Blockbuster Marketing: From Entertainment PR to Campus Comms

Full Transcript

[00:00:00] Jaime Hunt: Hi, I'm a higher ed CM O, and I have a confession to make when resume and don't have experience in higher ed. Sometimes I. Trying to understand how they're gonna have their skills transferable to higher education. And the more I've been hiring people who've come from outside of higher ed, the more I'm realizing that working in entertainment, working in an agency, working in a hospital setting, nonprofits, all of those in marketing and uh, public relations.

[00:00:33] There's a lot of transferable skills that translate over to higher education, so I'm really excited to be bringing Alanda Thomas, who is coming to us to talk a little bit about how her background doing entertainment PR has helped her be a better higher education marketer. So I hope you enjoy this show.[00:01:00] 

[00:01:08] Welcome to Confessions of a Higher Ed C M O. The podcast designed for higher education marketers. I'm your host Jamie Hunt, and I am so excited to have this opportunity to share insights and inspiration with Confessions of a Higher Ed C M O. I'm designing a different kind of podcasting experience. With each episode, I'll be bringing in a guest for a deep dive into the challenges.

[00:01:31] And joys we all face in higher education marketing. After each episode, you can join the conversation on Twitter by using the hashtag higher ed cmo. I would love to see this become like a book club, but for a podcast. And be sure to follow me on Twitter at at jamie Hunt imc. That's J A I m E H U N T I M C for more opportunities to connect.[00:02:00] 

[00:02:01] I am delighted to bring Alanda Thomas, who is the Associate Vice President of marketing and Communications at Jackson State University. On the podcast, Alanda is a friend and a a fellow counterpart on the American Marketing Association Higher Education Symposium Planning Committee, which is where we met.

[00:02:21] Welcome to the show, Yolanda. 

[00:02:23] Alonda Thomas: Well, first of all, Jamie, thank you for having me. I've always admired your show, so it's hard for me to believe that I am actually going to be on it. I'm pinching myself and can't wait to share this with my mother. 

[00:02:36] Jaime Hunt: That's awesome. Moms are the best. My mom listens to every episode too.

[00:02:40] Hi, mom. Hey mom. Um, so Yolanda, can you tell us a little bit about your higher ed journey? 

[00:02:47] Alonda Thomas: Sure. Well, I would definitely describe my higher education journey as a winding road. That wouldn't make a lot of sense on paper because every stop along the way took me into a different direction. But [00:03:00] every stop along the way definitely prepared me for what was coming next.

[00:03:04] I began my career in higher education pr actually by chance, because when I graduated from Florida a and m University, I actually had a job lined up to work at a hospital in my hometown of Miami, and I graduated and waited for four months trying to see when that job was going to bring me on. And you know, I was getting restless.

[00:03:27] So one day. As I was looking for other opportunities, 'cause I really didn't understand what was taking so long. The phone rang and it was my old supervisor from Florida a and m University when I worked as a student writer. In the office of Communications there, she was going to take a job to work at North Carolina Central University to run their shop, and she asked me to come work for her as a communication specialist.

[00:03:52] So given that I didn't have anything to do, I said yes, and I literally had never planned on leaving Miami. 'cause obviously it's my, [00:04:00] but it was a great opportunity to spread my wings, you know, get over my fear of leaving home. Try something different. So I said yes and moved. My parents helped me pack up everything and move and, and went to work with her and that's when I got my first taste of actually dealing with national media outlets.

[00:04:21] It just so happened the first year that I was there that Good Morning America was doing some kind of college tour and they were coming to town, but they weren't coming to North Carolina Central University. And so we were trying to figure out who could we contact, how could we get in touch with them to let them know we wanna be a part of this show.

[00:04:39] Don't just go over to the p w I spend some time with us. And I think we were able to at least get on their radar, but that only meant that we were taking our president over to stand in the audience and he'd get a quick one-liner. And after that happened, our president and my boss, they decided to hold a press conference and talk [00:05:00] about how this was such a missed opportunity that the show didn't acknowledge.

[00:05:05] Everything that our university brought to the table and inside I was so like, oh my God, I can't believe you're gonna actually call media to call out a media outlet. I was kind of embarrassed, but they were just demonstrating how important it is to speak truth to power about our relevance and our worthiness to be recognized on national platforms.

[00:05:25] So after they did that, soon after MSNBC's hardball with Chris Matthews called and they wanted to bring the show to campus. So we ended up getting the opportunity to host Chris Matthews in the show in our auditorium, and it was a wonderful event. Obviously the whole National Alumni Association and fans and friends were super proud.

[00:05:49] And we also got a visit by M T V while I was there. It was the show called Crashing With, and this one was, Featuring Andrew wk, who [00:06:00] was a rockstar. And so my boss, given that we were a very small office and by very small office, I mean the two of us, she delegated me to be the person responsible for their visit.

[00:06:13] And remember, I'm like four months outta college, so I didn't know exactly what I needed to do, but I did know that I needed to watch them like a hawk and make sure that anything that they shot, that we would be comfortable. With having that on national television, and it's a good thing I did because as the show was shooting, the producers were constantly trying to get our students to just, you know, fight over Andrew and, you know, fuss and, you know, do things outta character for them.

