About Me
Hi! Welcome to my page. I appreciate you taking the time to visit and read a bit about me! My career hasn't exactly been linear (to say the least), but it is an interesting tale, full of twists and turns - let me try to break down the phases of my professional life, and hopefully shed some light on how I got to where I am today.
I earned a BA in Public Affairs Journalism from Ohio State in 2007. I wanted to be a journalist after graduation (hence the major), however, I was told over and over again that it would be impossible to get a job, and that I should have a backup plan if I wanted to survive after college. Survival was my number one goal then, as it is for so many college students, so I tried to gain as much professional experience as I could during my time at OSU. I took on many internships, including roles with some great companies like Sports Illustrated, Paramount Pictures, and Good Morning America. These were all marketing and promotions positions, and after college I ended up in San Francisco working for a college promotions company. called University Pipeline. I worked there for 2 years, managing promotional events across campuses nationwide before switching to a sales role where I got to design promotional events and pitch ideas to potential clients. It was a fun job, and a great fit for me coming right out of college.
My husband and I then made the decision in 2010 to pause our careers and backpack around the world. We were young, with no children and just enough savings to make it happen, so we sold almost all of our possessions, flew to London and bought round-the-world plane tickets. We traveled through 30 countries in 10 months, and it changed my life. That experience shaped me into the person I am today, and I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to see the world at such a young age.
Shortly after returning to the US, my husband landed a job at a tech startup in Boston.. The economy was still recovering from the 2008 market collapse, so I settled for an account executive position at what can best be described as a junk mail company. It was soul-sucking, especially after returning from my backpacking trip when I saw the real problems of the world. After 6 months in that role, I switched careers to become an English as a Second Language teacher. At that time in my life, I wanted to do something meaningful and give back, and I felt I could make a positive difference in the lives of recently-immigrated children.
I earned my MEd from Lesley University in 2013. I taught for 7 years, both in Massachusetts and Ohio (we moved back to Columbus in 2014). Teaching is an incredibly rewarding, exhausting job, and I don't know who learned more during my teaching tenure - me or my students. Regardless, after I had my daughter in 2015, I struggled with having enough energy to give both my students at work and my daughter at home the attention they deserved. When I had my son in 2019, I decided to leave teaching behind, at least for now. If there is massive education reform in the US, perhaps I will return to the field (but I don't see that happening anytime soon).
At the time of my departure from teaching, my friend Lindsey Hoell was starting Dispatch Goods, a sustainability company that partners with grocery and meal delivery businesses to help them launch packaging reuse systems. I approached Lindsey and asked if I could help, not only because I thought it was a good idea, but I also wanted to gain some professional experience outside of education. Lindsey accepted my offer, and we immediately went to work building the company from the ground up.
I did anything and everything for Dispatch, from bookkeeping, creating social media content (my favorite) and beyond. Lindsey often referred to me as the "Swiss Army knife" of the company, doing whatever it was that needed to be done. I was a valuable asset to such an early-stage company - you need hand raisers, and I was the best hand raiser you could ever ask for.
The company grew quickly, and so did my responsibilities. Soon I found myself managing the entire East Coast operations team, and it was a position, I discovered, that I did not want. I was working 60+ hours a week, traveling 50 percent to Baltimore, MD, and I was stripped of all my creative outlets, including social media. In January 2023, I was a shadow of my former self, and I had no time outside of work and being a parent to bring myself back. At that time I made the difficult decision to leave Dispatch to recover from burnout and focus on my family once again.
When I left Dispatch in March of 2023, I wanted to finally take a stab at what I initially wanted to do after college - journalism. I reached out to a writer friend who put me in touch with Cliff Wiltshire, the editor of my local paper, The Clintonville Spotlight. God love Cliff. When I first met him about writing for his paper, our conversation went something like this:
Cliff: "When was the last time you wrote an article?"
Me: "Sixteen years ago."
Cliff: "What do you remember from your journalism classes?"
Me: "Not much!"
Cliff: "Want to write a piece about an upcoming art show in town?"
Me: "Yes!!!"
Since that meeting, I have been a regular contributor to the Clintonville Spotlight, and I have been published in other publications, including The Daily Beast and Matter News. In October 2023, Lindsey asked me to come back to Dispatch to a very part-time digital marketing role. I quickly accepted, as it was a chance to flex my social media muscles once again, and I, of course, want to help the company that I helped build in anyway I can!
And now here we are in late 2024, and I have reached another new phase in my life. My youngest son started all-day kindergarten, and I am ready to back to a full-time role. And this time around, I really want to do something creative. In all my roles throughout my career, I was happiest when I was creating - whether it was a silly reel for Dispatch's Instagram, or a promotional event at University Pipeline, or a story about the new art gallery in my town for the Clintonville Spotlight. Creation feeds my soul, and it is what truly makes me happy. The journey to find a creative role is going to be tough, but so was the journey to get here. I have faced many obstacles in my career, and I am ready to face more!
Thanks again for visiting my page. Feel free to shoot me an email - christywill728@gmail.com if you have any questions or if you want to chat about the plight of the American education system, the resurgence of the milkman, or all news relating to Columbus, Ohio. I am here for all of it.
Cheers to you!
Christy