From Pulitzer Reporting To Public Libraries That Serve Everyone w/ Natalie Hauff

A Pulitzer Prize is rare. Turning that level of storytelling into day-to-day public service is even rarer. We’re joined by Natalie Hauff, deputy director of Charleston County Public Library, to talk about how a journalism career built her work ethic, her people skills, and her obsession with making information clear, useful, and human.

We dig into what news really looks like behind the scenes, then zoom in on the investigative project that helped drive policy change in South Carolina by combining data reporting with lived experience. From there, Natalie breaks down the scary part many communicators face: leaving a career that feels like your identity and stepping into PR, marketing, and leadership without a perfect roadmap.

Then we go deep on modern library marketing and community engagement, including CCPL’s website relaunch, the surprising list of free digital resources available with a library card, and creative branding wins like Albert the owl. Natalie also shares the story behind the Listening Booth, a retrofitted payphone that amplifies voices from the community through recorded storytelling, training, and thoughtful support. We close with sharp advice on personal branding, authenticity, TEDx prep, and why communications deserves a seat at the leadership table.

Listen, share with a friend who cares about Charleston, and subscribe so you don’t miss what’s next. If you liked the conversation, leave a review and tell us: what’s one library service you wish more people knew about?

How can Charleston businesses get noticed, found and chosen? The Charleston Marketing Podcast, brought to you by Charleston AMA and recorded at Charleston Media Solutions, answers the marketing and media questions local business owners are asking. We explore media buying, advertising budgets, radio, digital marketing, storytelling and the customer journey, with practical strategies for growing your business in today’s attention economy. CharlestonMediaSolutions.com

South Carolina Research Authority (SCRA) is a public, nonprofit organization that fuels South Carolina’s innovation economy by supporting technology-based startups, academic research, and industry partnerships. Through funding, coaching, and its investment arm SC Launch, SCRA helps early-stage companies grow, commercialize ideas, and scale within the state’s key innovation sectors.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Welcome to the Charleston Marketing Podcast, brought to you by the Charleston AMA and broadcasting from our friends at Charleston Media Solutions Studios. From business and art to hospitality and tech, these movers and shakers choose to call the low country home. So what's their story? Let's find out together.

SPEAKER_03 0:51

Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Charleston Marketing Podcast powered by the Charleston American Marketing Association. We're coming to you from the Charleston Media Solutions Studio. Massive thanks to them for supporting CAMA and the show. We've also got to thank our sponsor, South Carolina Research Authority, for the annual sponsorship. My name is Kelly Morse. I am the director of

Welcome And Meet Natalie Howe

SPEAKER_03 1:13

digital communications at Trident United Way, a local nonprofit helping to uplift families out of poverty across the Tri-County.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

And hey everyone, it's Owen Easter back again. I'm your local digital guy here working for Simplify in South Carolina.

SPEAKER_02 1:28

And today we have with us Natalie Howe with Charleston County Public Library and some other things around town.

SPEAKER_03 1:39

We're happy to have you with us today, Natalie. Natalie is the deputy director of the Charleston County Public Library, where she oversees innovative services including partnerships, outreach, community engagement, programs, communications, and marketing. Previously, she spent nearly a decade as a journalist across radio, television, and print. She was a reporter for ABC News 4 and the Post and Courier, where she was part of a team awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2015. She is also a public speaker and delivered a TEDx talk in 2023. She currently serves on the boards of the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, Charleston Legal Access, and Roper Hospital, in addition to other regional and advisory committees. She is also a mentor for Charleston County Government's Emerging Leader Program and a Furman University Riley Diversity Leaders Initiative Fellow.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

I'm so glad you said that. She literally does everything. That's what you need to know.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

I stay busy. But I think that the time in news uh kind of preps you for a life that can't be boring.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

So I'm telling you about it.

