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Transcript

What If The Next Big Opportunity Is Home · The Leader Mentality

• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Leader Mentality Show with Rob Clemens.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: Special show alert today because we've got one of my favorite people on the show, literally.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: And not only that, she's also really, really smart and talented and all that stuff.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_02: We say that everybody, don't you?
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, I do say that about everything.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: But no, no, no.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: But but seriously, one of the things that's been on my mind, and I felt like it was a good time to bring her on the show, is that we're in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, one of the most popular destinations in the country to move to, I think the vacation at as well.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of people get here and they want to live here, they want to work here.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: And we always get asked this question of like, what's the job market of Myrtle Beach?
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: But I want to take it back a little bit earlier than that.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's a time where you might have graduated from college here, and I'd like to say that if you go back far enough in the Myrtle Beach history, there was a time where everybody moved because there just weren't opportunities in a place like this.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: But today I've got a guest on here who's not only been here, lived here, uh we'll we'll talk about that story later, but she's thriving in her role, and I really love that, and so I'm I'm excited about it.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: And also she brought us coffee, and uh, you know how to get to my heart anytime.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: You bring me some coffee, and I'm a heart is order and everything.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, she remembered the order, man.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, whoa, this is gonna be the best show ever seen.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: I'm actually really impressed with myself on the show.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: I was too, man.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: I was that was crazy.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: So all right, well, hey, we're gonna introduce her.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: Her name is Danielle Van Dyke, she is the public relations manager, public.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: Can I say public for the rest of the show?
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: I probably will.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: Let's try that again.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: She is the public relations manager for Visit Myrtle Beach.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: And Danielle, welcome to the show.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for having me.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, it's crazy because like we go back so far that we we really talk more like friends do, but I think it's cool to have you on today because you are kind of in the middle of so many things that are happening in the city of Myrtle Beach as the public relations manager, and so we'll get back to all that stuff later.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm just curious what else going on in Myrtle Beach?
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_02: What isn't going on in Myrtle Beach?
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_02: Nice answer.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: No, there's there's so much great stuff that's happening, um, especially like going into fall.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_02: We start to get into like the nicer weather and all of the really cool events and stuff that we have, but there's so much development and just new things that have opened just recently, even in this past year, that it's been a really exciting time in Myrtle Beach for sure.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, yeah, and it's been such a hot summer.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know what I mean?
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like, when you say the thing about fall, I'm totally digging what you're laying down because here's the thing if you haven't been to Myrtle Beach or if you come here and visit occasionally, you we have these really hot summers.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: This one's been like extra hot.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, like you can't even go out.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: But but so during the summer, you know, we're thinking about beach time and getting out tons of tourism, and we have tourism years year round now, but um, but when you get into the fall, it's a different vibe, right?
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, for sure.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's you can still go to the beach, you can still like enjoy all of the water sports and everything, but you can walk to your car without sweating quite as much, which is really nice.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_02: And then, like I said, a lot of those really like local annual traditions that everyone likes to either come into town for or likes to do when they live here all kind of happen during like the fall and spring.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_02: So those little shoulder seasons can can sometimes be forgotten, but they're they're some of the best and some of my favorite times here.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's so cool.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: Let me let me ask you this.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: You've done so many things that you've been involved with since you've been working at Visit Myrtle Beach.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I'd love to hear about some of your favorite ones and things that have happened so far, but uh, I'm gonna just break into a bunch of questions.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: Can I just go straight into Myrtle Beach questions for a while?
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_02: Don't get too hard on me.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_02: What is the data?
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: I need the population figures.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, no.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: No, um, seriously, like stuff like um, so we have CCMF every year.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: Wildly successful event.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: You you know, you've been on the Danielle has been on the stage at CCMF talking to the crowd.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: You remember those?