[00:06:42] And so I had to pull these freshman girls to the side and say, look, whoever you decide to be for this television show is a person that you're gonna be stuck with. After this show leaves, these producers are gonna be able to go home and enjoy the rest of their lives. And you're gonna have to explain to your mom and your family [00:07:00] why you were acting crazy on national television.

[00:07:02] So that was my first opportunity to really be that person to help influence the messaging. I. For the university. Ended up staying there for almost three years, decided to go back to grad school 'cause I still had this bug for entertainment PR in me and I figured that if I went to grad school, I'd be able to be an intern again.

[00:07:24] And get an opportunity to try those things out. So got a fellowship to go to grad school at Florida State University to study integrated marketing communications, and I did my residency with that out in Los Angeles, where I ended up doing an internship with Black Entertainment Television and a small, um, black, um, boutique PR agency called L Ss P r.

[00:07:47] Really made some really good connections that I would go to again and again over the course of the rest of my career. So I had to go back to finish my final semester of grad school [00:08:00] and ended up doing a brief stint in Atlanta at Edelman for about two years. But then I went ahead and took the jump, moved out to la, no job, and ended up landing at Creative Artist Agency.

[00:08:13] Which is one of the largest, um, talent agencies in the world. I worked in the Speakers Bureau and I got to manage speaking events for Gina Davis, John Liko, John Zamo, and the late Sidney Poitier to name a few. So, Did that for a year and my next job after that was PR. On the last season of the television show, ghost Whisperer, I was working, doing PR on behalf of the production company and not necessarily one of the networks that was involved, but during that time, they had their 100th episode, which is usually a, you wanna make a big deal out of that.

[00:08:49] So I got to help plan the hundredth episode celebration. Cake cutting ceremony on set, red carpet party at night. And that was a really great opportunity. [00:09:00] And then after that show ended, I ended up working with different boutique PR agencies and specializing in black television and film. So I did press for movies like Jumping the Broom and Sparkle, and after about seven years, the first boss that I had, Ms.

[00:09:19] Saunders, who hired me to work at North Carolina Central University. Called me up one day and said she was going back to F M U actually to run their shop and would I wanna come and be her director of media relations. So by seven years I said, you know, I feel like I've actually accomplished some things out here.

[00:09:36] I could bring that to the table. It's my alma mater. Yes, I will move cross country and come worked for you. And I moved, and that was in 2013 and three months after I got there. She decided that she was ready to retire, and I'm like, Ms. Saunders, I just moved cross country to come work for you. Like, what do you mean you're, you're going to retire?

[00:09:59] I need you to stick [00:10:00] around a little longer. And she was like, no, no, no, it's okay. You'll be fine. I talked to the interim president and I just told him that he should make you the next person in charge. Uh, that doesn't make me feel any better. Uh, thank you. But I don't want that job, you know? But she did, and he did.

[00:10:18] He accepted her, um, recommendation and so I ended up at 33 running the office there for about nine months. During a time of transition, he was only interim president. They were considering going in a different direction. Ultimately, they did. So I had to help bring in a new president. I had to deal with homecoming during this time, all the things that happened at a university.

[00:10:43] And again, I had only been three months into the job when all of this suddenly landed into my lap, but I'm really happy about the way I handled that. New leadership came in, and of course, sometimes that means that they decided to go in another direction, which she ultimately ended up doing. And so I ended up [00:11:00] going back into entertainment PR for a while.

[00:11:03] And over the course of time, ended up doing stints at tv. One in Washington, dc. Got to work again with somebody who I had met in Hollywood who was taking the lead role at that job. And so I became a senior PR manager there and did that for about two years before I went to Howard University and did director of public relations for them pandemic hits.

[00:11:27] Boss decides to move on. I end up being kind of interim VP again. But this time during a pandemic and so, um, learned a lot just, um, using a lot of my different skills prior to the pandemic hitting in. When I was working at Howard though, one of the ways I would say that higher education and entertainment really did, um, collaborate was.

[00:11:52] Through films and television projects that wanted to come to the university. So ultimately I ended up at Jackson State University [00:12:00] and still using all of those skills here. 

[00:12:03] Jaime Hunt: That's awesome. Your career has just been amazing, and one of the things I'm really excited to talk to you about is this is, it seems really different, right?

[00:12:13] Like entertainment, pr, university pr, they seem like they're not exactly. The same type of work, but how did your background in entertainment PR influenced how you approach higher education marketing? 

[00:12:27] Alonda Thomas: Well, I, I look at that as it's a journey. We all have a story to tell. We're all the hero in our own movie.

[00:12:35] You know, you are the leading person in your own book, but, um, as a prospective student, you may not be able to imagine the next chapter in your story. That you should be at Jackson State University until you come to visit the campus or live vicariously through somebody else's experience. So I try to keep that in mind with every article that we write, press release, video interview, because I know that some student may be [00:13:00] imagining themselves in the shoes of this particular person that we're talking about, and that is a way for them to really feel like they belong at this particular institution.

[00:13:11] Jaime Hunt: I, I love that. I love this idea of, it's about storytelling. Mm-hmm. And I'm curious about whether you had to adapt your storytelling techniques from the entertainment industry to really communicate the value and mission of higher education. 

