Walking into 14 West First this morning I knew I was going to be happy here. The atmosphere put me directly at ease. Bill was the first to greet me when I arrived, he offered me coffee and showed me to my new office.

As I unpacked the few things I had brought with me to personalize my space — a couple of plants and a photo — I realized that it already feels like home.

After coffee and conversation with Jill, I am positive that I am in the right place. Ed has been checking in on me to make sure everything is running smoothly. Renee stopped by and chatted for a while. Everyone has been very welcoming.

Not only are the people great, but I am also very excited about the work I will be doing.

Since receiving my BA in graphic design in 2003, I have been working in marketing and design; most of that time has been spent in newspaper. I’ve continued my education, taking marketing and small business management classes at night to keep fresh. I learned a great deal from these experiences; but as I grew, I realized the inherent limitations afforded by my career thus far.

On the Catalyst website there is an Abraham Maslow quote that is one of Bill’s favorites: “If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.”

For eight years I have been limited to a hammer. Now I see a whole new world of options opening up to me. Nothing against the hammer, it is very helpful and necessary, but it doesn’t do the job of a power drill or even a Phillips head screwdriver very well.

While reading over a marketing plan this morning it hit me what a wonderful opportunity I have here; the opportunity to work across multiple platforms, offering just the right mix for an individual client and what they want to communicate.

All in all my first day has been a great one so far. I know that I have a lot yet to learn and worthy challenges ahead, but I am excited to come back again tomorrow and take them on – with my new friends and a whole new set of tools.

~ Rebekah Starkey, Writer/Designer

The term “synergy” comes from the Greek word syn-ergos, meaning “working together”. Here’s an example: Jill Leslie-Muramatsu creates synergy in Hutchinson by acting as a catalyst for businesses and organizations to collaborate in improving our community. 

Jill’s synergistic endeavors were appropriately recognized

recently with the 2011 Hospitality Award presented by the

Greater Hutchinson Convention/Visitors Bureau.

The annual Hospitality Award honors a person who has made a significant impact on tourism in the Reno County area. This year the CVB chose a ‘behind the scenes’ recipient in Jill.  In the past, those who have been awarded hailed from businesses directly associated with tourism venues in Hutchinson such as Dillion Nature Center, Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, and Fox Theatre. 

Other than knowing just about anyone who is known in town, Jill is deeply aware of the needs and wants of her hometown.  From her former position as Convention Sales Manager at the CVB to being involved with the Kansas Underground Salt Museum from its inception to now holding the position of Vice President at Catalyst Creative Services, Jill has Hutchinson on her agenda.

In addition to many other Catalyst clients, Jill helps several Hutchinson businesses such as Jillian’s Itailian Grill, Dechant Sheer Minerals, and Apron Strings realize their goals. She played an integral part in bringing the joint ticket with the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center and Kansas Underground Salt Museum to fruition.  But most of all she works tirelessly with the Hutchinson CVB  and Market Hutchinson to promote our city across Kansas in an effort to increase commerce to benefit us all. 

How does she do this? With a keen sense of marketing principles, advertising techniques, and public relations savvy. But it really helps that she genuinely understands people and their abilities.  Above all, Jill has a combination of attributes that few people mirror: style, grace, and fortitude.  

Jill doesn’t cut opening day ribbons or hold any keys to the city, but she does make things happen. She realizes a need, takes what she knows, and who she knows (and what they know), and brings it all together to benefit the whole – our community. The city she is so proud to be from and live has shown it’s proud of her with the Hospitality Award. Thanks, Jill, for all that synergy.

Remember missing kid’s faces on milk cartons? Or your parents telling you not to talk to anyone you don’t know? Do you have the feeling that others should know what to do and it’s not your job to show them? You might suffer from “Stranger Danger”. All symptoms of “Generation X”ers.

I, myself, am afflicted.

Rebecca Ryan, featured speaker at the Young Professionals Summit Luncheon, brought insight into the four generations. As she described “Generation X”, my colleague Catalyst’s Public Relations Coordinator Renee Dennis was looking at me suggesting Ryan was describing me.  If you were born between 1961 and 1981, you are a part of this generation.

Then she moved on to the “Millennials” – my oldest son is at the tail end of this young generation, which spans 10 year olds to 29. They have grown up with technology in their hands. These kids don’t know what life was like without computers and cell phones. They are more environmentally conscience and want to be friends.

“Baby Boomers”, born between 1943 – 1960, and “Silents”, born 1925-1942, round out the four generations. To hear her describe them made sense. She used humor to show some of the dominate distinctions between these groups.

Ryan talked about the trends in our society and that generations go through 4 eras during their lifetime. Pointing out that today we are in “winter” – the era of survival. The Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials need to work together to solve the issues of today. She pointed out that Boomers alone shouldn’t be making decisions that will impact Millennials and generations to come. Talking to a group of young professionals, she was calling them to act in their communities for their future.

Her speech was informative and entertaining. She had substance and knew how to keep the audience’s attention. Kudos to YP for bringing in a speaker that was relevant to all!

Among the highest highs (and lowest lows) in this business can revolve around working with on-camera talent.

The primary factors leading to one of those extremes are the attitude and professionalism of the talent. Most specifically, his or her willingness and ability to deliver the script on the mark. Translating the intent of the written word can be tedious and laborious even for some of the best.

