alumni news

AWC leaders set goals for 2011-12

By Amanda Weber
August 31, 2011

When Tina Christiansen (BA, 1988) decided to start her own business, Write As Rain Communications, in 2005, she found the support of the Association for Women in Communications critical to her success. “It provided some of the inspiration to go out on my own, and it’s also been one of the ways that I’ve gotten a lot of my clients, through referrals from AWC members,” she said. Today, the alumna is president of the Seattle chapter and, along with a committed board, six of whom are UW Communication alumnae, she plans on refreshing communication efforts and increasing student and professional membership.

Cathy Stevens (BA, 1969) is serving as the VP recording secretary; Julie Gangler (BA, 1969) works as the VP of marketing and communications; Jeannine Blue Lupton (BA, 1977) and Tessa Weber (BA, 2011) are co-VPs of student affairs; and Lorraine Howell (BA, 1982) is working as the chair of the Holiday Auction.

For 102 years, volunteers like them have ensured that women and men (welcomed in 1972), have the support they need along their journeys to successful and fulfilling careers in communication. Along with the goals to promote career advancement and high professional standards, this diverse group of women intends to raise the bar when it comes to new membership, fundraising, and student interaction.

On the agenda this season is the Fall Kickoff in November, when members will visit student chapters at UW and Washington State University. “We’re going to do a social night to talk to the students,” Lupton said. “We also have a shadowing project where young women in communications can shadow one of us at our jobs. It’s really an excellent opportunity for them because they get access to women in the profession that they wouldn’t have access to otherwise.”

Another big event is the Holiday Auction, taking place Dec. 7 at the Seattle Yacht Club. The professional chapter is already working hard on the auction, searching for donations. “Everything from restaurant gift certificates, spa gift certificates, hotel night stays, baskets, baked goods, anything we could put in our auction,” Howell said. The goal is to raise $4,000 or more for student scholarships, which will be awarded in June.

For communicators interested in joining the AWC, Gangler said it’s simple. “All you have to do is contact AWC and say you want to join. Every two months there’s a meeting, and usually a program with an educational component.” But to get the value from membership, she also mentions that it’s important to participate as much as possible. “One has to actively put oneself out there. Nothing comes to you. You have to go out and make it happen.”

Read more about this fantastic group of AWC leaders, and UW Communication alumnae:

If you’re a student and want to join the AWC, contact Jessica Partnow, student chapter advisor, at jpartnow@uw.edu

Tina Christiansen: Copywriter in Charge

The president of the Seattle chapter of the Association for Women in Communication, Tina Christiansen (BA, 1988) has been a member for more than 21 years. She has had many roles in the association, working as the historian, recording secretary, and on the newsletter committee. “It’s interesting to be in a different role each time,” she said. “It helps you really get to know people and the organization.” As the president, she is devoting a lot of time to her plans for moving the association into the future. While overseeing all operations of the Seattle chapter, she plans to “establish some groundwork for a plan on moving forward, as our membership changes and our needs change.”

Since 2005, Christiansen has been operating her own copywriting company, Write As Rain Communications. Working as a freelance writer, some of her most recent clients are the Seattle School District, Federal Way School District, and Turk’s Head. Christiansen said she really enjoys being her own boss and choosing her projects, but working from home requires a lot of motivation. The AWC has been great for providing that kind of support. “AWC has become even more important in a lot of ways since I’ve been working on my own because I don’t have the day-to-day people to bounce ideas off of,” she said. “When I need to meet for coffee or talk about ideas, a lot of the times it’s with AWC members.”

This kind of support system is what makes AWC stand out from other professional organizations, no matter what stage in your career, Christiansen said. “It’s not just people who are doing business together; it is people getting to know each other.”

Cathy Stevens: Marketing Maven

Cathy Stevens (BA, 1969) has had an exciting career in the advertising world. However, her life would have gone a totally different direction had a professor not helped her to see how successful she could become by switching her major.
“I actually started out in regular journalism. Then, one of my professors called me in one day and said, ‘Cathy I just want to let you know that, the way things are now, if you wanted to work for a newspaper there are very few women in the major newsrooms. There’s a lot more opportunity right now for women in the advertising field, and you might enjoy that better.’”

After doing some research, Stevens agreed and she’s been happy with that decision ever since. “I’m glad I took his advice. I’ve found it to be a very interesting career.” Over the years, Stevens has worked for Sunset Magazine, Procter & Gamble, several large advertising agencies and she ran her own company, Marketing Partners, along with longtime friend and fellow UW Communication alumna, Wendy Cone Dore (BA, 1973).

Stevens is now retired, but she is still active with the AWC. She serves the Seattle Chapter as the VP recording secretary, but she’s also worked as the president, and the VP of f inance. She says her membership with AWC has been extremely beneficial. She’s learned a lot from women who have become close friends over the years. “If I ever had a question or a problem, I could always pick up the phone and call one of the members and know they would be more than happy to help me if they could,” she said.

As the AWC works with new students this year, she hopes they will realize the value of membership. “You should take advantage of the opportunities, and the extra professional development offered,” she said. “Once you graduate, that doesn’t mean you’re going to stop learning. You need to keep up to date on what is happening in the industry and marketplace. The AWC really helps you do that.”