[00:13:28] Alonda Thomas: Well, I would say that the toolbox definitely is useful in any industry, and that's kind of why I ended up going into public relations as a major to begin with, is because I could see like, wow, I'm gonna learn this skillset, but I could be in a hospital, I could be in higher ed, I could be in entertainment.

[00:13:48] I hadn't really thought about higher ed. But you know, it's, it's the same thing. You, you're going to learn how to be able to really uplift an institution, an organization, a [00:14:00] company, to show people why they should wanna be connected with this particular organization. I. 

[00:14:06] Jaime Hunt: That's awesome and you've made it your career in higher ed at HBCUs.

[00:14:10] Obviously I'm a huge advocate for HBCUs. I think they play super important role in the higher education landscape, and they really have these rich legacies and really unique stories. Can you kind of discuss how your experience at Entertainment PR has aided you in highlighting and preserving the narratives and legacies that HBCUs have?

[00:14:32] While promoting them to audiences that might not be as familiar with it. 

[00:14:36] Alonda Thomas: Absolutely. So, you know, HBCUs, historically, black colleges and universities were founded to educate formerly enslaved people. And more recently, they're historically known for representing underserved populations to include minorities or first generation college students.

[00:14:53] So in a H in a way, HBCUs are that underdog character that you really wanna see succeed. And [00:15:00] even though we've got smaller budget, We're under-resourced sometimes, and our faculty and staff really are giving each student everything that they've got. So for years, historically, black colleges and universities have been producing some of the top black talent in the country.

[00:15:17] So Thurgood Marshall, Supreme Court Justice went to a H B C U. Eddie Barnes renowned artist, went to A H B C U, Oprah Winfrey Media Mogul, went to an H B C U. Page, secretary of Education, he went to Jackson State and Roy Wood Jr. One of my classmates, went to Florida a and m, and he is a political pundit and comedian.

[00:15:39] I feel like my job was to help the media get invested into the TV show or movie when I was promoting that so that they wanted to write about it and you know, we wanted to go see it in higher education. Even more. It's even more important that we tell these stories about the accomplishments of the students and the faculty.

[00:15:59] I. To demonstrate [00:16:00] the legacy that our students stand on and the heights that they should expect to reach. So recently we were able to do this at Jackson State University by highlighting and profiling one of our students. Who became the first Hispanic drum major? His name is Marvin Meda, and he always wanted to attend Jackson State University because he had heard about our marching band, the Sonic Boom of the South.

[00:16:23] Well, little did he know that when he joined the institution, he became the first, um, Hispanic, um, musician to be in the band, and later on he became the first Hispanic to be a drum major of making history doing that. So even though. I didn't have the resources to do a commercial about Marvin. I knew that we could tell his story.

[00:16:45] Through a press release in a, you know, placing it in prominent places in the local media, and later on we were able to pitch this to Good Morning America, who was thinking about coming to the university for homecoming [00:17:00] last year. And they were so inspired by his story that not only did they feature him, but they flew out his twin brother, his mom, and his high school band director to surprise him live on the show.

[00:17:12] So then we used his story for marketing materials. We recruited at any place that the band would go to travel, like Florida and Texas, where he is from. And yesterday I actually ran into Marvin on campus. He's no longer in the band 'cause he is about to graduate in December, but he's really excited to be graduating and heading to medical school.

[00:17:31] So I, I gave him a plug, shameless plug to go to Howard Medical School if he has the, the chance to do so. 

[00:17:38] Jaime Hunt: That's awesome. I, I love. The culture at HBCUs, like the whole, everybody's there to support each other. Everybody's uplifting each other. And I remember when I was doing a focus group with a group of freshmen when I was at Winston-Salem State, which is at H B C U, we, I asked this, the students like, what did they think college was gonna be like?[00:18:00] 

[00:18:00] And they said, I thought it was gonna be like a different world. Right? I remember saying, that's what I thought college was gonna be too. That was the only like, Sitcom out there. When I was growing up, that was about being a college student and I just, I loved the show, loved the whole thing, and I had absolutely no idea what an H B C U was.

[00:18:19] And then, you know, here 

[00:18:21] Alonda Thomas: comes this show and you could live vicariously and yes, I, I was looking for my Dwayne Way all through college, so I totally understand. 

[00:18:30] Jaime Hunt: What made you choose to go to 

[00:18:32] Alonda Thomas: a u. So my father was a graduate of Bethune Cookman University, which is in Daytona Beach, Florida, but he went to grad school at Florida a and m University.

[00:18:43] But he loves his, uh, undergraduate alma mater. So he would always take us up to Daytona to visit the school. We'd drive through campus, we'd go and visit his old mentor and hang out with her. And by the time it was time to select a college, I felt like I could give tours around [00:19:00] Bethune Cookman. I was like, I do not wanna go there.

[00:19:02] He just, unfortunately, he just did a little too much and I was, I was over it. I was like, but you know, I'll consider your graduate school. Like, let me go take a look at, you know, fam, he, he never took me to visit fam u and so we went up to Tallahassee. I, I, I just applied and my mother took me up for a trip and in that same weekend I was visiting Florida State.

[00:19:24] Who I was getting some money from, and a M U who I wasn't. And even though, you know, obviously the campus at Florida State was beautiful and expansive. It was cold outside and it kind of felt a little cold too at the same time. And then when I went over to a m U, we just popped up unexpectedly. I was interested in journalism and I showed up randomly to the office and said, Hey, I'm interested in coming to school here.

