Blogs

March 1 is Employee Appreciation Day! We are celebrating our team members all month long by sharing their stories. Read more about Melody Gopee, Regional Marketing and Communications Coordinator. 

What is your favorite thing about working here? 

I love that even though I don’t get to work directly with our students and clients, I still get to hopefully make some kind of impact in their lives by supporting our companies through marketing. I have always wanted to work in a field where I can make a positive difference in the world, and this job allows me to do that. I also love the team that I work with, they make coming to work each day so much more fun!  

What keeps you coming to work each day? 

The knowledge that I’m working for an organization that is changing lives for the better and that the work I do to support that is so important.  

How do you make an impact on students’ and/or clients’ lives? 

I make a difference in students' and clients’ lives by helping our organization connect with more children and young adults. I share success stories on social media, blogs, and news articles, and I support the recruitment marketing process to bring in the best people for our students and clients. I also provide our companies with tools and templates to better engage with their stakeholders and work to create any resources they may need.  

Last year, we rolled out our BetterTogether guiding principles. Which one of our values resonates with you most personally and why? (Integrity, Accountable, Collaborative, Inclusive, Supportive) 

I think that collaborative has always been a value that has stood out to me. Many of the projects and initiatives that I work on involve a lot of other people and moving pieces, so collaboration is key. One of the things that makes my position exciting is that I don't just collaborate within the marketing team; I also work with various states and their teams, as well as internal teams like HR and IT.  

What does a “day in the life” look like for your role? 

No two days in my role look the same, but I often start my day by going through and catching up on emails, and then working on projects I am assigned at the time. Some of the typical things you might find me doing daily are copywriting and editing blog articles for our different sites, creating and scheduling social media posts, executing internal communications plans for our HR team, supporting some acquisition integrations and rebranding of our companies, creating collateral items, sending out the weekly newsletter and any press releases, and creating recruitment advertising campaigns. I also typically have several meetings throughout the day where I collaborate with team members on all the various projects we have going on.  

Can you talk a little bit about your career trajectory and what led you to where you are now? 

When I started college, I was originally majoring in education to work as a teacher. I then ended up changing paths and received my bachelor’s degree in speech communication and later my master’s degree in strategic communication. Then, I found New Story, which felt like the perfect fit. Here, I get to mix my love for education and helping kids with marketing and communications. About three years ago, I kicked off my journey here as a Marketing Coordinator for Virginia and then last year, moved into my current role where I now support multiple states and help spearhead some of our larger projects.  

What has been your proudest moment or accomplishment in your role? 

I would say that one of my proudest accomplishments has been supporting the rebranding of several of our companies. These have been huge projects that take a lot of time and effort, but that pay off in the end when our state partners feel that they are being accurately represented to their key stakeholders and are able to reach even more children and young adults.  

What is something about you that not many people know? 

I actually got this job because my husband originally interviewed for it. He is in the same field but is from Canada and didn’t have his green card yet, so they couldn’t hire him. I was also job searching at the time, so he recommended me, and I was hired!