About

Marketing, Communications, and Events Consultant

Hi! I’m Hannah.

Compelled by a passion for people and storytelling, I have a panoply of experience as a project manager and communications specialist in higher education, public service, non-profits, and the private sector. I have spent time in archives, libraries, academia, and the craft beer industry. Throughout, I remain keen on collaboration, kindness, and knowledge sharing.

My Services

Marketing & Communications

Event Planning & Management

Graphic Design

Project Management

My Experience

Marketing, Communications, Project Management, and Events Consultant
(2022 – Present)
As a seasoned communicator in the higher education and information sector, I am available to assist clients with graphic design, marketing, communications, and event planning. My consulting portfolio includes projects of all types and sizes and I encourage you to reach out via email with any questions or inquiries (hballard88@gmail.com).

Below are a selection of services that I have provided to clients:

soliciting and designing graphics for multi-channel campaigns (web, print, social media, and newsletters)
writing advocacy kits for Boards and other organizational stakeholders
assisting with language and messaging for web, social, and print
designing publications for web and print distribution
writing communications plans for multi-channel campaigns to raise awareness, generate revenue, and build goodwill

Director of Communications at Educopia Institute
(2017 – 2022)
In this role, I designed, organized, implemented, and continually evaluated a communications strategy for a growing organization. I served four collaborative communities (each with hundreds of academic partners) and several grant-funded research projects. For each project and community, I provided communications strategy, managed the portfolio and calendar in Asana, created and staged content, updated websites, created e-newsletters, managed social media accounts, undertook design projects of all sizes, and analyzed analytics data to improve practices moving forward. Essentially, I was a one-stop shop for all things communications. I also participated in the planning and implementation of multiple virtual and in-person conferences including the Library Publishing Forum and the BitCurator Users Forum.

From 2017-2018, I served as Project Manager for the Library Publishing Curriculum initiative—a grant-funded effort to help libraries create or improve their in-house publishing programs.

Project Manager at Brewers Association (Contract)
(2017)
Working closely with Charlie Papazian, I indexed over one-hundred interviews with pioneers of the craft beer industry, including Sam Calagione, Jim Koch, Garret Oliver, and others. As project researcher, I drew on my background in writing, research, and archives to create thematic tags and metadata so that future generations will be able to understand the beginnings of the craft beer industry and its incredible evolution over the past four decades.

Marketing and Events Coordinator at Bier Station (Contract)
(2017)
At Bier Station—an intimate, socially conscious craft beer bar in Kansas City, MO—I assisted with internal and external marketing activities, events, and social media. I helped plan, organize, and execute a series of fundraisers that raised over $50,000 for charity in 2017. I also oversaw Bier Station’s Green Dragon Room series, which hosted a number of highly attended, politically oriented events.

Selected achievements:

Develop, plan, and manage a variety of events, including fundraisers, speaker series, happy hours, customer reservations, and community outreach programs.
Collaborate with craft beer and non-profit community to foster partnerships and secure beer donations for events.
Create promotional materials to drive attendance at Bier Station events, including, but not limited to, social media posts, photographs, flyers, and digital graphics.
Serve as key point of contact for customer questions, comments, reviews, and feedback.

Project Manager at The University of Texas at Austin
(2014 – 2016)
Project Manager for UT Archives Education Project
A collaborative project that spanned archives, academic departments, and the Center for Teaching and Learning at UT-Austin, the UT Archives Education Project sought to create a curriculum that improved the way that primary source research skills were taught in the undergraduate classroom. As Project Manager, I I oversaw every aspect of the project, working with and between a diverse set of stakeholders, including professors, honors students, archivists, and teaching professionals.

Selected achievements:

Coordinated between a twenty-person team and planned all project activities and events; monitored project schedules and deadlines.
Created pedagogically grounded, research-focused assignments for undergraduates to assess curriculum effectiveness.
Documented project findings; created project reports.

Project Manager for William P. Clements Texas Papers Project
In this position, I managed all aspects of a major digital history project with an extensive budget and a sizable staff. As one of my first significant management experiences, I learned a great deal about how to set and achieve goals, and how to motivate a very diverse staff in service of those aims.

Selected achievements:

Organized and managed all project activities including the hiring and supervision of seven staff members to ensure that all project goals were met on time, on budget, and on spec.
Crafted a vision for the final project website that included 75,000 pages of original archival documents supported by innovative research tools and scholarly content.
Wrote successful grant proposals and reports to funding agencies that resulted in awards totaling over $1,000,000.
Coordinated between multiple parties involved with the project including funding agencies, the Briscoe Center, Texas A&M University, and the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
Created criteria to guide the staff’s selection of primary source documents to be included on the website; evaluated and selected documents for inclusion on the website.
Worked with the Briscoe Center’s Web Team to design Drupal web interface; worked with the Center’s Digital Archivist to implement a new MODS metadata profile.

Littlefield Lectures Marketing and Event Coordinator
Charged with planning and promoting a series of lectures, this position was incredibly detail oriented and taught me how to manage the many moving pieces that accompany organizing a major event. I served as the primary point of contact for all lecture-related questions and concerns and planned all aspects of the lecture series that included multiple luncheons, a campus tour, and two talks that attracted over two-hundred guests on each night.

Project Manager at the Kansas City Public Library
(2011 – 2012)
My first foray into project management taught me to attend to details, to listen closely and actively, and to synthesize and mirror back needs to ensure that the team stays on the same page.

Selected achievements:

Utilized project management software and techniques to ensure that all project deliverables were completed on time and on budget
Coordinated between the multiple parties involved with the project: a large library staff, a board of 12 scholarly advisors, 50 contributing institutions, and a project advisory board
Hired and oversaw the daily workflow of two project associates
Managed and created content for Twitter and a promotional blog
Researched, cataloged, and digitized archival collections related to the Civil War in Kansas and Missouri