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, I have I have too, but it was so much more fun watching you up there.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but talk about CCMF and this thing that we've been hearing about, like another kind of a show that would be like CCMF that's coming to Myrtle Beach.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_02: So I I mean, yeah, CCMF is a great, great event for our area.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_02: It's just continued to grow.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_02: They do a lot for the community.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_02: It brings a lot back to our area and you know, creates this thing for locals and visitors.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so that same company, there have been discussions back and forth about trying to bring some other sort of festival, like either in spring or fall or something like that.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_02: So nothing's been solidified yet, but um, from what I hear, it could be some sort of like rock festival to change it up a little bit.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_02: And um, yeah, it would be centered around either, you know, springtime or fall.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: Now, now I know you're a you're a fan yourself.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: Does the chamber get involved with that at all uh with the country music festival?
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, for sure.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um we sponsor it and also um we kind of assist with well on my side with PR and things, so we'll kind of pitch the area and the festival and things that are going on to national media outlets and everything so that they can kind of see all the things that we have going on here.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_02: And actually, this past year um CCMF got listed in I believe it was Forbes magazine, um, for being one of those like really great like festivals for the United States.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_02: So that was exciting.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: So, so like what uh what would you say is the thing that is very, very important when you're in a public relations role like yours?
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: How do you create these these opportunities with national media?
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, did you come into this and have to find these people or was it already out there and you just kind of build upon it?
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I I mean PR wasn't always my my you know specialty.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_02: It was part of what I did, but it wasn't what I solely focused on.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_02: So I luckily have had the opportunity to work with a great agency that we work with, Falgren Mortine.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and they have kind of assisted me in like building this great relationship with lots of national media outlets and things.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_02: So I do a lot of conferences where I'll sit down with media one-on-one and kind of tell them what's going on in the area or if they have like a special interest in culinary or attractions or something, we'll speak specifically about that.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_02: We also bring media in um market quite often, which is really fun, um, so that they can kind of get these custom itineraries and experience a little bit of everything that we've got going on here.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then I just kind of try to keep up those relationships over the years.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_02: So it's just a lot of relationship building and then knowing if there's there's something going on that might fit specifically with a certain writer or you know, a certain person that you can send them that information and kind of be a little bit helpful to them as well if they're looking for things to write about.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's super cool.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, one one thing I know about you, and um, and I'll tell the the viewers and listeners, I mean, you really, really understand how to connect the dots of marketing.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: I've known that we used to work together and and I got to see it firsthand.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, how do you make a compelling pitch to one of these people?
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: Because the way I picture it national media, they always need interesting things, and they probably have like the whole nation and they could figure out what they want to do.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: What's a good part of a compelling pitch for Myrtle Beach and why to focus on something?
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_02: So, our emerging culinary scene is is one of the things that I personally absolutely love talking about these days.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um, over the past 10 years, there's been so many incredible restaurants that have either opened or expanded or kind of flourishing in our area that are really utilizing all that South Carolina has to offer with our, you know, beautiful um seafood and all of the farms and stuff that we have inland.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_02: So have really been focusing on getting to know of a lot of our local chefs and restaurants and everything, and just telling those stories about like how some of those chefs started or or what the things they're doing are different, um, is one of those that is really, really fun and usually does well to talk, especially with culinary publications.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, I would think so.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: There was something called like Chef Swap at the beach or something.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: It would do you remember the show, something along those lines?
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_02: That one was really fun.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, that we worked with um this uh production company called The Workshop to produce that, and it it was great for a lot of our local restaurants to be able to get on this um program that was on the food network and really be able to, you know, show their skills, show different things about their restaurant, but also in like that fun kind of competition setting.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_02: So um there's reruns still going on uh of the three seasons and stuff, so we still see it out there and getting picked up, but it it was great to get those stories during that.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: That was it, it was such a good idea for a show.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: And and like, so I know you're into the culinary scene.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: Well, how would you define yourself on a scale from one to ten?
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: What is your cooking ability?
