Tara Owens Email & Phone Number

Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina Area

Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina Area

Triangle area restaurant group operating multiple upscale restaurant and bar concepts in the Raleigh-Durham area with a $10M operating budget and 200+ employees.Promoted to provide leadership and management for the disciplines of Operations, Marketing, Facilities Maintenance, HR, IT, and Training and Development. Ensured the successful establishment and execution of each restaurant concept’s vision, oversaw openings and closing of restaurants, formulated budgets and optimized P&Ls, negotiated store leases and liasoned with landlords. Key Accomplishments:• Restructured and established new executive roles for HR and Finance increasing office productivity.• Consolidated debts accelerating the payoff of two major business loans within two years.• Liaisoned with law firms resulting in the successful protection of the brands from lawsuits.• Targeted analysis of three workers comp policy audits resulting in recoupment of losses.• Optimized relationships with key food and beverage vendors for staff education opportunities.• Supervised a team of six executive staff directly and 12 store managers indirectly.

Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina Area

Marketing executions on behalf of this $10 million, multi-concept, regional hospitality group, include: • Planning and implementing marketing activities across all online and offline channels• Executing campaign tracking, measurement, evaluation and reporting• Developing brand objectives and strategies to facilitate continued business growth• Creating new marketing strategies• Building and supervising a high performance marketing team• Orchestrating campaign building, press releases, and promotional copy production• Establishing local media relationships to secure ongoing and one-time press exposure • Coordinating company representation at relevant events, conferences and exhibitions• Collaborating with other senior executive team members • Liaising with strategic partners and internal stakeholders• Overseeing a $250k marketing budget• Managing charitable contributions budget and fielding charitable contribution requestsKey Accomplishments:• Designing a staff “Days of Service” program in partnership with local nonprofit partners• Founding “Months of Giving” program utilizing Eschelon’s platform and audience to raise awareness and funds for core nonprofit partners; results include raising 18k+ in donations, donating $115k in food, supporting 650+ volunteer hours, donating $25k+ to silent auctions, and raising thousands more dollars through partnerships and events locally• Utilizing cutting edge technology to establish Eschelon as the first independently owned restaurant group in its market to have responsively designed websites; first to use digital comment cards, expanding email list from 10k subscribers to 25k+ in a single year• Pioneering a “Person of the Year” program encompassing employees of the month, back-of-house employee of the year, front-of-house employee of the year, and manager of the year• Spearheading semi-annual staff evaluations and developing company culture documents• Creating a marketing internship program

Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina Area

LILL Studio was an interactive, experiential custom handbag retail concept that encouraged customers to express their individuality and personal style. Customers could design their own bags and accessories from a selection of 50 styles and 140+ fabrics. In addition to brick & mortar stores and an interactive website, customers could design custom bags with a group of friends in their homes as part of 1154 LILL’s national home party and event program “LILL on Location”. My role as a LILL on Location representative: • Selected to launch the program in North Carolina• Executed ongoing product marketing locally• Assisted customers with personal product designs• Maintained extensive product knowledge of materials and styles, as well as up-to-date fashion trends• Sustained monthly sales goals

Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina Area

ZSpotlight was an online entertainment guide to the Triangle with multi-faceted marketing opportunities for local businesses to introduce themselves to consumers in the Raleigh-Durham area. ZSpotlight hosted robust content on its website, published a monthly magazine, coordinated large-scale public events, distributed photography teams into nightlife venues each weekend, and shot compelling video content for clients. • Improved sales revenue for online start-up company as sales team manager• Generated leads for and managed sales team of 6-8 account executives• Interviewed, hired, and terminated sales team members• Created marketing tools for staff including media kits, continuous touch mailing systems, etc. • Established on-site promotion campaigns in order to successfully reach new demographics• Assisted administratively including optimizing company productivity through spreadsheet tracking

Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina Area

• Boosted new client reach for additional advertising revenue• Maximized client relationships through weekly in-person meetings, emails, and phone calls • Developed successful advertising for clients in print and on web• Secured monthly payments from clients

Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina Area

• Promoted ZSpotlight in music venues, restaurants and nightlife locations• Carried out photography responsibilities to provide website’s audience one centralized source of information • Executed on-camera interviews for video advertising

Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina Area

Resident advisors (RAs) are prominent leaders on-campus and have the unique opportunity to develop leadership skills while creating fun and vibrant communities. The RA role requires problem-solving, adaptability, teamwork, and interpersonal communication. An RA’s primary responsibilities are getting to know their residents one-on-one and to develop a community within their living area. I organized educational, cultural, social, safety, service, and academic programs for a residence hall and an apartment complex. As an RA, I counseled 40 to 80 residents on issues relating to campus life. I was promoted to Administrative Coordinator, which required administrative tasks and desk schedules for RA teams sized 12-20 in addition to all RA responsibilities. Honors & Awards: • Resident Advisor of the Year, Metcalf Hall (2002-2003)• Administrative Coordinator of the Year, Central Campus (2003-2004)