SPEAKER_02 2:46

How did you get into the news? So I, since I was like in elementary school, wanted to be a news reporter. I used to like carry the brush and practice um in front of the mirror. So I wanted to be an anchor. I was on my elementary school, like news, I did all that all the way through. So like I went into college, like knowing I wanted to uh get a journalism degree. That's awesome. So went to school there at the University of Florida, go gators. Go gators. And um, and then back then, I'm aging myself here, you used to send out VHS tapes to markets around the country. So each city is ranked a different

From Childhood Dream To TV News

SPEAKER_02 3:27

market level, and most of my friends ended up in, you know, Wyoming and Wisconsin and like these tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny little markets like and then you you're there for like a year or two and then you move on. And I um only got two callbacks. I sent 50 tapes out, right? So like that was scary. And it was Syracuse, New York, and Charleston, South Carolina. And Syracuse was just a part-time gig, and uh the weather I mean I didn't really need a lot of incomplete.

SPEAKER_03 3:55

You talk about complete opposite of the city.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

But when they got there, they got to college and did snow or something like that. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_02 4:03

So I was like, okay, this seems like obviously an easy choice. So came to Charleston, um, signed a contract, which usually you do as a TV reporter. I spent about three years at Channel Four, and then the recession hit, so no one was hiring. So I was sending out tapes and no one was calling. The um agents were like, it's a waste of time right now. You might just want to sign another extension. And so I signed two more extensions, and I met my husband at Channel Four, and the rest is history. So Well, that's just awesome. I stayed in Charleston, I became a permanent Charlestonian 20 years ago.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Well, we're glad to have you here. Well, tell us a little bit more about your time at uh channel four. What was kind of like your experience there in reporting? Dig a little deeper on that.

SPEAKER_02 4:45

Yeah, I still have a little bit of PTSD, not because it's channel four, but just news in general, right? Um still love channel four. But all that to say, I mean, you know, the news business is tough, right? Absolutely. If don't, you know, what you see on television and movies can be uh misleading. No one does it for fame, for money, or for time and the the hours. So, I mean, you work really, really long hours. I did night side, which was like a three to midnight shift. That's three years. Um, but you do it because you love it. Yeah. And and so that you really have to have a passion for it. And it really has changed since I've been in the business.

Behind The Scenes Of Journalism

SPEAKER_02 5:25

Uh, it used to be where you had a photographer, so it was like a nice team kind of um uh job where you went out and gathered stories and you had one newscast that you put it on, and obviously that's really changed with social media, which I was telling you guys earlier was kind of laughing. Like, I remember when I was at Channel 4, Twitter came out and they were like, Oh, you need to tweet from your story, let's try that out, and it was like this big revelation, and so um obviously it's changed now. Like news is by the minute, it's instantaneous, right? Instant gratification.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

It's by the minute, and you know, the stations have gotten a little bit more corporate too at the same time with all their mergers and everything. So, yeah, I'm I can absolutely imagine, even in your own time, you've seen it change, and then looking back, it's different.

SPEAKER_02 6:09

It is, but I will say what I don't think has changed is what you learn as a journalist in terms of work ethic. I mean, you learn to do it all. Even though I had a photographer, I still know how to shoot, I still still know how to edit.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

You were up at two in the morning doing this stuff. I mean, that's how we were.

SPEAKER_02 6:25

Yes, I remember I went to Haiti um uh for an earthquake on a C-17, came back, had been in the had been like 16 hours.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

And that was like the huge earthquake.

SPEAKER_02 6:35

I remember channel four uh two. I remember Brad Franco. We shot each other's stand-ups because we were there by ourselves. They would only allow one representative from each station. So I shot his, he shot mine. We get back, and they were like, I was like, I'm gonna go home and go to sleep. They're like, no, you're going back to the studio, you're going on the air. Oh my god. And it was like, no, please don't put me in front of a camera. I was like, this is gonna be a disaster. I don't know what language I'm gonna speak, but um I do speak Spanish, so I do it on a language.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Well, I mean, that's that's so cool. So you were at the epicenter of really one of the biggest natural disasters in Haiti's history.