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_02: My cooking ability.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um Michelin starred for sure.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, I love to cook.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_02: It's kind of my when I go home, it's my therapy, but I would never be able to do it in a professional sense.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_02: Like what these chefs are doing is so incredible.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I mean, we've we've recently like this area started getting awards too, like um Chef Heidi Vukov with uh Hook and Barrel and Croissants and all of that.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_02: She's been recognized by James Beard, which is the first nomination our area's had.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: And then we've got Chef Jarek King with Oak Prime, who recently got recognized by Michelin at the end of last year.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_02: So we're really excited about just the trajectory of the culinary scene.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: That's very, very cool.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: I I will say um I we had Mason on uh last year around this time, and he was, you know, he's a chef, and they talk about food differently than like a normal person does.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's like, oh, and the the things they're gonna explode in your mouth with flavor as you're very scientific in his in his like culinary stuff too.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_02: He actually lives in New Zealand now.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that would explain why I couldn't find him at the restaurant last time.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: Is Mason gonna be stopping in today?
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh not making the trip from New Zealand, eh?
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: Gosh, wow, that's crazy.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you are a world traveler, right?
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_02: I love to travel.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: And you've been traveling with your job a good bit, right?
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me what's the coolest place you've been to since you've been with the uh with the uh Little River.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the Little River with the uh public relations with the visit Myrtle Beach.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: Well, she does kind of be around Little River, but yeah, yeah.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_02: No, I mean it's um so basically, like we are the destination marketing organization for the entire Grand Strand.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_02: So I I cover all 14 of our communities.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: I was right.
• 11:02
  unknown: Yeah, exactly.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_02: So gosh, the coolest place.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um you know, I just recently went to Albuquerque.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, and that was one that had never really been on my radar.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_02: And it's it's really cool what they've got going on there, especially like with the hot air balloons and stuff.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_02: We got to go to this hot air balloon museum, and like they just it's it's just really neat out there.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_02: Really?
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_02: Did you get in a hot air balloon?
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't, I didn't get a chance to.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_02: Oh man.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_02: You might have to wake up at like four o'clock in the morning or something to do it before a whole day of conference stuff, and I was like, nah, that's I'm not about that life.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, look, listen, you just didn't want it bad enough then because if you want it to be a time zone.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's like the equivalent of one o'clock in the morning or whatever.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: I'm about to be yeah, no, I get you on that.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that makes sense.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: So no no hot air balloons, but no, that is cool.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I've never been west of Texas, I guess.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm always kind of curious.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: No, actually, I take that back.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: I went to Idaho years ago.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's a great place to visit.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: Nice.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_02: I love some potatoes.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man, those potatoes?
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: Gosh darn, man, that place is awesome.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but but well, um, so let's talk about some other things that I I know are going on.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you talked a little bit before about the culinary scene.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there's been some things that you that I think you're a big part of, like the crawls.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like there was like some kind of like uh, what was it, the the beer crawl thing?
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh tell me about that.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, we've got we've got a couple of different trails that we've worked on.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: So we have our brewery trail um or beer trail.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_02: So it kind of takes you around to uh all of the different like breweries and brew pubs and stuff like that in our area, which is great for visitors and locals to kind of explore things that they might not have known about or might not you know have known existed in our area, especially um for on the mini golf side.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_02: So that one was an eye-opener for me when we put that one together.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the mini golf trail, how many like you know, living here that we have a lot of mini golf courses, but you don't quite grasp the variety that we have from like north to south as far as the different ones that we have.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_02: So the mini golf trail kind of puts it all together for you to be able to see.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_02: And we've had quite a few people that have really like tried to get through all of them.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, I find it interesting.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: You know how when you live in an area for a long time, you almost start to have blind spots.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, because I mean I pass these every day, and sometimes I'm sitting in a stoplight, I'll be like, there's a mini golf place there.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I've been by it like a hundred times, I'm like, wow, I should go play that place.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_02: Or the mini golf capital of the world.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, that is something else right there.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um well, you know, I I will say that when people are coming to the area, there are certain things we're famous for.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: Golf, regular golf, um, you know, and I do think people talk about the restaurants, the beach, of course.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: But if you had somebody coming into town to visit you, an old friend who was just coming down and you really wanted to go do something for, you know, to keep them entertained for a few days, what would be your hierarchy?
