We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lisa Snedeker. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lisa below.

Alright, Lisa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Too often the media represents innovation as something magical that only high-flying tech billionaires and upstarts engage in – but the truth is almost every business owner has to regularly innovate in small and big ways in order for their businesses to survive and thrive. Can you share a story that highlights something innovative you’ve done over the course of your career?

Having the ability to reinvent myself over the years is one of the most innovative things I believe I have done over the course of my career. I went from being a small town newspaper reporter and editor to a newswoman for The Associated Press, which at the time was the world’s largest news organization. I then transitioned to doing media relations for Wake Forest University’s business school to becoming Wake Forest Law School’s first director of communications and marketing. I was given the directive to raise the raise the national reputation of the law school with no budget so I created the law school’s initial social media accounts and used them to help promote professors as experts in their respective fields and obtain national media placements. I have continued to do the same and more for Campbell University’s School of Law as well as the University’s Raleigh Campus since moving to Raleigh in 2017.

Lisa, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a communications expert specializing in creating high-quality multimedia content for the web, social and print. A magazine, newspaper and wire service veteran, I excel at media relations and communications as a result of working for more than three decades as a print and broadcast journalist. I have served as a higher-ed administrator for 18 years and have taught communications, journalism, broadcasting, French and English as a Second Language (ESL) at several universities and community colleges.

Specialties: Writing, editing, media relations, social media, communications, marketing

Have you ever had to pivot?

In 2007, the newspaper industry was starting to show its imminent decline and since both my husband and myself were working for newspapers at the time, I realized that one of us needed to pivot and get out of the newspaper business. Since I had taught at universities at the undergraduate and graduate levels and been a department administrator in the past, I decided to get serious about finding a job in academia. I was fortunate to be hired to do media relations for Wake Forest University’s School of Business in August of 2007 and later became the first communications director for Wake Forest University’s School of Law, where I was able to use my skills as a journalist to not only excel media relations but publish two annual alumni magazines and start the school’s social media presence from scratch as well as manage the website content, etc. This led me to my current position today as the Director of Communications and Marketing for Campbell University’s School of Law and the Raleigh Campus.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The following quote, “I hate to write, but I love having written,” has been attributed to Dorothy Parker, and applies to me perfectly. While I must admit I do not like the process of writing, it is most rewarding to have finished writing something of which I am quite proud. But the biggest reward for me comes from someone having read what I have written and letting me know that they were in some way moved emotionally by it or it spurred them in to some type of action. Helping struggling artists by getting their music out there for the masses, such as my blog for The Huffington Post, is also very rewarding.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://wordpress.com/home/musicreporterblog.com, https://halfwaysouth.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lsned/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisa.snedeker/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisasnedeker/
• Twitter: https://x.com/lisa_snedeker/

Image Credits

My headshot is by Karl DeBlaker