Grace Smith Email & Phone Number

Bloomington, Illinois, United States

Peoria, Illinois, United States

Marketing Event Consultant for Rental and Used

Peoria, Illinois, United States

Responsible for the agency's overall resource and financial management, forecasting, and planning. Some duties include: – Serving as a Connected Manager to 6-7 Project Planners at a time as a day-to-day mentor by building relationships with them, monitoring performance, and meeting weekly or bi-weekly – Collaborating with Account Planners and Project Planners to ensure that critical workflow elements are being considered and discussed– Providing guidance and support to Project Planners by identifying where Simantel's tools and processes can be deployed to help the project run smoothly – Working with the Executive Director of Service Management to define process improvements within the department as they relate to financial and workflow management to drive consistency, clarity, and accountability – Consulting on all aspects of workflow efficiency and financial management to help with connectivity on all projects within assigned teams – Resolving workflow or budgeting issues that directly impact the bottom line, including engaging with internal and client teams– Proactively supporting balanced workloads of resources by collaborating within the department and amongst the team to anticipate critical resource issues or project roadblocks – Developing processes and protocols for efficient scoping, estimating, billing, and workflow activities– Training and onboarding new Project Planners and checking in on progress

Promoted from Project Planner to Senior Project Planner, which added the responsibilities of: – Being the lead project planner for projects that require multiple planners– Providing input on the processes and protocols for efficient scoping, estimating, billing and workflow activities– Leading other Project Planners to actively monitor and communicate active, proposed, and non-billable project budgets – Facilitation of scoping meetings for other team members' projects

Promoted from Project Manager to Project Planner through an agency restructure. Had all of the same responsibilities that I had as a Project Manager, with the addition of: – Managing and facilitating scoping and estimating meetings – Resource management – Owning budgets and processing billing– Serving as client contact during the activation phase to drive project plan– Resolving workflow or budgeting issues – Proactively support balanced workloads

Peoria, Illinois

Project Manager for ExxonMobil, Solar Turbines, and several business units within Caterpillar, including: Aftermarket Solutions, BCP, Retail, Cat App, Filters & Fluids, GASD Connectivity, Repair Options, and My.Cat.Com.Some responsibilities include: – Creating project plans and schedules and assigning tasks to appropriate resources – Overseeing workflow from inception to completion– Minding deadlines to make sure they're met to keep projects within budget – Attending to day-to-day client needs – Planning and participating in status meetings– Organizing communications between agency functions (strategy, creative, digital, media, etc.)– Coordinating vendor communications – Ensuring quality control checks are completed – Maintaining client folders, documents, and project files

Urbana-Champaign, Illinois Area

– Volunteered to help spread the mission of Love Your Melon across UIUC's campus – Promoted new releases of LYM products to raise money for pediatric cancer research, which allowed us to go on hospital visits and take children with pediatric cancer on superhero adventures

Urbana-Champaign, Illinois Area

Account manager of the social media team for the Champaign branch of Sofar Sounds– Attended concerts and captured photographs for promotional uses.– Created real-time Facebook posts that helped them spread the word about their secret gigs and intimate concerts without making the events seem like mainstream events, in order to maintain the brand's integrity.

Peoria, Illinois Area

Promoted to Project Management Intern based on previous internship experience at Simantel– Lead Project Manager on the Brand Industrial Services team; in charge of creating a brand identity for the new company; project included new logos, ads, posters, videos, and 3D animations– Assistant Project Manager for over 70 jobs for Caterpillar– Assisted with the creation of estimates and project plans for Caterpillar's Cat Connect jobs

– Worked directly with Professor Michelle Nelson to conduct research on American food advertisements and their impact on Jamaican food culture – Coded television programs for their ad and food content; helping to create a food education program for Jamaican teens and their parents to educate them on the importance of making healthy food choices

– Created and maintained different social media accounts for new online graduate degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign– Purchased and managed Facebook and Instagram advertising and Google Ad Words

Urbana-Champaign, Illinois Area

– Managed a team of three in the strategic creation of corporate partnership proposals for UIUC media sales program– Coordinated and facilitated meetings– Created and maintained social media accounts for a new UIUC graduate program

University Of Illinois Urbana Champaign

Junior Account Planner for Gourmates, a startup organic food delivery service– Used research and strategy to help create the brand name, logo, positioning, and marketing materials

Peoria, Illinois Area

Some responsibilities included: PROJECT MANAGEMENTOpened new jobs; assigned resources, time, and dates to each task; scheduled meetings; updated traffic reports; owned and maintained the production schedule for all ongoing projects for Caterpillar Global MiningACCOUNT MANAGEMENTWorked with EIO reports and PO status reports to assist with billing, creation of estimates, and SOWs; updated media plans with newly scheduled content; scheduled interviews with Caterpillar executivesDATA ANALYSISUtilized Tableau and reports from our media partner to assist in the assessment of Caterpillar Global Mining's online media placements

University Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign

Copywriter/Account Manager for a team of seven students who created free advertisements, promotions, logos, etc. for registered student organizations on campus

Peoria, Illinois Area

– Assisted with a photo/video shoot for billboards, direct mailers, and commercialsfor Midstate College– Proofed and approved links and pages for a new website and touchpoint technology display for Caterpillar Global Mining– Helped with the early planning stages of MINExpo 2016– Reviewed copy and website layouts for several clients

Northwoods Mall-- Peoria, Il

– Ensured that each customer was welcomed into the store and that all of their needs were met while they shopped– Sensored and displayed new merchandise– Managed customer transactions– Maintained order in the store

Education record

Activities and Societies: Junior Varsity and Varsity Volleyball Teams, Interact, Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), Morton Park.

Bachelor Of Science (B.S.), Advertising, 3.9/4 Gpa

Activities and Societies: Member of the Alpha Delta Sigma professional honor society for outstanding advertising students (with a GPA.