Friday, February 20, 2015

Feature Friday Staff Profile: Julia (Jules) Schenk, Marketing and Events Manager

The National Panhellenic Conference has five full-time staff members and interns who work daily to advance the sorority experience. Here we will introduce each staff member and let them tell you who they are and what they do in the office. 

Jules is the marketing and events manager for NPC. She works with the committee chairmen and editorial team to review all publications and documents going out from NPC, oversees social media, works to ensure the brand is consistent, assists the public relations firm, plans all our meetings and trainings, writes for newsletters, supervises the marketing and communications interns and The Sorority Life brand, and handles other duties as assigned. It sounds like a lot, but most important is that she says, "It’s a lot of fun!" She is also the veteran in the office, having worked for NPC for just over seven years starting as the communications and programs coordinator.

About Jules: 
I grew up in Evansville, Ind., and my parents are still there. I have a younger brother, Joe, who is better known in the NPC office as #KappaBroJoe. He is a physical therapist with a specialty in orthopedics and works for OrthoIndy. We actually share a condo, which some people think is weird, but he’s paying off student loans and I share my living space to help out. It may be cheesy, but he is my best friend. Our little family of four is really close, and there are no three people I’d rather spend my time with.

A proud graduate of Butler University, I have a bachelor’s degree in journalism. My focus was on integrated communications, which is advertising and public relations. I chose this area of focus after my journalism and yearbook classes in high school. I love to write, which lends itself to journalism, and I was the first-ever advertising manager of our yearbook. When I went to college, I thought I wanted to work at an ad agency. I have also attended Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), where I’m one internship short of completing a certificate in event management. An internship I had my senior year at Butler helped me find my love of planning events.

The choice to go through recruitment was one of the best I ever made. With encouragement from my new roommate I decided at the last minute to participate. She told me, “Let’s just do it. We’ll meet some new people, and we don’t have to join.” Famous last words that led to a life of volunteering for Kappa Kappa Gamma and working to support the sorority movement! I served Mu chapter at Butler University in various advisor roles for six years, and I currently serve Kappa as the province director of chapters for Delta South Province: Indiana University, DePauw University, Butler University and Purdue University.

Fun fact: A nursing class was in the room watching when I was born.

Q & A:
  1. What do you most enjoy about working at NPC? I love that each day is different. I’m not stuck doing the same thing day in and day out. After all, variety is the spice of life.
  2. What is something you do every day? I drink at least one Diet Dr. Pepper every day. No one wants to be around me if I don’t have one.
  3. What are you most passionate about? I’m passionate about sharing my time and talents, whether that is with my family, through my work or as a volunteer. It’s important to be a good steward of the gifts you’ve been given, so I try my best to share what has been given to me with others.
  4. What is your favorite band? My favorite band is New Kids on the Block, even though they certainly aren’t kids anymore. People may laugh at me, but I loved them when I was six and I love them now. In fact, they were my very first concert. The tickets were a present from my aunt for my eighth birthday.
  5. What have you gained by being a member of a sorority? Sorority membership has taught me many things throughout the years. I’ve learned to work with people I don’t necessarily like. I’ve learned that your best friends can be women you thought you’d never get along with, as long as you have shared values. I’ve learned that age is just a number, and your closest friend could be 15 years older than you. I’ve learned the importance of mentoring and how mentorship becomes deep friendship. I’ve learned to “stumble up the back steps, and walk gracefully out the front door.”