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: Ooh, well, I mean, like you said, beach is always number one.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_02: Any of the water sports things that we can do, like me and my family, we love being out on the water.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: So whether it's like boating on the intracoastal or the Wakma or going to the beach, those are always great options.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_02: Huge foodie, so restaurants, galore, um barefoot and Broadway.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I again doing that whole locals thing where you're kind of like, ah, you know, like that's yeah, I'm a local, I don't go there.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we've recently, like with Leighton and stuff, have have tried to start going to more places and exploring some of those attractions that we haven't been to in a really long time.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_02: And like Barefoot Landing, the things that they've done there is incredible.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's gotten, I mean, it was always kind of a cool place, but it's even like raised in the park.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like there's so much to do there from like kids all the way up to adults.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, so we talked about marketing at the beginning, and I think that there's something to be said for that.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's it I feel like if you look at our area years ago, and and look, we're talking a lot about Myrtle Beach, but wherever you're at, just think about how businesses do things.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: And when one business or area tries to do something better, it forces everybody else to do things better.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember years ago, um, there's a place called the Marsh Walk here.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's down south of Myrtle Beach, if you don't know the area.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: And Marsh Walk was kind of looking at what was happening at Broadway at the beach and all these places, which is more central Myrtle Beach.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: And they were like, we got to do something, like we got to keep the the people wanting to come here.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: So they create a marsh walk, and you can walk up and down, and there's entertainment.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: And then I think Myrtle Beach countered that.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: I think Barefoot's countered that, and they're all trying to bring more entertainment and venues.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's so cool, right?
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, for sure.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, also Little River recently, they're trying to do a lot more with um their whole little like river walk area that they have down there.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um, with there's a like three new events I think that they added this year, along with their signature like blue crab festival.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, and like the shrimp festival and stuff.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_02: But they're gonna be doing some things for Halloween, they're gonna be doing some things for Christmas, kind of like what Conway does too along their riverwalk.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_02: So it's really cool to see all of the communities like really adding all of these different things that they're you know, kind of staying true to the uniqueness of their areas, but get building something for visitors and locals to be able to like explore a little bit more.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, and I feel like there was always this knock about Myrtle Beach.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: I know we used to talk about this of like, where's the culture, man?
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: All this culture being, where's the culture, dude?
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, look, well, you got Brook Green Gardens.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_02: Mm-hmm.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, which is the the largest figurative sculpture art on the East Coast.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_02: Holy Calvin.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_02: Largest collection of figurative sculpture art.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: But hey, look at Van Dyke bringing the stats today.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: All right, yeah.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: And then, well, and and then you have the state park, and we have um you know Huntington uh beach state park, and then we um what's the castle there, Adelaya?
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: Adelaia.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: Adelaia, yeah.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean there's just so many cool things you can do here.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: I really love it.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, absolutely.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: Very cool.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: So, Danielle, that was great stuff about Myrtle Beach and really reasons for people to come to the area.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: I totally dig it.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: But let's get back where we started from the get-go, right?
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like we talked about being a young professional, coming up through the industry, um, you know, marketing.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: I know you went to school for this, you got a master's degree in marketing, right?
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: And um, and you're applying it, you know, you're doing the job.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like a lot of people go to college sometimes and you end up graduating and you don't get into your field for whatever reason, but you've made this successful career.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: If you would kind of talk about like what your journey looked like when you were going to college, did you always want to do this marketing and kind of like start us from the beginning?
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, for sure.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_02: So, I mean, I wasn't entirely sure what avenue I was gonna take with marketing.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, towards the end of getting, you know, my bachelor's and my master's and everything, I kind of realized that I wanted to try and potentially become a CMO one day.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_02: And that was my first kind of trajectory.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_02: So I started out as a marketing manager for Dick's Last Resort, um, was at the local level and then got um got to move to Nashville for a little bit to be at the corporate level for that company.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then moved back, had some great opportunities to be a marketing director, got to work with you, which was great.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_02: Such a good mentor.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_02: And then somewhere in the mix, like I I found this position as a PR manager, and where it wasn't exactly where I thought my career was gonna take, I'm so glad that I got to this place because while I do love the whole integrated marketing plan and really coming up with these great campaigns and strategies, yeah, PR and communications kind of seems to be where I I thrived the most.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_02: So being able to really like dial in and focus in the PR space is great.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_02: And when I was at Coastal, um, even when I was here for like high school and went to the academy and stuff, like I was one of those people that was worried about job opportunities in our area and like where am I gonna go?