SPEAKER_02 7:11

Yeah, it was insane. I remember um I was in the cockpit. They let us sit or let me sit there as we landed, and I was like looking for runway lights. I was like, how are we landing? And there was a guy on a scooter holding a flashlight. Oh my god. And as he went along, we were gone, and it was like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 7:33

And that's what you see in the movies, yes.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

And so it but um same thing happens at LaGuardia, from what I'm hearing.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

Um but it was a really amazing experience, and obviously the Air Force and what they do to and what they did to support the country, they were bringing supply uh and reliefs relief supplies, and that was amazing. So, yeah, I mean that's the thing about journalism, you get to try on so many different food, you get to experience different things, but you also get to try on like different hats because you I mean whether you're one day you might be covering city council and the budget and you learn a lot about that, and then the next day you might be, you know, um swimming with sharks. Like it's just like it's so varying. And so I I talk about this a lot where you kind of become, I I use this term like an expert generalist, which means that like I know a lot about I know about a little about a lot of things, in that you have to like become kind of this mini expert in the training. Right, yeah. And you be great for trivia. Right. I am very good at trivia. Um because you had to you had to really learn a lot. If you were gonna do a good job in informing your viewers about the story, like you better believe, like when I was covering courts, I would ask the judges for time, some of them were nice and gave me time, to explain proceedings to me. I wasn't a lawyer, I didn't, but I wanted to make sure I explained those things appropriately. Yeah. And so good journalists really engulf and embed themselves in the material, and so I got to learn so many things, in particular about our community here. Right. I was gonna say, like, that's what I think set me up for success in these other jobs.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

You know, local broadcast is still it's the most trusted form of media in the United States, whether it be radio or TV or even your local newspaper, which you did everything on that front, which is uh pretty impressive. So, how'd you make the move from um TV then to radio?

SPEAKER_02 9:25

I know, I know it's it's it's a little unorthodox because most people or people who do the transition, it's usually the opposite. Yeah. Um, but for me, it was I felt like I had kind of hit a wall. I had been at Channel 4 for many years, and I didn't want to work at the anchor desk. Um, and so I I loved the field, I love reporting. And those day turns are hard, you know?

SPEAKER_01 9:46

Oh my gosh, I can only imagine. I was just wondering, the burnout must have been how do you get rid of that?

SPEAKER_02 9:52

And it's and it's hard to like do justice to a story sometimes, right? Like you're out the door and you're making calls, you better by 10, 11, you're out the door and you better be back by three o'clock with your interviews and everything written and edited. And I don't

The Pulitzer Investigation And Impact

SPEAKER_02 10:06

think people really know like behind the curtain how complicated that is. And now it's even sooner because there's five shows instead of the one or two we had. So I had not burnt out, it was more about like I wanted to have more time to tell stories. And newspapers, yeah. Now social media did change that for newspaper, um, but they still, at least the post and courier I felt was investing in giving journalists the time they needed. So I I'd I'd do a day turn, but then look, I got put on a special project that I worked a year on. Tell us about that. That was pretty cool. Um it was um, it all started. We used to get this press release every year um from the National Center for uh violence, um, and it was all about how South Carolina was on the top of the list of women killed by men. And every year we'd write what we refer to as a brief. We write the brief, we'd move on, we'd write it again the next year. And um one of the reporters, uh senior reporters in our newsroom was like, What why are we always on the top of this list? Like, we should really look into and figure out like what's the science behind why this is happening. And there was wasn't very much data. And so I had some experience um with some data um analysis, and so I was like, well, this is gonna be a really exciting project to be able to like build something from the ground up. So we build a database of every woman killed by a man for the last five years from that point. Whoa! And then we had like a basic list from the attorney general's office because every year they would put a report out with names, what happened generally, their date of birth, but we were like, we need to like to understand this, we need to collect more. So was a gun used? Had they been strangled, which strangulation is like a was it family, was it someone they knew? So, like there's all these precursors to potential like escalation of violence. So we added all these elements, which meant sending like hundreds of FOIAs to police stations around the state, and we built this database, and then we looked at the data, and it it told a huge story about what was happening in our state. And so we wrote articles about legislation that hadn't passed and why it wasn't passing. Um we um talked about religion and how that played a role in the holy city um in domestic violence. We spoke to experts, we spoke to so many survivors who were gracious enough to tell their stories. And so we worked on that for about a year. Um we wrote five pieces, and we had for the first time we had an amazing uh digital um journalist who helped build a site that really was dynamic. Um and uh one of the most interesting parts of it was one of the stories that I had helped write was about the legislation, and as the bills were dying, as you scroll down, you would see the women that were dying. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:02

And I just felt like I just got chills.

