6 Questions for: Carlie Miller

Carlie Miller is the newest member of the BatesMeron team and our resident Account Coordinator. She has a knack for all things crafty, playing the ukelele and keeping our creative team organized, so naturally, she is a great fit.

I interviewed Carlie as part of our 6 Questions feature: a series of one-on-one interviews with people we work with who’ve made us proud. Sometimes, I like to turn the tables and put our own staffers on the hot seat so you not only get to meet them, but also see just how special our team really is.

Read on to learn about Carlie’s past work experiences, dream event to plan and her ideal life soundtrack. 

1. Before joining the BatesMeron team, you worked with a lot of different companies to provide client support for television production and non-profit organizations. As our Account Coordinator, what will your past experience bring to the table?

Having worked in other fast-paced, ever-changing environments, thinking on my feet and finding creative solutions has become a strong suit of mine. You never know what kind of day-to-day requests or obstacles you’ll encounter, so being a quick and clever thinker is very important. I’ve also worked with a varied list of clients across many different fields, which has allowed me to become an expert at organization and prioritization. These traits come together to help me better understand client needs and, in return, quickly respond to and improve the situation.

2. Here, you’ll be working one-on-one with our creative team and clients to help ensure that every project and account runs smoothly. What do you think is the most important element in creating success with this role and challenge?

I think that one of the most important aspects of working with creative teams and clients is to first and foremost listen to each person fully to understand their needs. By keeping your ears open, you allow everyone to get their ideas across before giving your own opinions. If something is unclear for any party, I believe that it is important to ask follow-up questions until a resolve is reached. Open lines of communication = the perfect pathway for success.

3. You have past experience with event coordinating. So tell us, what would be your dream event to plan and why?

I’ve helped plan several community events in my past position with a chamber of commerce, including a neighborhood art festival, a school Halloween event and lots of smaller meet and greet events. I’ve always thought it would be really neat to plan a city-wide scavenger hunt, kind of in the same realm as The Amazing Race television show. For me, the fun part would be creating the clues that would lead to each new destination, and then getting to work with volunteers to help guide the participants once they reach each location. Then at the end of the hunt there would be a giant party in a park to celebrate the winners (and non-winners).

I really enjoy getting to see people have fun at the events that I’ve planned—and I think that because this event would be so interactive, participants would hopefully get really excited about it and put on their competitive face. If I can see people having fun at an event I’ve planned, it makes all the hard work in planning worth it.

4. As a Business Administration and Marketing grad, what attracted you to the creative industry world we live in?

For my Business degree, I had to take a mix of finance, economics and marketing classes, and I found that I was way more drawn to the creative processes of the marketing classes than the structured finance classes. I loved the freedom that marketing provided and the emphasis on creativity and thinking outside of the box. Looking at numbers all day wasn’t for me, and because of this I’ve pursued positions in more creative fields.

5. Having a varied background in client communication and coordinating, what has been the most intense or strange challenge you’ve encountered?

While at my position at a chamber of commerce, we put on an annual event called the Shopping Extravaganza. This was one of the most intense working days I’ve experienced thus far. On this day, we sold our local gift cards for 25% off. Because this was such a good deal, it also meant that it was extremely popular. During this day, we sold over $70,000 in gift cards in one day. Each card had to be manually entered and there were usually large amounts of people waiting for their cards. It was a crazy event, but (almost) everyone was in good spirits and patient during the process.

6. If your life were a movie, what are three songs we’d find on the soundtrack?

“Here Comes the Sun” by the Beatles. I’ve loved this song since I was a kid, and it would definitely be playing at some point during the movie of my life.

“5 Years Time” by Noah and the Whale. This was the first song I learned to play on the ukulele, and because of that it has a soft and mushy place in my heart. And it’s just so dang catchy.

“5000 Candles in the Wind” by Mouse Rat. Because Andy Dwyer is my favorite, this song would be the closing credits of my movie.