Candidates in the Crowd: Dana Thomas

As the?#ShuftanJobReport?roars with nearly 2,200 subscribers, I am rolling out my second phase to help people. I post the report on M/W/F and want to use T/Th to feature excellent candidates. I built this community as a way of bringing together job searchers and those who are hiring. As an homage to Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd," I rolled out "Candidates in the Crowd."This is a white space for candidates to discuss their previous work, hopes, and dreams and show off anything to the network. The candidate will capture a hiring manager's attention, and good things will happen.

Today, I feature Dana Thomas. Dana spent years working at the center of culture with the NCAA and is behind some of the most splendid marketing creations you will remember. I spent some time chatting with her last week and was impressed with her overall drive, creative ambitions, and her unique perspective on culture and where it's going in society.

She has ambitions to work for an integrated agency that creates captivating campaigns (say that 3x fast) for their clients. A little bit of events, sponsorship, content, and strategy is the perfect recipe for Dana.

I thoroughly enjoyed her submission and recommended that you reach out and start a conversation. It will be one of your organization's best moves this year.

With that said, here is her entry:

Who is Dana Thomas?

I'm an audience-first communicator who bridges the gap between communications and marketing – providing balance between creativity and responsibility.

Wait, that sounds like I don't like fun. I do! I LOVE creative, funny and engaging content! And I also love to deliver it in accurate, thoughtful and intuitive ways that leave the audience wanting more.

The old adage "if a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound?" holds true. Content needs an audience to "make a sound." I focus on finding and meeting an audience where they are and encouraging them to engage with the brand.

We know there are many labels that describe our work: marketing, branding, brand marketing, communications, public relations, social media marketing, social media strategy, media relations, public relations marketer…ok, I made that last one up, but you get the idea. All these titles and functions work to achieve the same goal–prompt an audience to think, feel or do something.

Our mission is to deliver – a product, an idea, an understanding, an awareness or maybe even just a moment of enjoyment. Sometimes we hope we get a "wow, I didn't know that" and to me, that's gold! Even in my experiences with crisis communication and public relations, I've been able to focus on delivering those golden moments while navigating through high pressure situations.

A former mentor always said that as communicators for a national brand, we worked in a high-interest, low-trust environment. He emphasized the importance of being deliberate because we were not going to get the benefit of the doubt if something went wrong. We had to be thoughtful and purposeful with our content. And we had to always weigh risks and rewards when pushing the envelope.

I love introducing the next generation of communicators to that same deliberate, creative process. As an adjunct professor at The Media School at Indiana University, I get to do that while also learning from them - how they consume; what they care about. It's a circular process that informs me as a communicator in a unique way.

So, now I'm ready to work for an innovative brand that values accuracy and leverages my vast experience. There are falling trees that need to be heard. Let's go!

Endnote: job searching can feel lonely and impersonal until a superhero like Dan Shuftan uses his ever-growing platform to gather people together with their unique talents into his very own group of job-hunting Avengers. A million thanks to Dan for giving me his time and space!

More about me and my work: bit.ly/dana-thomas

Let's connect: [email protected]