff could develop and present PR pitches to local media.
Developed crisis communications plans and playbooks.
Created an in-depth database of local business owners, influencers, media, and non-profit connections that related to the Girl Scout mission and strengthened relationships through media kits, meetings, and collaborations.
Helped grow social media in 2020-2021. On Facebook, we increased by 10%+ followers, 325%+ engagement, and 138%+ impressions. On Instagram, we increased by 38%+ followers, 47%+ engagement, and 249%+ impressions. I also helped manage and train department-led internal Facebook groups.

Team and Organizational Development

Developed a one-stop brand hub for internal employees to gather content for marketing events and campaigns. Employees could also review training, get access to templates, and find photos through a fully tagged and categorized photo library.
Helped build a Canva template library and oversaw a learning development track of brand marketing and storytelling for more than half of our employees, which included instructing and mentoring two managers as they developed facilitator skills.
In a 2022 employee satisfaction survey, the marketing team recorded having the highest sense of employee satisfaction and respect for leadership in the council.
Developed an internal communications cadence for staff and board members to gain a greater sense of collaboration and accountability in cross-departmental efforts and strategic priorities.
Project managed extensive inter-departmental projects for the marketing team.
Managed a professional duo and a team of three temps. Recruited and developed a group of fifteen volunteer content creators. Trained and hired a digital marketing team of three.
Championed for dismantling systemic and institutional racism and developed a cross-departmental committee to review equity and justice-themed content. Helped develop plans that would result in equitable experiences for all Girl Scouts.

Branding and Messaging

Directed and implemented creative strategies based on revenue goals and data-driven insights.
Helped redesign, in collaboration with the Digital Marketing Director, the front-end user experience of our entire website.
Led the organization through a national-led brand refresh of all marketing materials, including training organizational-wide staff on a new brand voice and how to use new brand materials.
Monitored the brand identity, created visual assets for GSWW, and led the organization through a national-led brand refresh of all marketing materials, including training organizational-wide staff on a new brand voice and how to use new brand materials.
Led and project-managed the branding team to create all the visual collateral, advertising, PR event materials, and social media produced for GSWW.
Managed and wrote editorial pieces, including key messaging for the CEO and senior leadership, event scripts, social media, emails, blogs, and more.
Directed the overhaul and redesign of segmented digital newsletters for donors, youth and parents, volunteers, and specific age groups.
Art-directed photo and video shoots with a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Senior Graphic Designer

Girl Scouts of Western Washington (GSWW)
November 2019 - January 2021

I led the visual branding team to create all the graphics for materials and collateral produced for GSWW, including printed material, video, photos, advertising, and social media. I managed our social media accounts, content, and copy. I managed extensive graphic projects, PR events, and art-directed photo shoots and videos. I also led and developed the marketing materials for Girl Scouts at Home, a program developed during the pandemic, which included creating digital materials, new website graphics, and content for Girl Scouts to access programming virtually.

Graphic Designer

Girl Scouts of Western Washington (GSWW)
May 2018 - November 2019

I was responsible for monitoring our brand identity and creating all the visual assets for GSWW. The visual aids included printed mailings, event designs and collateral, social media visuals, motion graphics, recruitment materials, and financial reports. I also wrote copy for stories and social media. I was the project manager for extensive projects, PR events, and art-directed photoshoots and videos.

Multimedia Designer

Freelance - Self-Employed
2015 - Present | Seattle, WA

Marketing Manager

Pilates On 10th
September 2017 - January 2019 | Seattle, WA

Managed marketing, customer experience, website UX design and updates, and social media content strategy. Implemented strategic marketing campaigns based on the needs of a small B2C business.

Multimedia Producer

DataSphere Technologies - Sinclair Broadcasting Group
July 2016 - September 2017 | Bellevue, WA

Led a team of eight producers and managed quality control and creative direction. Produced ads, montage videos, and websites for over a thousand small businesses nationwide. Named top producer within four months of employment.

INTERNSHIPS

Production Intern

Screaming Flea Productions
June 2015 - September 2015 | Tukwila, WA

Helped with assistant editing and scriptwriting. Also worked as a pre and post-production assistant editor.

Art Department Intern

Feature Film, Captain Fantastic
June 2014 - September 2014 | Woodinville, WA

Created props for a feature film, assisted with financing, set decorated, and ran props on set during filming.

OTHER EXPERIENCE

Career Coach & Mentor

Success Cohorts
Falls 2022, 2023, and 2024 | Seattle, WA

Coaching early-career individuals from diverse and historically underrepresented communities. I help young professionals by:

Easing the often-bumpy transition from school to work.
Providing a safe space for open dialog and group problem-solving.
Building confidence and development of members’ voices.
Bettering understanding of workplace environment.
Encouraging connections and networking.

Admin Assistant

Cornish College of the Arts Admissions Office
March 2013 - March 2016 | Seattle, WA

Technology Coordinator

Wallingford Boys and Girls Club
March 2013 - March 2016 | Seattle, WA

EDUCATION

Cornish College of the Arts

September 2012 - May 2016 | Seattle, WA BFA Design | Magna Cum Laude | Merit Scholar

PROJECTS & AWARDS

Dia De Los Muertos
321 Foto | 2017 Tacoma Art Museum: Charity Photo Booth Art Installation
Diversity Screenplay Showcase 2017
SAG-AFTRA & NWSG
Happy Together/Felices Juntos 2015
International Poster Show in Cuba, Named “POSTER OF THE WEEK” by the Center of Political Graphics
123 Show 2013-2015
Cornish College of the Arts

SKILLS

Design and Creative Skills…more than twelve years of:

art experience, including illustration, graphic design, painting, book arts, and print arts.
video production skills, including photography, videography, script writing, editing, and storyboarding.
working with digital design programs, including the Adobe Creative Suite (Adobe Acrobat, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere, After Effects, Photoshop, and Lightroom) and Canva.

Marketing and PR Skills…more than seven years of experience:

using social media, crisis, and public relations management tools such as Buffer, SproutSocial, CoSchedule, RAVE alerts, and Meltwater.
using email marketing and CRM tools such as Salesforce, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Greater Giving, and Mailchimp.
of data analysis experience, using web and tracking tools such as heatmap tracking, UTMs, Bitly, Google Analytics, survey results, and user testing and polling.
managing community partners, community relations, media relations, and vendors, working with procurement and print and SWAG vendors.

Project Management…more than twelve years of:

project management, scheduling, and administrative experience using Microsoft Office programs, including Access, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Teams, Notebook, Planner, and Outlook. Other project management tools include Asana (with Microsoft Forms integrations), Smartsheets, and FreshService.

Leadership and Interpersonal Skills…more than seven years of:

leading and building teams of creatives while creating a collaborative workspace, encouraging teamwork, and providing a mutual incentive to succeed.
experience strategizing, adapting, and collaborating with cross-departmental leads.
experience mentoring and career coaching my direct reports and mentees while approaching obstacles with culturally relevant thinking.