SPEAKER_02 13:04

And that's the thing about journalism, like like that's compelling, right? So what it does is it helps, it helps really highlight what's happening and it puts things in a perspective that really like just elevates the weight of what we're talking about. So that was the first time that I think any newsroom in our state had done anything like that. Yeah, and then as a result of that article or those series of articles, the governor passed uh and signed uh legislation that made some reforms that did strengthen some penalties, and that for us we actually found out we were walking out of the Pulitzer ceremony, which was at NYU at Columbia University. I'm sorry, Columbia University in New York, and it was like a really hot day. It was like 95 degrees, there was no AC in the library where they do the ceremony. We were walking out, and Doug Pardue, one of the reporters, gets off the phone, he goes, She signed the bill. And like we all like we were like that was the award. I mean, obviously it was amazing to earn a Pulitzer, but for us, it really wasn't a good thing. That's the catalyst of it all.

SPEAKER_03 14:07

And that's the that's important work that you're doing that you know you can take so much pride in knowing that you helped change lives through the work that you do.

SPEAKER_02 14:16

There's still a lot that needs to be done. Yeah. But so, but it was it was a start, and it got conversation started, it got the word out.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

Kid Lord of that's not like the poster child for the impact of journalism. Yeah. I mean, it really is. That's fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 14:29

Storytelling and like being able to use data to work with the storytelling and put those side by side, and you're just, I mean, you're getting the full picture right there. Right.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

You guys must have spent hours on that data. I mean, probably days.

SPEAKER_02 14:41

Oh, uh like I said, pouring over it. We had even had an intern from USC helping us. We partnered with the international um investigative reporting um uh out of uh California. So we had a lot of help, but it it and now they have an investigative unit. Yeah, so that was the genesis of that. And uh I always have to give him a shout-out. My mentor Glenn Smith, he uh he's still there, he's the editor of the so any good investigative piece coming out of there is run by that unit and they're still knocking things out of the park. Um, and like one of the reporters I worked with on that on that team, she went on to ProPublica, which if you don't know is a nonprofit, um, a national nonprofit. She just wrote an amazing piece uh last year about Helene, and um, so it's it's really cool getting to follow her work and um the work that they continue doing at the paper. So that's awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:32

Paying it for itself. So do you think that led to um, you know, we talked a lot about all the different community work that you're involved in. Do you think that led to the community work that you're involved in now being like learning all of the kind of what's happening in South Carolina? Oh, 1000%.

SPEAKER_02 15:49

There would I I would not have the success that I have in the job that I do now had it not been for my time in journalism. And it was um it was not just the the topics, but the relationships, right? Like you you have to build sources and and so I worked really hard to really preserve a lot of those relationships even after I left. And so I think for me, um like that has kind of become um something that has guided me is is is preserving and building relationships that matter. And then how can we use those relationships to build things that can help the community? And so um, like nothing that we've done at the library or any of the nonprofits I've worked with, I have done alone by by any means. It's it's only been thanks to the relationships um within the community. There's so many people that care um uh so deeply about the people that live in this community, and they're doing great work every day, and so um being able to connect them and and work with them to to build great things. Like we tried at United Way, we built an amazing