[00:19:51] Could I get a tour? Ms. Diane Long stopped everything she was doing and took me and my mother on a tour. And [00:20:00] so when you have those types of experiences at a place, you're like, yeah, I, I feel like they get me, they understand me. I feel like I could really do well here. And so that's why 

[00:20:13] Jaime Hunt: I was telling, um, a colleague today that the environment at W S S U was like, If somebody called and asked you for something and it wasn't your area, right, you still helped them.

[00:20:28] Right? If a student came and asked me a question and they needed to actually be talking to someone else, I walked them to where they needed to go, and you didn't just point in a direction and say, oh, it's over there. I don't know, or whatever. And I just think that PWIs could learn a lot from that value of like, Taking care of each other, watching out for each other.

[00:20:49] That at least has been my 

[00:20:51] Alonda Thomas: experience. Yeah, it really does make a difference to the student who is the client, and I think sometimes we forget about that. It's like, oh, they should learn how to [00:21:00] use a map. Or you could just be a nice person and you know, help a kid out who's really just trying to find their way.

[00:21:07] Jaime Hunt: Yeah. Yeah. Aren't we here to help each other? I mean, what? I just think that attitude is so sad. So kind of going back to entertainment, PR and all of that, I'm guessing it was really fast-paced and you know, lots of deadlines and pressure and how do you apply that to how you handle. High pressure situations in higher ed?

[00:21:31] Hmm. 

[00:21:33] Alonda Thomas: Well, I would say in Hollywood it's important to stay on message and it's equally important to do so in higher education. So when I was in Hollywood, one of the projects that I got to work on was Spike Lee Shire, and I had the opportunity to media train one of the stars of that film, Teyana Paris.

[00:21:52] She needed to be ready to deal with controversial subject matters that were being covered in the film, as well as there was a [00:22:00] controversy, you know, kind of brewing because of the name of the film, Shirac. Um, people were feeling very passionate and angry about the fact that he named the movie that, because it's one of those slang nicknames for the City of Chicago that they did.

[00:22:16] They don't agree with. But from Spike's perspective, he was like, well, I didn't create this slang nickname for you. It's kind of already been there. And it's also very relevant to the subject matter in the film. Um, Shirac is basically a modern day version of, um, the Greek legend of Liz Estrada, where all of the women get together and abstain for sex in order to get their men to stop being violent and stop the war.

[00:22:42] So I got to fly up to New York, spend a day with Tiana, talking about how she can address these questions, probing her, you know, going through all of the, um, rigamarole of what she might be able to expect if she got a hostile reporter and that kind of thing. And it really helped her to [00:23:00] get prepared. So same thing happens, um, all the time in higher education.

[00:23:06] And I feel like those skills I was able to perfect there, but I'm still using them all the time for Hollywood, um, for higher education. 

[00:23:17] Jaime Hunt: That's, that's amazing. I, I like how you just name drop spike, like, it's just like, oh, it's spiked, you know? Yeah. Oh, 

[00:23:25] Alonda Thomas: doesn't everybody know, 

[00:23:27] Jaime Hunt: right. I'm doing a little shout out here for my a v P of PR who, um, was like always wanted to be an entertainment journalist, Amber Lester.

[00:23:36] She always wanted to be an entertainment journalist, so I told her I was interviewing you tonight and she was very excited to hear about how you translated that entertainment. Um, To higher education and I'm, I'm guessing there's like a lot of things that we haven't even touched on yet, and one of them is understanding and resonating with a really diverse audience.

[00:23:59] So [00:24:00] in your role in higher ed, how do you leverage that to connect with prospective student donors, stakeholders? People who have a ton of different backgrounds, they're different generations, different like backgrounds where they're from. Yeah. All of that. How do you, how do you take that entertainment PR with the lessons you've learned there and apply that in that way?

[00:24:20] Alonda Thomas: Well, I think it's important to remember that your different target, target audiences are gonna have different needs. So, you know, in Hollywood with films and television, For a long time, studios thought that they could create these general market marketing campaigns and that that was good enough that that was gonna resonate with all audiences.

[00:24:40] And we know that literally it's not the case. People want to feel like you're talking specifically to them. And I see that all happen all the time in higher education. Like obviously you may not have. A massive budget to be able to pinpoint for every particular audience, but you do need to at least create a priority.[00:25:00] 

[00:25:00] So, you know, for example, for black students interested in going to PWIs, it's important for you at those institutions to make them feel included. Do they see themselves on your website? Is your marketing materials speaking to them and resonating with them because you have students who look like them reflected, um, in your commercials.

[00:25:20] Um, are the kids. Who are African American? Are they the kid in the lab or are they the athlete that's, you know, throwing the ball. And so as a student, once I get to your institution, what resources are gonna be there to help me transition easier. When I was in grad school at Florida State, I was invited to a pre-college workshop for diverse students and I got to meet black faculty and learn about the Black student Union, and that was very useful for me as I was considering going to that institution.

[00:25:50] In Hollywood, they say there are no small parts, there are only small actors, and in higher education there are no small parts either. Each of our campus faculty and staff, they have [00:26:00] a huge role to play. Making sure that that college experience is a success. So I motivate students to apply. Enrollment management provides excellent customer service.

