Emily Bourne

Background

About Emily Bourne

I am an experienced communications and media professional with over 14+ years in the field. I love data, working with people, solving problems and helping others. I am a collaborative team player and curious by nature. Over the course of my career I have had the opportunity to work with some great brands such as: Academy Sports & Outdoors, Coca-Cola, the FDA’s Tobacco Prevention Campaigns, McCormick Spices, Minute Maid, Pantene, and Simply Juices. Each campaign included a mix of digital and traditional media to create a fully integrated campaign ecosystem. Data underpinned each phase of them from strategy, targeting, custom messaging, growing sales, to post campaign recommendations. Each campaign, even if it wasn’t in the same category, offered suggestions for how to improve in the next. There was always something new to learn. I worked on both the planning/ strategy side and buying side for all media types. Many of the most rewarding times in my career have been when I have worked across teams and agencies and encouraged closer collaboration, built trust, generated buy-in and collectively solved problems. This required facilitation, relationship building, active listening, empathy, an ability to draw people out, plus a humbleness (having a recommendation but being open to other ideas). It also often required my ability to break down complex topics into plain language for a range of audiences. This helped more people contribute to the conversations. Last but not least, a sense of humor was a must. The resulting projects greatly improved efficiency, turned key relationships around, and enhanced transparency. Last, over the past 10 years, I have become increasingly interested in how planning and design can be used to foster and improve the health, vitality, sustainability and equity of communities. I have been informally educating myself about it by reading, interviewing members of the planning community and attending talks. I am now happy to serve on the Plan Commission and Healthy Neighborhoods Initiative Grant Review Committee for my city.