During our Board’s first planning session back in June 2019, I emphasized that we were part of an AMAzing organization and we were going to “Bring the ‘Zing” to the 2019-2020 season.

I am incredibly proud of how our Board came together and brought the ‘Zing, while having a few zings thrown our way. I want to send my sincere appreciation to this year’s Board, speakers, educators, mentors, volunteers, sponsors, and moderators for giving their time and talents to AMA Richmond.

AMAzing Individuals to Celebrate
Every year, AMA Richmond awards two students with a scholarship on behalf of the Robert R. Barber endowment fund. While we typically would award our scholarship winners at a Signature Speaker luncheon, we celebrated virtually on June 9th with members of our Board and past presidents.

Congratulations to our 2019-2020 scholarship winners:

  • First place – Claire Burke
  • Second place – Alessandra Castaneda

Check out the recording to meet these deserving women and learn more about the scholarship’s namesake Bob Barber, who passed away in September 2019. You can also learn more about winners on our Scholarship page.

Additionally, we present the Golden Candlestick Award annually which recognizes a chapter member for extraordinary volunteerism. This award has been presented since 1974, and we weren’t going to let a pandemic break the streak.

This year, we had two Board members who were both incredibly deserving of this award:

  • Connie Dye – Director of Finance – 7x board member, including AMA President ’09-10
  • Barbara Slatcher – VP of Sponsorship – 8x board member

Connie and Barbara’s work in Finances and Sponsorship, respectively, has strengthened our chapter and even allowed us to use our budget surplus to donate to RVA Makers’ PPE project in April.

We had many successes this year while overcoming some hurdles, and I’m humbled to have led the Board as president. The 2020-2021 season welcomes the leadership of Alex Mercer who will continue AMA’s mission. We’ve come together as a community to support each other, engage in conversation, and provide education and training in our industry. As we start our new season, we are working on improving our Diversity, Inclusion and Equity strategies to strengthen our chapter and continue to be the essential community for all marketers in the Richmond area to learn, connect, serve and grow.

Stay Strong. Stay Healthy. Stay Safe.
Be kind to yourself & others and always be AMAzing!

 
Our chapter provided a resource last week with the Teach Me How webinar “How to Lead in Crisis”, led by executive coach, Danessa Knaupp. The presentation included leadership advice applicable for today and tomorrow, not just in times of crisis. I’ve included some downloadable takeaways from her presentation and book, “Naked at Work, a Leaders Guide to Fearless Authenticity”. (Thank you to our sponsor, Dotted Line, for designing these backgrounds!) 
 
Many of the core themes Danessa touched on were echoed in this weekend’s AMA Leadership Summit. (Background, AMA Leadership Summit is the annual conference gathering together leaders of AMA chapters from all over North America. The goal is to learn about new tools and offerings from leading marketers and colleagues, share ideas between the chapters, and implement them in our home chapters.) 
 
Russ Klein, the CEO of the American Marketing Association, capped things off with the sentiment:

“Marketers will be needed, more than ever, at all levels to rekindle growth and recovery of the lost economic value and financial stability across every community on the planet.”

Russ, volunteer AMA leaders, and AMA’s Support Center championed this message throughout the weekend–almost as though they were rallying a team to storm the field and win the finals. I was energized by the community and passion I experienced throughout the weekend and want to share a few thoughts about our role as marketers:
 
We are all leaders. 
We are communicators. 
We are educators. 
We are helpers. 

We have the skills to spark inspiration, support, determination, and hope – many of the things necessary to overcome adversity and the crisis our world is facing.
 
With a weekend of learnings and ideas buzzing in our heads, and a renewed commitment to our local marketing community, we want to know: How can we support YOU – the local marketer? How can we embody our mission to be the vital community for Richmond Region marketers to connect, learn, serve, and grow? Drop us a line at info@amarichmond.org and let us know what’s most important or valuable to you.
 
NOTE: You can also learn more about accessing the “Teach Me How to Lead in Crisis” replay, or some of our other recorded events, by emailing us at info@amarichmond.org.