[00:26:10] During the recruitment process, student ambassadors provide a glimpse into college life. During the campus visit, the faculty inspire them to achieve in the classroom, administrators manage and enhance the campus environment. Every component is really critical to it. 

[00:26:28] Jaime Hunt: Hey all, I hope you're enjoying this episode of Confessions of a Higher Ed C M O.

[00:26:32] I wanna take a moment to thank my friends at mindpower who are making season two of this inify podcast. Possible. Mindpower is a full service marketing and branding firm celebrating nearly 30 years of needle moving, thought provoking, research, fueled creative and strategy. Mindpower is woman founded and owned, W B E N C, certified nationally.

[00:26:53] Recognized and serves the social sector, higher education, healthcare, nonprofits, and more. The [00:27:00] MINDPOWER team is made up of strategists, storytellers, and experienced creators. From market research to brand campaigns to recruitment to fundraising, the agency exists to empower clients, amplify brands, and help institutions find a strategic way forward.

[00:27:14] You can learn more about their work in the world by heading on over to Mindpower Inc. That's M I N D P O W E R I N c.com. And be sure to tell the crew that Jamie sent you their way. I love that. I, when we think about our brand ambassadors, it's the people. We start with the people who live and work on the campus.

[00:27:36] Right? And that's really what you're describing is people being ambassadors for the brand by doing the right thing, helping each other, helping the students being welcoming, helping them have a sense of belonging. And that's something I. I was talking with my staff about a little bit today that that Feb one deadline, you know, the application deadline.

[00:27:55] A lot of times I think that's the decisions being made there are being made [00:28:00] on like those pro con lists. They're the rational. Where are you gonna apply? It's very, it can be rational, but that deposit day that you know, May 1st deadline when you're depositing, that's an emotional decision. That's, you feel like you're gonna belong here.

[00:28:14] You feel like you're gonna. Have a connection with the institution, and that's something that I think we have to really highlight in our yield materials and anti melt materials is, is that sense of belonging. And I'm curious about how, you know, maybe the lessons that you've learned in entertainment PR help you weave some creativity into the messaging and the, the stories that you tell the marketing that you do at Jackson State.

[00:28:41] Alonda Thomas: I think that being in Hollywood and entertainment PR really did allow me to try to think about those great marketing campaigns that I've seen over the years and how they really resonated with the audience in terms of making them feel. Like [00:29:00] they have to go like, I don't wanna miss this. I have to be in the theaters.

[00:29:03] That first opening night and trying to bring a little bit of that Hollywood magic to the work that we do. Um, we recently had the opportunity to be a part of the show, the college tour, which is featured on Amazon Prime. If you wanna go check out our episode. And so as we were looking at the students to.

[00:29:23] Who are going to be a part of that. You know, we did the whole casting process. We held, you know, put out the word that the auditions were coming and you know, we were looking for people to submit videos and show us your personality. And then we went through the casting process to figure out, okay, these kids are great.

[00:29:41] They got great energy. They will be wonderful. I love what they were sharing about their story and background. Course we wanted to get variety in terms of, you know, what breadth of the university they were representing, and then we got to be a part of the production process and help to bring those to life and [00:30:00] trying to get the best take out of these students who aren't actors.

[00:30:03] But are doing their best to really explain to the next generation of future Tigers why students should do what they did and choose Jackson State. One of the young ladies that we featured is from the city of Jackson, and so I thought that was awesome to be able to feature a local student to talk about.

[00:30:23] With all the opportunity you had and, and again, being so close to an institution where you might feel like I know too much about this place. What made her choose this institution? And in addition to the fact that we had a major that she was really interested in, you know, she enjoyed what she learned about the institution over the years growing up, and she wanted to be a part of that.

[00:30:46] There still was this energy that she. Wanted to, you know, get that she didn't feel like she needed to go someplace far away. And so that Hollywood magic of trying to bring those stories to life is really what I [00:31:00] enjoy trying to bring over from my previous experiences. 

[00:31:04] Jaime Hunt: I've worked with the college tour at Miami and now I'm working with them at O D U and the casting is really fun 'cause you see students talking about their stories and what they love about the institution and what brought them there, how they made their decisions, honestly.

[00:31:21] Watching the casting videos, it made me a little emotional 'cause everybody had such amazing stories and you could only pick 

[00:31:26] Alonda Thomas: 10. Same here. Same here. We had so many choices to choose from and it's like, how do you. Just limit this to 10, you know, voices, but somehow you get through it and you do it. And the ones you pick are definitely going to be 

[00:31:42] Jaime Hunt: the most stressed.

[00:31:43] I've been though, I have to say in this role, which I've now been in for a year, was when I had the spreadsheet that had all the colleges. 'cause we wanted to have somebody from each college represented and like all these different, were they student athletes? Were they international? Were they local? Were they outta state?

[00:31:58] What, you know, what. [00:32:00] The gender breakdown, the, the race breakdown, the all of that, and trying to make sure that we had great stories for. And then each category picked, it was just so stressful for 

[00:32:13] Alonda Thomas: me, I, I feel the same way because you don't want anyone to feel like they were left out. And like you said, you only got 10, 10 slots.

[00:32:20] So definitely remember that stress. But I think we got a really good breath. And what we plan and hope to do here is that, you know, even though the show may not not come back, you know, that type of storytelling is just. Exactly what institutions should be doing in terms of, you know, those video vignettes.

