From May-September of 2021 and May-August of 2022, I worked for the PLAY Boulder Foundation, which is the non-profit partner of the Boulder Parks and Recreation Department. In my role of Communications & Marketing intern, I worked alongside a planning committee to organize and promote the Great Boulder Duck Race. This annual event serves as PLAY Boulder’s largest fundraiser of the year, raising funds to support the creation of equitable access to recreation, the maintenance and betterments of communal spaces in Boulder, and the work of the urban-canopy-focused Tree Trust program.

My function on the planning committee was to facilitate a multi-media marketing & communications campaign, promoting the fundraiser and bringing in donations. I managed the organization’s social media platforms by strategizing, designing, and writing a cohesive content campaign to be posted throughout the summer. I wrote and compiled Mailchimp e-blasts to be sent out to a mailing list of 1400+ contacts in tandem with the social media posts. I also created more targeted e-blasts to be sent to specific audience segments - for example, people who already “adopted a duck” (i.e., donated to the event). I regularly updated and maintained the organization’s website with the most current information about the event. I designed and facilitated the purchase of all promotional materials and signage for the event, including t-shirts, stickers, flyers, business cards, posters, and banners. I also designed a series of newspaper advertisements and wrote a press release to be published in the Boulder, Colorado publication, the Daily Camera. I collaborated with community partners including the Boulder Chamber, the Boulder Parks and Recreation department, and various businesses who served as our cash sponsors or in-kind prize donors, to cross promote the event through their social platforms. During the event itself, I worked as a photographer. After the event, I compiled footage I was provided with and edited it into a summary video of the 2022 fundraiser.

The 2022 Great Boulder Duck Race was a huge success, raising over $12,000 through over 1,000 duck adoptions!

The work showcased on this page is a compilation of the work I created for the 2022 event. I have a similar body of work from my 2021 summer internship in this same position. Since the 2022 Great Boulder Duck Race, I have been hired on by PLAY Boulder in an expanded role of Communications Manager & Program Support.