Trust, Relationships, And Career Leaps

SPEAKER_02 16:54

center that's at our library where we help people um with wraparound services that was based on relationships, and it started with a conversation, and now we're literally helping people um get you know on their feet, and so that that's that's the kind of stuff that really matters. But yes, it I I learned all that from journalism, yeah, because I mean there used to be this thing called beat calls, I don't know if they do them anymore, but that's what you were supposed to do. You were supposed to every day I would call the same police officers, and I because I was on the crime beat then and I would ask them what was going on, and um, and and you built that rapport, and then it's funny because my mentors in journalism will used to tell me, well, back in the day, I used to take donuts and coffee, and they let them they let them roam the police stations back then, probably with a bottle of whiskey, right? Like old school, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:44

That would have been an interesting experience.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

But they were like, that's what we used to do, and I'm like, wow, that's really changed. And meanwhile, I'm just making phone calls. So obviously things have uh evolved over the years, but at the core of that is relationship building. Because at what is that what does that mean? It means trust. Yeah when you build trust, then that's how um you can you know really find the resources you need and and tell really great stories.

SPEAKER_03 18:11

And it's kind of reciprocal in that fact too, where like you collaborate and reach out and connect people, and then people also know that they can like bring you in to you can connect with others too.

SPEAKER_02 18:22

Uh yeah, I get reached out to a lot, I get lots of calls. Sometimes it's it's trying to build partnerships with one of the organizations I'm with. Sometimes it's like I want to like start a new career, and so um, but I've always believed in paying it forward. Um, you know, I I wish I would have had someone when I was leaving journalism and going into public service. That was really scary. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

I I mean I was I can only imagine.

SPEAKER_02 18:47

It's it because it becomes your identity. I wanted to do this since I was a little girl, and then all of a sudden I'm gonna leave. And there is some judgment in the journalism world of going over to the other side, which they refer to as PR, right? And but that's naturally where people from journalism go because your skills are transitional there. And so it was scary. I didn't want to leave, and I didn't really have anyone who had done it to tell me it's gonna be okay. So I have people reach out to me every year and they're like, I want to make the jump, tell me it's gonna be okay. And so I really I do try to have those conversations, and it will be okay, by the way. Um I had this security blanket that I would tell myself that I was like, okay, worst case scenario, if I hate this other career, I could always go back. But I think I had to kind of make my career what I wanted it to be. It didn't really fit any mold. I don't think that like this job at the library didn't exist before I got there, right? And so it was like one of those things that sometimes it's up to you to really create and leveraging the skills that you have. Yeah, like what are you great at and how so that you can make this organization better and then demonstrate that? So absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

Yeah, and so you know, and we're talking about kind of a little bit of that transition, and you know, especially what you're saying when you spent so much time in one position in in an industry, it's impossible. It feels impossible to make that job. Oh, yeah. So, what was kind of those first couple years? How'd you start getting comfortable? What did you get into?

SPEAKER_02 20:09

So when I left, I went over to work for Charleston County, and my boss had also been a reporter at Channel Four. So like kind of like well, like we all end up in the same like Charleston is small, so like if you leave media and you go to PR, like most of us are gonna know each other, right? So um, Sean Smatanic, he worked with me at Channel Four, so he was my boss, and so it there was some comfort there in someone who had been there at that point. Um, and so at first it was definitely a culture shift in the pacing. I I mean I was used to knocking like work out like within hours, right? Yeah, and then all of a sudden it's like, oh, that's not due for like a few weeks, and I was like, I finished it in three hours. So like the pacing is different. Um, and so uh some of it was that like I I created some projects, um, not much to the chagrin of Sean, who was like, Stop giving us work! I created like an internal newsletter. We have like 3,000 employees at the county, so I was like, we should we should do this. We should be newsletter. It's still there, the county courier is still there again. He was like, Why did you do this tough? No, um, but it it is a great resource, right, for the for the staff. And so it was it was a tough transition, but it was something that again, like I took, I think I felt like I I created

Finding A Home In Public Service

SPEAKER_02 21:30

what I needed it to be. Right. And then after about two years there, the library had a PR um manager position. And I love telling this story because it'll either terrify you or or um like a cautionary tale or give you good advice. And I think it just depends on the recipient. But the job had been posted, and I knew I had no management experience, right? So, yes, I had done PR for two years, I had been a journalist, I knew I could do the job, but you know, how am I gonna convince this executive director that I'm the right person for the job when she's gonna see applications with people with way more experience than I do? And so I Googled, uh, did some researching my uh skills as a journalist, and I found out that the executive director was gonna be giving a talk for the friends of the library at the library, like at six o'clock one night. And I showed up and I went up to her and I told her I was applying for the job, and uh and she later told me that that made me stand out. But again, it could be a cautionary tale because That could also like really rub someone the wrong way. You just never know. It's all about, I think, delivering.