[00:32:41] When a student can't get to your institution for a visit, do you have some place somewhere where you could direct them so that they can kind of feel like they got a sense of what it's like to be there? And I think that show format does a very good job of that. 

[00:32:57] Jaime Hunt: It really does, and the students write their own [00:33:00] scripts, which I didn't realize, um, until after we'd contracted with them at Miami and it was just amazing that it's in their own voice.

[00:33:10] So it doesn't come across like I. I am Jamie Hunt and I went to this school because I love it. You know, it's very, very natural. It's in their voice. You know, we provide a little bit of feedback on the scripts and maybe tighten them up a little bit. 'cause sometimes there's parts where they kind of maybe go on too long about missing their dog or something like that.

[00:33:30] But, They, they do it in their own voice and I think that the, the college tour folks do a really masterful job then of telling that story then with like the A roll and B roll, um, in each 

[00:33:41] Alonda Thomas: snippet. Yep. It was, it's super cool. It was definitely another one of those Hollywood meets higher education moments for me, and we've kind of taken it a step further.

[00:33:50] We do a people of J S U series. Where it's pretty much man on the street walking around. Sees a student who looks interesting and sits down and [00:34:00] has a conversation with them to find out who are you, what are you about? And we put those into profiles that we share on our social media platforms. After, you know, a year's worth of time, we compile those into a book so that we could share them with alumni.

[00:34:15] So, you know, as you're giving your money to our institution, let me show you some of the students who are at this institution benefiting from your generosity. And now we are doing a monthly show. Um, we call it J S U, need to know. It's just an opportunity for us to take various different topics and give them a moment to shine and explain to people what we're doing in different areas of the institution.

[00:34:42] The next one that we're doing is going to be on branding and licensing. When you're buying paraphernalia. And in that show we're now doing a video version of the people of J S U. So you know, I really enjoy those opportunities for you to hear from people in first person. So it's not that I'm selling you [00:35:00] on anything you're actually hearing from an actual student, an actual faculty member who is telling you why they chose to be at this particular institution.

[00:35:09] Jaime Hunt: Oh, that's awesome. I love it. I love it. I really wanna work with you, Alanda. I think we'd be 

[00:35:14] Alonda Thomas: a great team. Oh, I know. We'd be a great team. And who knows, like I said, I've been all over the place and couldn't have predicted any place that I've landed. So you just, so 

[00:35:26] Jaime Hunt: one more pivot before, before we wrap up, and that is a total pivot from storytelling and creating these authentic videos to crisis.

[00:35:36] So do you feel like your crisis management skills. Help you with crisis in higher education and help you maintain the reputation when you're going through crisis. Nina, talk to me a little bit about that. 

[00:35:50] Alonda Thomas: Sure. So I would say that I've dealt with two crisis issues during my Hollywood days. One was the Shirac experience that I told you about.

[00:35:58] I mean, there was so much [00:36:00] negative. Attention based off of the time we were filming that movie versus just, you know, trying to get it ready to go into the theaters that we knew we had an uphill battle in order to get people to look beyond the headlines that they were seeing in the paper and focus on, you know, there's a message here in this story, like, yes, people are mad about the title, but you know, there's a.

[00:36:23] A silver lining in where we're trying to take you to talk about how bad violence can be and what we can possibly do about it if we work together. And since I've been in higher education, essentially it's like managing the reputation of a small city. I've experienced way more crisis during my time in higher ed, but just like in a city.

[00:36:44] All types of challenges can, can, you know, happen. Sometimes somebody is hurt, sometimes someone goes missing, someone might steal something. A natural disaster might hit the campus. These challenges are never easy, but sadly, with [00:37:00] experience comes a lot of comfort in knowing that eventually you're gonna get through it.

[00:37:04] So my team often asks me, why don't you seem stressed about what we're going through right now? Aren't you? Aren't you just like you know on the edge of your seat? And I tell them that stressing out wasn't gonna solve anything. So instead I just breathe. I take in all the information. I figure out what needs to happen first, then what needs to happen second, then what needs to happen third.

[00:37:27] And that approach has really worked well for me over the years. 

[00:37:31] Jaime Hunt: I can totally relate to that calm thing. I, I remember the president at a previous institution almost getting mad at me for being calm. Wow. He was like, like, don't you care like I do, but being stressed out is not gonna make me good at my job.

[00:37:46] Alonda Thomas: There was one time early in my career when things did stress me out. When I was working at Edelman in Atlanta, this was right after grad school, you know, agency man, you talk about a type of pr, that's [00:38:00] tough to do, and I think agency PR was probably the toughest for me to go through because you have so many clients.

[00:38:07] They all have deadlines at the same time and it's really like, okay, really how am I gonna micromanage my time and juggle all this stuff to get it done? And so one day I remember being at my desk and my hands were just like shaking over the keyboard. 'cause I was like, I don't know what to do first. But I got through it.

[00:38:26] I feel like that experience helped me to realize, you know what? You can get through this. You gotta do the first thing, then the second thing, then the third thing. There's no reason why you need to be worried about the 10th thing till you get the first thing done. 

[00:38:41] Jaime Hunt: That's such a great way of looking at it.