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_02: So I always assumed too, like I'd have to move out of the area and you know, go to New York and become one of those marketing legends, like kind of high-rise up there.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_02: That was you know, sky's the limit.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_02: But um honestly, like the diversity of jobs that has come to this area recently, like we're still getting there, but um, it's it's amazing now.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_02: Like you really can graduate from coastal or graduate from somewhere else and come here and get a great career.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: I I agree completely.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: And the the most interesting thing is, is one reason I do the leader mentality show is I I wanted to give a perspective.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: I always talk about the heart behind why you're doing what you're doing.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like so often people don't really understand what drives you.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: And when they see people and they're like, I want to be a public relations manager for a big company, or I want to, you know, be a famous golfer, whatever it is, you know, you see what's on the surface and you didn't see what was going on behind the scenes.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: You didn't see sometimes where you're going through a part of your career where you had some doubt as to the direction you were going, or even when you're in college, you don't really know necessarily perfectly what you're gonna do for a career.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: But my message to people is in your life, there's gonna be a lot of ups and downs, but there's a general trajectory upwards that you want to aim for, and you'll find things only by trying them.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: So you know, you talked about that trip to Nashville and coming back to the area.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, without, you know, you don't have to go super specific, but talk about like you made the jump.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: You said, I'm gonna go to Nashville, I'm gonna chase this particular opportunity, and you came back.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: Could you talk about that a little bit about how that came together and why you you made the move and then came back?
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, for sure.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_02: So it's it's a little bit of an unorthodox story.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I I don't know where my career would be today if it if it hadn't been for like COVID and everything that happened, especially with the hospitality industry, really took a hard hit during COVID.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_02: So that's kind of one of the main reasons why I came back to this area and was looking to come back home and you know, just come to the place where I knew and and you know felt at home in.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_02: And like I said, I I got that great opportunity to work with you for a few years, which was amazing, like super great mentorship from you really helped me kind of see all the different avenues that were possible.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_02: And um, since hospitality and travel has kind of always been my passion, um, it led into this great opportunity with Visit Myrtle Beach.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_02: And having grown up here and love this area, I'm raising my kids here.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_02: You know, this is where I met my husband who is my absolute best friend.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's it's one of those places that is very easy for me to talk to media about and tell them how fantastic this area is.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_02: Cause again, as a local, sometimes you you don't realize quite how good you have it.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_02: Like the fact that I can drop my daughter off at school and you know, take a small detour and go say hi to the ocean every morning.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like such amazing thing.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_02: So but not many people get to do that every single day.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I think you bring a great point up, whether you live in Myrtle Beach or whether you live in uh you know, in Texas or I mean, we have listeners all over the country.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: I would say think about where you're at and appreciate the little things of what you got where you are.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: Because sometimes we're so busy chasing these goals to go other places, the next big thing, and the next big thing could be right in front of you.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um or maybe you're doing the big thing right now.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um I I want to talk a little bit about our history though.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you mentioned the mentorship and the marketing, and you know, I think great mentorship comes from actually learning from the person that you're mentoring.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, because you know, we came together, we saw eye to eye on what a marketing program should look like.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, I learned a lot of things that you were doing, and I think we're kind of feeding off of each other.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: I think a lot of times what you do if if you have a great pairing is you learn what common goals are, right?