SPEAKER_01 22:39

I'm on that side of things where if you can build a personal relationship with someone, it stands out a little bit more.

SPEAKER_02 22:45

It is to a name, but it could also come across maybe as too assertive. So you you gotta find that balance. Somehow I str I she had been a journalist. She covered Columbine. She started as a reporter in Colorado and then became a librarian. So it ended up kind of being kismet. Um she's actually now the director of the public library system in Denver. She's an amazing human being, um, another mentor that taught me so much. But um, so she get she took a chance on me, gave me the job, and then not only did she give me that job, she saw potential in me that I didn't even see where she was like, you know, you I feel like you've done a lot with the PR and marketing department, and I need you to do more now. And I think you can handle operations and our programs and our services.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

And well, no doubt you were done with all the work and like, oh, she's putting everything.

SPEAKER_02 23:36

And so, um, and it was something I never thought I would be interested in doing. Yeah, and God, I can't tell you that it's probably my don't tell my comms team, but my favorite part of my job now is a lot of the partnerships that I get to create in the programs and services that we get to build. Um, and I never thought I would end up loving that.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

Well, also, I mean, it's it's number one, it's helping out communities, and two, and there's a it's kind of a creative aspect of it, which you brought all the way really from your entire career to that point.

SPEAKER_02 24:04

Yeah. So it's been a it's been a journey, so to speak.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

Uh yeah, I in in I can only imagine on that one. And so, what are kind of the new things that are happening at the library right now? I know we touched on a big one that's going on.

SPEAKER_02 24:19

So you guys are getting the first scoop because it's marketing. Um, I feel like you guys deserve the first news, but we are actually going to be relaunching our website. Um and so uh we, I'm sure there's like a lot of applause from library users who are like, thank goodness. Um and so, I mean that we've been talking about it for years. Um, our last uh upgrade was massive in 2017 to a new site. Um, but it was time to, and especially in you all know, like these things evolve really quickly now. Like you can't have something stale for years and years. And so we knew it was time, and so um we are now working with uh Trio Marketing to uh rebuild the site, and hopefully later this year we will be launching. Um but it's it's a massive undertaking. We are a big system, we have 18 branches, a lot of content. And as you all know, and probably a lot of your listeners know, what goes into a website relaunch, everything from content review and reviewing wireframes, and um you know, understanding integrations, and um so but I just find it as such a great opportunity to better connect because the thing about CCPL and lots of libraries, there's there's so many underutilized services. So I bet you did not know that you could

CCPL Website Relaunch And Discoverability

SPEAKER_02 25:39

get the New York Times for free, Wall Street Journal, uh Consumer Reports, Mango Languages, which is similar to Rosetta Stone, all of those are free with your library card on our website. Everyone says I have no idea. It is literally like every time I go somewhere, I give a talk. These are how many subscriptions can you get for premium resources that you all pay for? Uh we even have ancestry.com, that one you have to use on site of the library, but we have so many sites. Oh, that's cool. I'm learning like $30 up for that.

SPEAKER_01 26:15

And you can check out a sewing machine too.

SPEAKER_02 26:17

Oh uh a telescope you can use a sewing machine. You can use a sewing, you can't check it out.

SPEAKER_01 26:21

This would be probably pretty heavy.

SPEAKER_02 26:22

Yeah, yeah. But yeah, it's been um it's it's it's been a really interesting to kind of uh evolve um, you know, the way that the library um really promotes itself. Yeah. And again, like it's for us now, it's really getting to connect with community members who don't know what their tech scholars give them the right to.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

I mean you're telling me stuff I didn't know at all right now.