[00:38:43] I always describe it as we have to eat the entire wedding cake. We are going to eat it one piece at a time. It can be so stressful and so overwhelming when you have just piles and piles. And I was talking with my friend Christie Jackson, who I've interviewed on this podcast [00:39:00] last night, and she was talking to me about how she was on a call at 10 30 on a Friday about one crisis, and then another person called her about a second crisis that was happening.

[00:39:11] At the same time, and it was in the summer. Yolanda, like the one time when you think you can sleep easy?

[00:39:24] Yeah. Yeah. I think she's been through some doozies for sure. But it's everything. Like you said, it's a small city. There's a million things that can go wrong. You can have servers crash, you can have hacking. You can have a police situation, a fire, mental health crisis that somebody is having. 

[00:39:42] Alonda Thomas: But once you know that there are a few things that you kind of have to be prepared to be able to deal with, I think sometimes that helps a little bit.

[00:39:51] You know, it's not that you want those things to happen. There's kind of those things in a college community that you're like, there's a real strong potential [00:40:00] that someday I'm going to have to deal with this. And that's true for every type of company and organization. So once I realized, 'cause I always used to say, oh, I would never work in crisis communications, like when I was in that agency experience.

[00:40:15] I would see the guys who were handling crisis get a phone call and then the next thing you know they're trying to get on a plane. That night I was like, oh my God, I would never wanna do that. And yet here I am, you know, in pretty much every job that I've been in since then, dealing with some type of crisis.

[00:40:31] So once you realize that, you know, you have the skills, you've been trained, you are very equipped, you know what to do, you know who to talk to, you know how to message. It helps you to at least. Think about it from a different perspective versus feeling like, oh God, why did this happen? 

[00:40:50] Jaime Hunt: I remember a couple months ago, and, and I'm not asking you to go into the topic, that was a crisis, but weren't you presenting on crisis communications when a crisis 

[00:40:59] Alonda Thomas: hit?

[00:40:59] I [00:41:00] was, I was out of the country and a crisis hit my institution and it was like I. Do I take the next flight to continue on my journey out of town, or do I change flights and go back to where I started? And I think ultimately, first of all, I had an obligation to fulfill. And so I didn't wanna leave somebody hanging when I was supposed to be headed to present.

[00:41:23] So I went ahead and moved forward with going to. The city and doing that presentation. But I was constantly on the phone. I was like, you're not gonna see me around. I'm not gonna be able to enjoy the rest of the conference 'cause I'm going to be dealing with this crisis. And so everybody was very understanding of that and we got through it.

[00:41:41] Jaime Hunt: That's, I, I appreciate that you upheld your obligation to support. And I think post covid, I feel like. Being able to manage a crisis remotely is a lot easier because I, I remember there were crises where, you know, I dragged myself to campus at three in the morning or something [00:42:00] for, for something that we could have just been talking over the phone or in a Zoom group or something.

[00:42:06] But we were all physically dragged into a room. Basically the crisis wasn't active. We were just talking about how to talk about the crisis. So 

[00:42:15] Alonda Thomas: yeah, I think, you know, that was one of those silver linings of the pandemic is like you're realizing, oh, we can do this remotely and nothing, you know, it didn't get worse because we were remote it.

[00:42:27] It actually was more effective, you know, instead of driving 20 minutes to the campus, I was able to get on with you in 10 minutes instead. You know, that kind of thing. So yeah, we're definitely still learning as we go along. Yeah. 

[00:42:43] Jaime Hunt: So before we wrap up, I wanted to see if you have any insights from your unique perspective, either you know, with your entertainment PR background or your experience at HBCUs or whatever, about what you think is next for higher education marketing.

[00:42:59] Where [00:43:00] do you see higher ed marketing evolving? Evolving? 

[00:43:02] Alonda Thomas: Sure. So, well, first I wanna give a shameless plug. Jackson University next year is gonna be celebrating. 20 years of our executive PhD program in Urban Higher Education. And you know, we have basically developed a pipeline to build skilled administrators to take leadership positions in higher education roles.

[00:43:23] Everything from president to cabinet level on down. And that has really been a dynamic way for us to help diversify higher education. So I really hope to see a continuation. Of us seeing more people in higher education who are diverse in their leadership roles and watching that trickle down to the communities.

[00:43:44] You know, now that the Supreme Court has removed affirmative action from the application process, I want these, um, campuses to really embrace trying to be the melting pots that we claim We're able to be on our own without tools, right? [00:44:00] Personally, I think it's still a tool that we need. To create equity, but if those positions of power are actually diverse, if you actually have diverse voices at the table, I think it'll be a lot easier for these institutions to be able to think about the rest of the organization looking the way the cabinet should look.

[00:44:19] And then I would say, a lot of polls say that higher education is less trustworthy, but I think that a lot of people, if you ask them specifically about the campuses in their area, They still find a lot of value in the local college and the university. So most people recognize that your higher education institutions are an economic engine for your community, and they are welcome and they want them to be there.

[00:44:46] So I hope to see a lot more town and gown relationship opportunities, opportunities between cities and their institutions because higher education and our campuses. Provide [00:45:00] opportunities for kids to go to the library on a Saturday or for you to attend a play or a concert that the theater and the music departments are putting on.

