Located just 35 minutes from the Twin Cities, Abella is a destination wedding and event venue nestled in Chisago City, Minn. With a stunning modern reception hall, historic wood barn and a variety of outdoor spaces, Abella truly allows couples to customize their dream wedding day!

One of Minnesota’s fastest growing cities, Woodbury is the state’s 8th largest city. Recently named on of Fortune's Best Places to Live for Families, the city is home to nearly 80,000 residents and more than 1,700 businesses. As communications specialist, I develop and implement strategic communications to preserve and enhance the city's reputation.Duties include administering and managing the organization’s public website; implementing the organization's brand strategy; writing and editing newsletter articles, media releases and other official correspondence, including technical writing; creating content for social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Nextdoor); designing flyers, posters, official presentations, brochures and other publications; and assisting in planning, promoting and implementing community events. I work with several departments to fulfill communications needs and address challenges on a variety of platforms and interact and engage with stakeholders at a variety of events. I also assist with budget development, strategic planning and department goal creation and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

I assisted the Communications Division in a variety of tasks, many of which carried over into the fulltime role of Communications Specialist. I learned from experienced leaders in the organization, honing interpersonal relationship skills by working with individuals in multiple occupations in many fields, including information technology, engineering, administration and more.

The Woodbury Youth Resource Connection (WYRC) was created by the Woodbury Community Foundation. The organization was dedicated to informing youth and parents about the resources available for students in the community. Projects I worked on for the WYRC include collecting survey research which I used for my thesis, writing copy for and launching the web site, designing marketing materials, and implementing a logo contest that is designed to coincide with the brand launch.

Celebrate! Entertainment (Blaine Beck DJ Services) provided high quality entertainment for more than 200 weddings, school dances, community events and private parties throughout the Twin Cities. We worked with well-known companies such as Victoria's Secret, Cabela's and AAA.My husband, Blaine, and I worked as a team to provide unbeatable customer service and made sure our customers' special events were unforgettable!

At Let's Dish, I worked with a great team preparing ready-made meal kits for customers. I enjoyed working with customers and gained great service experience.

I helped toddlers between the ages of 18 months and 3 years grow, play and learn. This position helped further develop teamwork, patience, and the ability to work in a high-energy environment where anything can change in an instant.

I worked with the Campus Beyond Coal student group. I helped plan events and organize different activities on campus and in neighborhoods near campus. Our main goal was to convince the Board of Regents at the University of Minnesota to add a plan to get the Twin Cities campus to stop using coal in their Climate Action Plan, which was released in December 2010.

At Rolly Pollies, I assisted instructors and lead classes for children between the ages of 6 months and 9 years to help improve and encourage physical fitness. My most important role was acting as party host. My goal was to make sure that the parents/party hosts could enjoy the party as well, meaning that I would take care of decorating, organizing and setting up for the parties. I also performed administrative duties, such as answering the phone, accepting payments, and sigining children up for classes.