SPEAKER_02 26:49

So now the li now the website we hope are we're re really being intentional and strategic about rebuilding it in a way where that discoverability is really top of mind. Where you're gonna find cool find those things easier and understand. And you know, libraries tend to like to use jargon as a lot of industries do, and so really kind of changing the language on our site to better um for for patrons to better understand and find things easier, I think is gonna be really good.

SPEAKER_01 27:16

Yeah, so and you know, and through your time at the library and everything too, and I know this is kind of a big initiative with the website. What's been the most enjoyable to kind of develop throughout some, and that's picking from a bunch here. So you can touch on one or two, but I'm just curious.

SPEAKER_02 27:31

Um some of them, okay, I would say one of my the first ones, because it tapped into like my creative like side and marketing side, when I was at a PR manager, we had a mascot um costume that I guess we had gotten a grant for a few years earlier. We had purchased it, it was used for a little while, and then it went into a closet.

SPEAKER_01 27:53

Oh my, like with the big head and everything.

SPEAKER_02 27:56

And I was like, oh my gosh, this is like a gold mine. People would like love to have this. But it had no branding behind it, it was just an owl. And so we were like, so I was so excited because it was like starting something from scratch. So I wrote a children's book for the library called Um Albert Finds the Library, named him Albert. And then we wrote this book. Um, we had it illustrated by an incredibly talented librarian who still works at the system. She's an amazing artist, so she drew all of the pictures. Um and we printed these pocket paperbacks, gave them out for free to kids, and then like had Albert making the rounds. And now Albert is like this beloved mascot.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_02 28:40

I see him like everywhere. Yes, he's everywhere. He's on our library, kids' library cards now, and we've upgraded them the costume since then. He's even bigger and better now. Much bigger. His head is massive.

SPEAKER_01 28:53

He's sound like a fam. No way. That's insane.

Albert The Owl And Library Branding

SPEAKER_02 28:55

I was gonna ask who is actually. You know, I will not divulge his identity, but he is someone who you would not expect who works at our library who just does it because he loves it. And he's like he has a pretty important job at the library, um, keeping things running um from a technical perspective.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

And so we're gonna go to the website and like Yeah, it could be LinkedIn stock in some people there.

SPEAKER_02 29:20

And he goes, Cousin does it he because he loves it, he loves he dances, like the kids love him. It's so cool. And so that was that to me. Oh, and it ended up like evolving because then the Board of Elections came to us and said, we want to do a children's book about Albert voting, learning to vote. Oh my gosh, that's so cool. Um I I didn't we didn't I didn't write that. Our team, um Cassie Welch, our children's librarian, wrote that one with the characters um all about like learning to vote on a playground or a soccer field, and Albert is the teacher, and it was really fun. Oh, that's so cool. And so those books we gave out around election time and the board.

SPEAKER_01 29:55

So Albert's taking it on a whole identity of the memory.

SPEAKER_02 29:59

That's kind of cool looking back and saying, like, wow, that's that's that might stick around after I'm gone.

SPEAKER_01 30:03

And like that's if we get rid of Albert, I'm gonna get rid of my library yard. He's staying in the city.

SPEAKER_04 30:08

Pitchforks at the library with Albert's gone.

SPEAKER_03 30:11

Um, so that that that's that was fun. What an impact, too, on like children. And like that's just so cool where they might not have like had that experience of learning about voting or just getting that excitement of coming to the library to see Albert.

SPEAKER_02 30:25

And I think that's just a good example of how you use characters and storytelling to demonstrate impact. Absolutely to draw people in, right? And I think that's like what the crux of marketing is, right? So um, yeah, that that that's that was a really fun one.

SPEAKER_03 30:39

My wheels. I'm like, all right, I like that.