Last week I got to experience one of those highs — thanks to Tracy Cassidy. We had selected her to voice a video we are producing for a client’s very special event. (We’ll talk more about the video after it’s had its premiere.) The topic is critical, dealing with life-altering issues. I had sweated through every word of the script to assure the message was on target, with an emotional appeal without being over dramatic.

Tracy nailed it. And she did it so flawlessly — because she had taken the time to understand the message, to appreciate the nuances. Tracy made the words I wrote sing out with passion and credibility. The best part of all is that she is such a joy to work with. Cooperative. Patient. Caring. A true professional.

In case you’re one of the few in this area not familiar with Tracy, she is a morning personality on B98 — the Brent & Tracy Show. She has been doing that for over 20 years, and the show is consistently one of the top rated in the Wichita market.

-Bill Leslie, President / Creative Director

You might have noticed our new company photo to the right of this blog, if not please afford yourself a moment to gander at our attractive clan.  It is no hard feat for an advertising agency to snap a photo of their team, however, here at Catalyst, we are thorough with even the smallest task.

It all began in our weekly ‘work in progress’ meeting Jill, Catalyst vice president, announced that due to changes in staff, a new company photo was to be commissioned.   She suggested taking the picture on the front steps of the Catalyst building, to which we all agreed.  After the meeting I was given the task of purchasing flowers for the planters out front to replace what was left of the fall greenery.  So, on a very windy day, amidst my own little tornado of dirt, I planted flowers in preparation of our new company photo.  Unfortunately the following day’s weather forecasted a very windy week.  To save us all from the ‘I survived a tornado’ look in our new company picture, we planned to move the photo shoot indoors.

Now that we had decided on where to take the picture we had to decide the color scheme of the picture.  ‘Color scheme?,’ you’re thinking, well of course we need a color scheme, we are artists here at Catalyst and quite detail oriented at that.  We are in the business of making people look good, so why not ourselves?  Jill had made the suggestion to wear tan, white, navy/royal, and a spring color if we chose to, which was over-ruled by Bill, Catalyst’s no-fuss president.  Bill thought we would be better able to express our individuality by choosing our attire without parameters.  Now that all the decisions were made we were all set to take the photo. 

The morning of the photo everyone arrived to work looking their sharpest.  In an effort to look nice for the photo I decided to re-roll my hair, as the style had fallen.  You would have thought I shaved my head bald from the reaction I got when they saw me sitting up at the front desk with rollers in my hair, of which I kind of expected.  To my chagrin, Ed, Catalyst web designer and photographer, snapped a few blackmail shots of me, one of which is posted below (well, don’t scroll down too fast). 

After we all had tucked in our shirts, made the final adjustments to our hair, and applied the final touches to our made up faces, it was finally time to snap the photo.  We positioned ourselves on the first landing of the Catalyst stairs and smiled pretty for numerous shots.   Within a couple of minutes we were done and it was time for Ed to go back to his desk to select and clean the shot that was to be our new company picture.     

The photo turned out great and Ed didn’t even have to Photoshop anyone’s head in from another shot.  All joking aside, I think we make a handsome crew and if you’ll notice we are all pretty sharp dressers too. 

Defeated, I picked up the phone, dialed the number off the website, and held my breath as it rang…

“Catalyst Creative Services, how may I help you?”

“Hi, may I please, speak with Jill Leslie?”

“This is Jill”

“Hi Jill, Renee’ Dennis here”

“Hi, how are you?”

“Not that great…I was laid off today”

“Oh, no, I’m so sorry”

“Thanks, but that’s why I was calling, I really want to work for you and I was hoping you had an open position I could be considered for,”… ‘I will clean your toilets’ I thought.

“Actually, Renee’, I have had you in mind for a position that recently opened up, why don’t you stop by tomorrow at 5 for an interview”

I was speechless, a feeling that rarely happens to one so verbal.  The shock and disappointment of being laid off hadn’t even had a chance to sink in and now the overwhelming joy of the possibility of a new job with fellow artisans birthed a family of butterflies in my belly.

With my ‘jack-of-all-trades’ (master of none) background in the performing arts, occasional experience in marketing, advertising, and public relations, and the fact that I had taken four years out of the work force to start my family,  I was worried that I would not fit the profile they were looking to fill.  So when I handed Bill and Jill Leslie, the father and daughter who lead the Catalyst team, my resume I was hoping they would use their powerfully creative skills to interpret it.   That’s just how it went down, or coinciding with happy hour they had thrown back a few before my interview, because I am very proud to say that I now plant myself every morning at 14 W. 1^st, Catalyst headquarters.

I have always been fascinated with the Ad business and, after graduating from Temple University with a BA from the School of Communications, I had some regret that I chose not to take more classes in advertizing.  All regrets off because now I am getting a crash course in all aspects of the business.  Every morning I wake up with the fervor to go to work and every day is an exciting day at the office.  From learning how to ‘really’ use Google to the erudition of press releases, I am absorbing so much information and having a great time doing it.

I am very grateful for the patience level of everyone here at Catalyst, they have welcomed me with open arms and warm hearts.  I genuinely feel blessed for the opportunity that has been afforded me and strive to live up to the expectations of my mentors and my community.

~Renee’ Dennis, PR Coordinator, Catalyst Creative Services