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: And you might like each have a specific thing that you do really well, but it comes together.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: So I appreciate those times too.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that at the end of the day, mm-hmm the best thing that you've always done is you have an ability to connect with people that most people do not have.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like you have that ability to get in and just kind of get in the sweet spot, make people feel comfortable, weasel people in.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, but but you know, not everybody has that.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: I've always been like the opener guy, like I'm kind of the energy guy, but um, I I appreciated that, and that's why we work well together.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: This one's really talented.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, one of the fun stories I have about you is Oh no, so uh the show is gonna get good now.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's all I'm gonna one of my favorite things about you was that uh uh a story was there was a point where shortly after you came to work with a company we were at, um, you know, when I first met you, you you really weren't like even sure, I think at the time, you know, when you were gonna have kids or what that was gonna look like.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: And one day you're like, Rob, I need to talk to you.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm thinking, like, any manager, I'm thinking, what is she about to quit?
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: Has she got better?
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: And she goes, I just want to let you know I'm pregnant.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: It was like a real like momentous thing, like dun dun dun.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, awesome, Danielle.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I didn't even know what to say.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, well, you know, congratulations, I think, or something like that.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_02: I was just as awkward, like with my second pregnancy.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_02: It's like one of those things, like, how do you say, like, oh yeah, well, it's like you had personally let me down.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, okay, I think that happens when you got a good husband, like you do, and all that.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's how that works out.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: But with that being said, what is it that talk about being a professional with children, young children?
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: And and I think that's important because a lot of people feel like, you know, I had kids, and and you you want to raise your kids, you want to be with your kids as much as you can, but you also have professional ambitions.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: Speak to that a little bit.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, for sure.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um, honestly, like I people that are are able to stay home with their children all day, like, kudos to you.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_02: Like that is is a hard, hard job.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_02: I believe just just the weekend.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes I'm like, oh my gosh, what's going on?
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_02: But I mean, being a working parent um with a you know, a husband that works full-time too has its struggles for sure.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_02: It's a lot of really staying organized, which for me is not one of those things that comes supernaturally with like my ADD and how my brain works, but but you know, just being able to stay organized and keep a schedule and try to keep that consistency throughout the week seems to be really helpful.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but yeah, I've I've always kind of been the type that really wanted to have this, you know, this career and have really worked hard like since I was, you know, in high school and stuff to try and get all of those pieces in place in order to grow my career and advance and really flourish.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, my dad, he was incredible with what he did.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_02: He was an engineer and he moved up to the top and he was just so smart, and I always admired him.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, you know, I really, I really want to have a passion and be as great in my future career as my dad was with this.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man, that's so awesome.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: No, that's so awesome because, like, well, you you think about the way I mean your dad's you know looking at you now from above, and and I know how proud he would be of you.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_01: And the thing is, is that um sometimes I don't even know if if somebody that really has done a lot in your life um knows how much they've inspired you.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: Even even if they know they've inspired you, they don't know how much they've inspired you.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_01: So that's a really cool tribute.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I know you you know, you love your kids like none other, you love your husband like none other.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: I know how much you love your mom and dad and everything, and that's awesome.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: Let me ask you this.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I know you traveled to uh Egypt at one point.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_01: Am I am I correct on this?
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: Egypt.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_01: No, that's on my list.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's on the list, right?
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_02: I was always like obsessed with the Egyptian stuff when I was.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_02: I remember the bucket list.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's on my list for sure.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_02: No, I haven't made it there quite yet.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: So you're gonna go see the pyramids and all that good stuff.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so I'm gonna ask you the one question.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: This is the like the big hot-hitting question for the day.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: Who built the pyramids?
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_02: Aliens.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: I love the conviction of that answer, dude.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like some people get all mechanical about it.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: You're like, I was aliens.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: Well, what happened was No, no, it's like, you know what?
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna wrap a um, I think I'm gonna wrap the show with a good marketing concept.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I had this.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: I asked uh a group of people one time.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: This is a group of realtors.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I was the uh education chairman for the realtor committee locally here.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I started off and I showed a picture of the uh pyramids, right?
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, uh, the pyramid of Giza.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, how many uh stones do you think is in are are in this thing?
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I'm getting answers like 500, 5,000, and I think the number is something like two million.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's heavily, those are low numbers, right?
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, yes, that's for the people who have not seen it, obviously.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: But but I'm like, I'm and and these stones are somewhere between what, one ton and up, right?
