Fast Start: Lauren Wilson knew what she wanted and where she wanted to be

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(Photo by Kimberly Simpson)

The art of patience and knowing when to take the initiative are two traits that have helped Lauren Wilson propel her career.

Today, Wilson, 30, is a senior account executive at Roberts Communications Inc., a marketing and communications firm at 64 Commercial St.

Landing the job did not come easily. Wilson applied to Roberts Communications twice before she was brought on as an account coordinator in 2010. The experience honed her ambition and helped her keep faith in her future.

“I always had the passion to do something good, but I just kind of took it one step at a time and didn’t give up,” she says.

Wilson earned a Prism Award in June 2015 from the Rochester chapter of the Public Relations Society of America for her work with Heritage Christian Services. She worked on a digital, print and radio campaign that helped double the nonprofit’s recruitment rate.

She also created the tagline “Practice Safe Text?” for Causewave Community Partners in a campaign to prevent texting while driving.

Growing up, Wilson was a creative child. After graduating from Monroe Community College in 2007 with a degree in liberal arts, she enrolled at SUNY College at Brockport and earned a B.S. in communications with a focus on public relations in 2009.

By her junior year, she knew she wanted to work in marketing or public relations. She toured Roberts Communications while taking a marketing class and found that the culture there was something she could not forget.

“I remember going through it, and it was so glam to me,” Wilson says. “Just the hustle and the bustle of agency—I was really liking it.”

During college she worked as an intern at Causewave, leading the organization’s golf tournament—its major fundraiser—which draws some 200 participants each year. Roberts Communications’ staffers again caught her eye.

“At the golf tournament that I was managing, Roberts was one of the lead sponsors,” Wilson says. “I saw them work hard, and then I saw them at the golf tournament having fun. I was like, ‘That’s definitely where I want to work.’”

Beginning in 2005, Wilson worked as a bartender and server at J.B. Quimby’s Public House, leading events and training new employees in addition to serving customers. She worked her way up to managing the front of the house for two years, leaving earlier this year.

Being at first rejected in the hiring process at Roberts made Wilson appreciate the position even more once she was hired, she says. Now, in dealing with a range of clients and campaigns, she continues to trust in the process.

“The best advice is to just stay the course a little bit, because as a new person you also don’t want to go from job to job,” Wilson says. “I liked the path they had set me on. Stay your course and don’t jump ship right away, because sometimes when it’s uncertain and you’re feeling a little weird, that’s when the most amazing things happen.

“Listen to your gut, especially early on. Know your audience (and) try to establish good relationships,” she adds.

Outside of work, Wilson volunteers for Friends of the Public Market, the Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester, Causewave Community Partners’ event committee, and the United Way Young Leaders Club.

At Roberts Communications, Wilson is learning how to be a leader. She leads one team member in her role and hopes to be a good mentor to others.

“The thing that I am really focused on learning is just being a better leader and delegating and that part of it,” she says. “I feel like you get to a level and you start hiring people, and you want to be really good to them and be a good mentor, and then it’s like this whole other perspective that I’m just learning.

“It’s just making sure that you’re building in the time in your day to also teach them and making sure that you’re teaching them the right things,” Wilson says. “I was really lucky to have great mentors, and I want to pass that on.”

#TeamPXY with Carter and Corey on 98PXY is a partner with Fast Start. Listen on Monday from 6 to 10 a.m. for their interview with Lauren Wilson.

10/28/2016 (c) 2016 Rochester Business Journal. To obtain permission to reprint this article, call 585-546-8303 or email [email protected].