Julie Gangler: Wandering Wordsmith

Julie Gangler (BA, 1969) has done a lot of job-hopping in her career — by intent, when staying with one company was the norm during the 1970s and 1980s. She says every job change provided a great opportunity: “I found each job move enhanced my skills and advanced my career.”

Gangler joined AWC as a junior in college, when it was known as Theta Sigma Phi. Starting as a staff writer for Sunset Magazine upon graduation, she moved on to be the writer/editor of employee newspapers at AT&T Long Lines in San Francisco and then Eastern Airlines in Miami. She transitioned into public relations and worked for the Cole & Weber/Ogilvy & Mather agency, then was the first PR director for Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants when the company was a start-up. For the past 16 years, she has focused on travel and tourism media relations, working for the Tacoma Regional Convention & Visitors Bureau until 2008 and now the Snohomish County Tourism Bureau.

Gangler said the Association for Women in Communications has played an integral part in her career path because of the connections and support it provides to members. “Currently, I work on contract and freelance, so I work from home and really appreciate the advantage of networking,” said Gangler. “AWC is an excellent way to meet other women and connect with them on both business and personal levels.”

As co-VP of marketing and communications, Gangler encourages other women in communications to get involved in AWC. “Go to the meetings, volunteer for a committee or serve on the board. The more involved you become, the more people you connect with — and this is especially important for students just entering the professional world and those seeking career transitions. Take the initiative, and it will pay off!”

Jeannine Blue Lupton: Poet for Public Affairs

For 34 years, Jeannine Blue Lupton (BA, 1977) has been working in the business of media relations. She spent seven of those years working for the National Park Service. S he now works for the U.S. Department of Labor, covering issues in Washington state, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska. Lupton is looking forward to retirement now, but she says that she wouldn’t even have her job had it not been for the AWC.

She joined in 1981, on advice from her mother, Virginia Blue. While working for the National Park Service, she did volunteer work with the Association, writing newsletters and working on other assignments. Those writing samples are what helped to land her the job with the Department of Labor. “I’m certain it pushed me over to get the job,” said Lupton. “My degree at UW prepared me for that kind of work. I use it in my job because I am writing press releases, public service announcements, and dealing with the media all the time.”

Lupton has served as AWC Seattle chapter president and is currently serving as co-VP of student affairs. “We work closely with the university chapter, and also the student chapter at Washington State University in Pullman,” she said. “We want to increase student membership, and have a presence with the student chapters.” Lupton says that the Fall Kickoff is the perfect time for students to become involved as, looking back on her own experience, it can have a great influence on their future careers, and their lives in general.

“One thing about the AWC is they’re there for you when you’re young, in the middle of your career; we’ve had women who step out for a while to raise children, and we’re there to support them when they come back into the field,” she said. “I am just very fortunate that I had the AWC pretty much from the beginning. It’s been a very valuable experience for me.”

Tessa Weber: Fresh Out of College

Tessa Weber (BA, 2011) joined the AWC student chapter during her sophomore year in college. She finished up her senior year in the Department of Communication as president of the student chapter, and now she serves as co-VP of student affairs for the Seattle Professional Chapter.

 In her new role with the AWC, she looks forward to interacting with the student chapter, and encouraging membership to more communication students. “It’s really fun because I’m still able to connect with the student chapter, for which I’m really passionate,” she said. “Any guidance they need they’ll be able to directly contact us, and we’ll figure it out together.”

Weber is actively pursuing a career in event planning, and she says that the AWC has played a big part in starting her off in the right direction. “I’ve been able to get volunteer opportunities through it; I’ve received internships, so it’s definitely granted not only an aspect of camaraderie, but also something to better my future in the professional world.”

Lorraine Howell: A Career Straight From a Movie Script

Lorraine Howell (BA, 1982) broke into the business of television production by starting at the bottom, working as an intern at KIRO-TV. She then moved to San Francisco where she began her climb up the corporate ladder at KPIX, the CBS affiliate, working in a clerical position.

In her off hours, she volunteered for production jobs. When a job opened up on a show called People Are Talking, she jumped on it. “From there I started out as a production assistant and worked my way into becoming producer.” Howell’s specialty was hard-edge newsmaker stories. She covered stories like the 1989 San Francisco earthquake, the 50th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge, and the OJ Simpson trial.

It was in 1998 that she joined AWC, after moving back to Seattle. She started her own business in media skills training, and the AWC proved to be a big support for her goals. “I wanted to join a group of people who would understand the business I was trying to start, and they were immediately welcoming,” Howell said.

For the second year in a row, Howell is serving as the chair of the Holiday Auction. “I lead a committee of wonderful volunteers. We’re raising money for scholarships for students studying communications in Washington state,” she said. “For some it makes a difference between being able to go to school or not.”

Howell is a strong believer in the AWC and what it can do for its members, and she is hopeful that membership will increase. She also makes a point to clarify that men are welcome too. “That rule changed in the '70s. One of the first male members was Al Neuharth, the founder of USA Today,” she said. “At the local level, it’s that personal networking and interaction. Things are happening so fast now, that it’s really important to stay connected — not just through the Internet but face to face.”