A productive six months in AMA Tampa Bay

Mike Stephenson, left, and AMA Tampa Bay president Glenn Zimmerman at the Marketer of the Year awards in March 2017.

It has been about six months since I joined the American Marketing Association of Tampa Bay.

I had voluntarily left my job at the Tampa Bay Times when I showed up at a monthly luncheon in August with the idea of growing my network of contacts and learning about potential career paths. I figured I was on a communication or marketing path, having studied journalism and business at Indiana University. I always had been more attracted to marketing than pure sales.

Amid introductions and chit-chat at the table, I noticed the bios of the AMA Tampa Bay Board of Directors scrolling on the screen. The president, Glenn Zimmerman, had worked in TV news for many years before starting his video marketing company, Mad Bear Productions.

At the end of the luncheon, I introduced myself to Glenn and asked for advice on moving from the news biz into marketing. He graciously agreed to talk on the phone a few days later.

Glenn is just one of many AMA members who welcomed me and helped when asked. Glenn quickly recruited me to become a member and to volunteer. I've attended luncheons on Hillsborough County tourism, Tampa Bay Bucs marketing, social media and the legalities of live streaming. I've been contributing to the AMA Tampa Bay blog since November on topics from email marketing to a three-part series on visual content and marketing (Part 1, 2 and 3).

I got a new job at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital. When Glenn and I talked about it in December, I told him I didn't get the job because of AMA, but that my experience at the luncheons and the repetitions telling my story certainly helped.

I saw Glenn again Thursday at the annual AMA Tampa Bay Marketer of the Year awards. He seemed genuinely happy that things worked out as well as they did for me.

I'm happy they did too and glad I joined such a supportive organization.