Carol Cortright

Background

About Carol Cortright

As the Guest Experience Manager for the Florida Botanical Gardens Foundation, Carol oversees all aspects of gift shop operations, volunteer management, chairs the Membership Committee and assists with events. In the spring of 2021, the FBG Foundation recruited Carol to reopen their gift shop and transfer its POS to the user-friendly Square since she had great success with that platform at another volunteer-dependent venue."I believe it’s important to give volunteers the best tools for the job, since they are front-line ambassadors for the organization,” she said. When the renovated Dunedin History Museum reopened, Carol designed and stocked the Welcome Center/Museum Store, rebuilt the volunteer roster, cultivated relationships with sponsors and supporters, including the Fenway Hotel, revamped the museum's membership program, and executed a variety of successful events, from exhibit openings to cocktail galas. While at DHM, Carol curated "Aloha Americana" for the special exhibit gallery. The displays traced the history of the Polynesian pop culture movement in the United States, from Don the Beachcomber's 1930s creation of the first known "Tiki Bar," whose success was widely imitated, to Indian Shore's own "South Seas paradise," the roadside attraction Tiki Gardens, along with nods to Duke Kahanamoku's surfing prowess and Alfred Shaheen's brilliantly patterned midcentury fashions. Carol owned the Roadside Attraction vintage boutique for 5 years. She presents cocktail history seminars including "Tiki in the Big Easy," which debuted at the 2017 Miami Rum Renaissance Festival and, in 2019, a series of sold-out "Speakeasy Sunday" programs at the Fenway Hotel. As a freelance writer, Carol's work appeared in TIKI magazine and BABM (Bay Area Business Magazine). Her articles on travel, food, art and interior design have been featured in VERTICAL, Tampa Bay's online style magazine. She’s written voiceover script for video; website copy; advertorials for lifestyle and wedding & event planning magazines; monthly historical columns for a local newspaper; a variety of government publications; sales letters; company overviews and more. Carol's experience also includes writing newsletters, press releases, staff training instruction, and articles, and developing and launching PR and marketing projects, and creating special events for public libraries, a 21-acre living history museum, and other nonprofit organizations.