OUR LOCAL TEAM: It's been an honour to help businesses grow through advertising

Years before the start of the NOTL Local, Penny, Karen and I worked for the same corporations but with different publications, never really crossing paths but marginally aware of each other. It’s a small world when you share the same last name with one of them, but are in no way related. Maybe we should be.

When I found out they started their own paper with the encouragement of many NOTL business owners and community-minded citizens, I saw an opportunity to contribute and approached them to see if I could help.

Coming from generations of family-owned small businesses, it has always been a passion for me to help those who put everything on the line to fulfill a dream, fill a niche and create employment for others. They are the risk-takers and should be applauded for it.

From the moment I started in January of 2019, I have loved every minute of helping businesses to advertise their products/services to the community. It wasn’t about me — it was about them. And their success. I had mega amounts of experience to help, over 30 years in newspapers in Niagara. Key to their getting results was my knowledge of their business — always looking at who their customers are and how to secure them. And I shared the belief of rate card integrity — where advertisers get the rate they earn, not what they try to negotiate.

Additionally, for the past couple of years, I took on the responsibility of being the contact person for obituaries and memorials. To be trusted and welcomed to share people’s sentiments when they are hurting most is a daunting task but I hope I was a person to rely on. I always strived to be a calming effect amid the mayhem. I felt I earned the respect of many funeral directors over the years. I enjoyed hearing from the same citizens year after year when it came to the anniversary of a loved one lost. I felt truly honoured and it built a loyalty to a publication that was about people first and foremost.

My biggest reward is the sentiments expressed by my advertising clients and the newspaper’s founders — that they will miss me and thank me for being always on top of my game. My life is richer for this experience and making new friends along the way.

As John Lennon sang “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” Thank you to each and every one of you.