Meet Sarah Cords, Gaslight Creative’s newest Marketing Strategist:
A Minnesota girl through and through, I was born and raised in St. Stephen, Minnesota. Growing up, I enjoyed traveling throughout the country and abroad, spending time at our lake cabin with family and friends, and being as active as possible. As a child of entrepreneurial parents that– among other business ventures–owned and operated the Country Inn Family Restaurant in Rice for over 16 years, I developed an early appreciation for strong roots within our community and a healthy respect for small businesses.
As I entered college, I wanted to incorporate my love for art and creativity into my career, which made advertising and graphic design a perfect fit. When I discovered the SCTCC program locally, I made the transfer from a fine arts school in Wisconsin. After graduation, I was lucky to work on several freelance graphic design projects while searching for a full-time job. My search ended when I eagerly accepted a corporate graphic design position with a medical supply company in Blaine, Minnesota. This was a great learning experience although I still have nightmares about the “Rizzo Machine” I was in charge of operating for envelope printing.
I later took a position with a magazine publishing group in Maple Grove that I called home for several years. I loved working in publishing; however, this is where I discovered I had a much stronger interest and passion for the marketing account and media side of my work, and less with the actual graphic design side of our industry.
With marriage, children, our first home and two pets coming into the picture, it was time to end my commuting to Maple Grove and spend time closer to home. While focusing primarily on raising my two girls and working freelance, a personal loss inspired the creation and launch of the Greater MN Fight for a Cure organization along with our largest annual fundraising event Casting For A Cure (along with several other smaller events held throughout the year).
Our goal at GMFFC is to raise funds that support local Minnesota residents battling cancer. Personally, I have served as a board member and marketing chairperson as well as the Casting for a Cure event marketing and public relations chairperson. We reached our goal to raise and donate more than $100,000 in five years to benefit cancer prevention, education and resources. The funds raised contributed to efforts such as colon cancer screening kits, the Gorecki Guest House, individual family grants, Quiet Oaks Hospice, prayer blankets, and much, much more.
The experience of creating GMFFC and CFC and serving on a committee of dedicated board members and volunteers renewed my passion for marketing and drove me to seek out new opportunities. This led to taking a position at Johnson Group Marketing in downtown St. Cloud. As a marketing strategist with Johnson Group, each day was fast-paced, unique, and filled to the brim with developing marketing and communications strategies, developing social media campaigns, and understanding fickle consumer trends.
The fall of 2014 brought about another change – a new opportunity and adventure with Gaslight Creative. I’ve been a Marketing Strategist and Digital Media Specialist with Gaslight Creative for more than three months now. Yes, this introduction blog is a bit behind, but I can use the “client work comes first” reason–or maybe my discomfort with writing about myself (either reason works, right!?). I was thrilled to accept this new opportunity and have jumped in two feet first.
With exciting goals for 2015, you will have to keep your eye on Gaslight Creative, because we are on the grow. And if you’re wondering what exactly a Marketing Strategist does, stay tuned, that is fodder for another blog.
Didn’t get enough? Here are some fun facts about me:
– I once held a sea urchin in my bare hands
– I love hiking, camping and water activities
– I enjoy reading, painting and photography in my spare time
– I am a vegetarian and love trying new vegan and veg foods
– I have four pets now, who run our entire household at times
– I am trying to talk my husband into a fifth pet, which would either be a hedgehog or a potbelly pig
– I am simultaneously trying to talk our Gaslight team into adopting a company pet