Having spent almost 20 years working for large corporations, I am turning my focus toward supporting small businesses. The transition started when we moved home again, back to the Buffalo-Niagara region of New York State. I support the small businesses in my area, and really want to see them thrive! My business name, Grand Island Roots, is based on my hometown –> Grand Island New York.
I have spent a good portion of my life growing the business for some of the largest life science companies. I work in marketing and have a lot of experience learning about the markets, building products to sell, then marketing & selling them. I suppose here I can admit I am old enough to have written some of the first online product catalogs when ecommerce was first being established (seriously, it was thousands of pages). If you want to know about that side of me, read my LinkedIn profile, but I hope what you see there is my personal brand of encouraging and supporting others. I am most proud of the time I spend mentoring and coaching others across a variety of business and career topics. As a mom of five, my brain is really wired to help people and take care of them. So in this next stage of my life I am using my deep understanding of marketing fundamentals and passion for small business to help businesses grow and meet their goals.
I embrace lifelong learning and pursuing as many experiences as possible. I enjoy using my creative talents, and have created art in a large variety of media. Recently, I developed my digital drawing skills so I can create graphic illustrations using a variety of digital programs. These capabilities enable me to support small businesses with their visual elements because I am confident this provides a high return on the investment.
I currently own and operate two other small (micro) businesses. My first business, Brick-Mom of Five, is a small digital shop selling used Lego using the Bricklink platform. My second business, GrandIslandRoots, is a small shop focused on locally-themed gifts and digital designs mostly using the Etsy and Facebook platforms.
Business experience:
7 years writing and implementing new business strategy
10 years leading portfolio – based business growth
10 years gathering & analyzing market & competitive intelligence
13 years working in highly technical and regulated industry
17 years handling confidential information and documented disclosures
Marketing experience:
7 years implementing eCommerce across a variety of site platforms
11 years designing and implementing marketing campaigns
12 years writing digital marketing content, blogs and websites
12 years writing and implementing digital marketing strategies
14 years driving integration of new company name, brand or visuals
Creative Experience:
Led 2 visualization strategies for life science companies
50+ local WNY graphic illustrations drawn in Inkscape
30+ products made using the graphics in unique designs
>10,000 PowerPoint slides designed for visual impact
1,000’s of photobook page designs for personal use
Skillset snapshot
Instant access to a broad ranges of skills to grow your business!
- Business strategy
- Business management
- Market research
- Competitive analysis
- Business development
- Pricing strategy
- Product ideation
- Naming
- Product development
- Project management
- Facilitation
- Prioritization
- Budgeting
- Project Management
- Marketing strategy
- Digital marketing
- Marketing campaigns
- Content creation
- Graphic illustration
- Graphic design
- Web design
- Template design
- Brands & Names
- Social media
- Event planning
- eCommerce
- New product launch
- Packaging & shipping
- WordPress
- Inkscape
- BioRender
- MS Powerpoint
- MS Word
- MS Excel
- MS Access
- MS Project
- Facebook Marketplace
- Shopify
- Salesforce
- Bricklink
- Etsy
Grand Island Roots 