[00:45:08] So it's time for us to dust off those town and gown touchpoints and remind those who are not enrolled in our institutions that we have something to offer them as well. I 

[00:45:19] Jaime Hunt: love that idea of having, you know, diverse cabinets and leadership. Kind of overcoming that lack of the affirmative action in admissions.

[00:45:31] Like that's, I love that a lot and it, it not only benefits that, but it just benefits the organizations to have diverse voices at the table. Like I, I don't understand why we would want to limit our decision making to. Like a narrow band of humanity and, and exclude people from all kinds of backgrounds having a voice in, in how we do things.

[00:45:54] Alonda Thomas: Well, I hope the reason is that nobody's really doing it intentionally. I think we all, I. [00:46:00] Just have that unconscious bias where we're comfortable around what we're used to, we're comfortable with, you know, who we are when we look in the mirror, and when you see that reflected around you. But I hope that with time we can be comfortable with being in rooms that are diverse as well.

[00:46:16] You know, if you exercise that muscle, it will become just as comfortable as you were in the previous situation. Oh, absolutely. 

[00:46:27] Jaime Hunt: I remember when I started at Winston-Salem State, I remember being like, I'm in a room with 30 people and I'm the only white person. And I remember making note of that for like the first little while that I was there.

[00:46:40] And then it just was, didn't occur to me to even think about it again after a little while. So that's, that's a very true that it just, Becomes part of what you're accustomed to. And then it became something I wanted, like when I went to a Super W P W I, it was like, this doesn't even feel [00:47:00] right anymore.

[00:47:00] And you start to ask, why aren't there other voices at the table? And you start to raise those concerns about that and kind of crave that diversity of viewpoint. That you miss. 

[00:47:12] Alonda Thomas: And that's what I like about our institutions. Um, you'd be surprised how much diversity we have at HBCUs, even though you know, we are historically focused on one particular audience.

[00:47:24] You go to particular majors and it's quite, I. Very diverse, and you're like, well, you walk up to a white student. Why did you choose to go to this H B C U? Oh, well, I, I knew that it was a nurturing environment. I knew that they had this major that I was really interested in. I was, um, really intrigued about what I was learning from the faculty.

[00:47:43] I. So I just think that no one should exclude themselves from opportunities just because it's supposed to be for this type of person, or it's supposed to be for that type of person. And being able to interact with people who come from different backgrounds from you is what our college campuses are all [00:48:00] about.

[00:48:00] I. Sometimes we only focus on, oh, they're from the Midwest and I'm from Southeast. And it so much, it can go so much deeper than that. Be so, so much of a richer experience when you invite culture to be a part of those diverse opportunities as well. A 

[00:48:17] Jaime Hunt: hundred percent. My, my favorite thing about where I am now is the population of international students that we have.

[00:48:24] That was the first student group I got connected with when I got here and it's just fascinating 'cause it's. One of the students I'm closest with is from Italy, and then there's, you know, students from Columbia and students from Indian all over the world. And the, just the broad range of cultural experiences that they've have and that they bring to the table is just, I love it.

[00:48:47] I just absolutely love it. And I think that's what's awesome about higher ed to your point, is you have the whole world. Trying to learn and advance and evolve and grow [00:49:00] society and all of that in one place together. I love 

[00:49:02] Alonda Thomas: it. And that is what is still special about higher education and one of those valuable resources and opportunities and benefits that higher education offers and affords people is that opportunity to be in the environment.

[00:49:17] There's nothing like those four years. When you're in that undergraduate experience, and yes, you might end up going on to a graduate degree, professional degree, but nothing is going to compare to that experience you get as that freshman and moving up and matriculating until you get to graduate and walk across that stage.

[00:49:36] Jaime Hunt: That's so true. So true. So Alanda, if people wanna find you, where should they look? 

[00:49:42] Alonda Thomas: Well, I would love for everybody to follow me on my LinkedIn page. You can just search Alanda Thomas and I'll be there periodically. I put out a newsletter, I. That's called, don't Quote Me, tips and Quips by Alanda Thomas, and look forward to connecting with you there.[00:50:00] 

[00:50:00] Jaime Hunt: Awesome. And as always, you can find me on LinkedIn at Jamie Hunt, J A I m E H U N T. I'm also still sort of on x I guess we're calling it now. 

[00:50:12] Alonda Thomas: Yeah, I'm on Twitter. I don't know if I'm ever gonna call it X 'cause I'm like, are you gonna change your web link to be what? x.com? Mm. Not really feeling that. 

[00:50:20] Jaime Hunt: No.

[00:50:21] Right. It doesn't feel like something I should be going to at work. But yes, you can find me there for now at Jamie Hunt, I M C J a I M E H U N T I M C. I've been playing around a little bit on TikTok. You can find me there at the higher ed C M O. Otherwise, I really hope that you enjoyed this episode. And if you'd like to engage in the conversation, use the hashtag.

[00:50:42] Higher Ed c M O, and until then, let's go bust some silos.

[00:50:51] Alonda Thomas: Hey y'all, Zach here from Enroll. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Confessions of a Higher Ed C M O with Jamie Hunt. If you like this episode, do us a huge favor and hit that [00:51:00] follow and subscribe button below. Furthermore, if you've got just two minutes to spare, we would greatly appreciate you leaving a rating and a review of this show on Apple Podcasts.

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