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: They go up.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, so the question is if we're thinking about marketing, you go, sometimes you say, What is it?
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's a big pyramid with a lot of stones, and you go, how did they do it?
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a really big question, like, how would you do that?
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: But the better question is the how, which is impressive, leads me to the why.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: Why did they do it?
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, at this point, it's a big mystery.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: And my point was, don't let your marketing ever be a mystery.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: Let people know why you're doing what you're doing, otherwise, you'll be like the great pyramids of Giza, which is, you know, it's it's cool, it's impressive.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what the heck it's there for.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: And like, and we don't want to be a mystery.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I felt like that was a good apropos thing for us to, you know, kind of talk about.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_01: And um, that was my marketing thing.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: What's yours?
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I mean, no, that's actually incredible because that's something that we're kind of working on at like the Greater Myrtle Beach Collaborative, too, is kind of letting people know like why we're doing what we're doing, what it is we're doing, just trying to be a little bit more communicative to everyone, especially the community, so that they can see like the benefits behind some of the things that we're doing, like how you know us having one-on-one meetings and meeting with media with forbes and stuff like that can lead to like these great earned media articles that really put you know the whole Myrtle Beach area into the spotlight.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so we're trying to get better about you know, making sure that people know what we're doing in the office and behind closed doors and and really making sure that they understand like the why behind it.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_02: And that's exactly like what you were saying.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: So you do a good job.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_01: No, well, in and real quick, I I do want to just give you one more chance because I want to plug a little bit of what you're doing.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: You did just mention the greater collaborative, right?
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: Greater Myrtle Beach, Greater Myrtle Beach.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so we I've been talking Visit Myrtle Beach a lot, visit Myrtle Beach.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, could you just explain the collaborative real quick just so people can understand it?
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so the Greater Myrtle Beach Collaborative, I think um before people would kind of confuse like Visit Myrtle Beach in the chamber, and kind of we are in the same building and stuff, but we have very separate functions where one is more business development, where the other one is kind of more focused on like tourism and bringing in visitors and getting the word out and doing advertising and stuff like that.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so the Greater Myrtle Beach Collaborative kind of um encompasses like all of the different things that we do.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_02: So it's um an explanation of of you know how visit Myrtle Beach, the Chamber, Partnership Grand Strand, you know, like all those different entities and like what they separately do.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_02: It's kind of like the the parent organization over all of them, if that kind of makes sense.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like the overall strategy um and everything is done by like the Myrtle Beach Collaborative, and then each has kind of its own little function, whether that be, you know, helping businesses or you know, tourism, that sort of thing.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that's a great way to that makes sense.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_01: Well, no, no, I mean I love it because it really does.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's almost like I I know it's not this, but it sounds like an organizational flow chart.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: You have like a CEO and they have a director of marketing and a director of operations.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_01: In this case, it's just kind of like talking about the individual collaborative efforts that all come together.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_01: That's really cool.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you for explaining that.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_01: Danielle, always good to have you on the show.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: Tell us a little bit more uh how to find more information about Visit Myrtle Beach.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm really easy.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_02: Visit Myrtle Beach.com.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_02: Can't get much easier than that.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_02: That's got all of our, you know, events, things that are going on, updates.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like there's always blogs and stuff on there, giving information, little tidbits and stuff.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so it's a great resource for everyone, including locals.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm on there all the time.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome, awesome.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_01: Well, hey, you're always a lot of fun.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: I can have you on every week.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, so uh, but super cool.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for joining us on the show.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for having me.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: Always good to see you.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: And um, everybody, we hope you enjoyed the show today.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: And wherever you're at, if you're ever thinking about coming to Myrtle Beach, this is a great place to be.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm gonna speak again to the people who are professionals, not just young professionals, any place you are at in your career.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_01: Just remember your journey will often take you in different directions, but your best thing is always ahead.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_01: And um, don't always be looking for the next best thing, just be your best self every day, and the opportunities tend to come.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_01: So, with that being said, we want to thank everybody for listening.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see you all next time on the Lear Mentality Show or Rob Clemens.