SPEAKER_02 30:42

Um, but I think the most recent favorite story I was telling you guys a little bit was our listening booth. Oh yeah. So we have a payphone uh that we retrofit, had retrofit, and instead of um being a phone, which by the way, we still had a payphone at Main Library until about two years ago. Which it was the last, apparently the last payphone in the Tri-County, I was told. And I heard it was like being decommissioned. And I had these crazy ideas, like that. My team sometimes was like, please don't tell us. And so I was like, wait a second, let's keep it. I had no idea what we're gonna do with this thing. And I called the guy and I was like, Would you mind like donating it and letting us keep it? And he was like, Well, what do you want to do with it? I was like, I have no idea, but I promise it's gonna be great. And so he said, Yeah, sure, you can you can have it. Um, and so this relic kind of went to the storage uh uh closet for a little while, and then we came across um this opportunity for a grant um from the Estee Lauder Foundation. We were working with the Barbara Bush Foundation, and we had been working with them on some other projects, and they were like, You guys should do this project. And so they gave us the funding, and we had seen out of Washington this phone had was playing bird songs in a community, like you'd press a different number and it would like play different birds. And I was like, Well, that's super cool, but we don't need birds, but we could do storytelling, so because if the technology does that, then it'll play anything. Yeah so we reached out to the guy who uh did that that has that technology company,

The Listening Booth And Healing Stories

SPEAKER_02 32:12

and we sent him the phone and he retrofit the payphone. We built an entire branding package around it. We have an amazing creative manager, Roxy, um, who just like built this brand around what it looks like to and called it the um listening booth. And we partnered with um Turn 90, which is a nonprofit that helps um men who had been formerly incarcerated find employment, and we got them to tell us their stories and recorded their stories. We also in workshops like taught them about digital recording and storytelling. Oh, what like a great like full circle so that they could use it, and a lot of them still come to the library and and visit that um that staff member for that training because they want to keep going. Yeah, it's all one of them said they wanted to start a podcast, which is really cool because they We're big fans of that here, yeah. Yeah, and they told them and because they told us like this is the first time I've ever felt seen that I've ever felt heard, like that somebody actually cares about my story. So that was really cool. And we were able to provide mental health counseling while they did the project. It's a re traumatization. We don't want to re-traumatize them for the sake of the project, we wanted them to use it, you know, as as therapy. Yeah. So um it was a great project. We worked on it for months. Uh, an amazing team, outreach and community engagement team did a great job. And then we launched it and we printed a book with their stories, and now every quarter we rotate the stories. So we're about to uh we're working on the 250th anniversary, right? Yes. So we're gonna have our historian um record some really interesting stories about how Charleston is connected. Yeah. Um, and then we've got some we've got some other ideas uh percolating with some other partners for the next like literally two years. We've got like two years worth of ideas. Um, so we're super excited. That that one to me, like that was the one of the most impactful projects that I can believe it.

SPEAKER_01 34:06

I that's really just giving a voice to people who haven't been heard in the struggles that they've grough. It's it's really inspiring, number one, and it goes back to your you're doing all these different things with the library and beyond. Yeah. I gotta ask you one question here. When do you have time to relax? Like, what do what do you do to relax?

SPEAKER_02 34:27

Uh, I read a lot, I listen to a lot of audiobooks because I'm in the car a lot.

SPEAKER_01 34:31

Now it would be fun if you're like, I'm not a reader.

SPEAKER_02 34:35

No, but no joke. When I started, I really wasn't that much of a reader because as a journalist, I didn't have the time. Everything I read was for work. So when I started at the library, I was like, I I should probably get more into this reading. I was an English minor, so it wasn't like a you know weird concept to me. But um, so a lot of audiobooks because I spend a lot of time driving around the Tri-County. Um, and so I've read like 14 books this year so far. Um, and I'm like a voracious reader now, which is awesome. Um, so do that. Um my kid plays baseball, so enough said, right? Like literally, that's like my entire book. Oh, you're like, of course, like I become the de facto social media manager for the team.

SPEAKER_04 35:19

Right.

SPEAKER_02 35:19

Don't like every person in marketing, like totally relaxing. And then like we always become the volunteer for social media for that XYZ thing, right? And so, yes, I do the point hope predators, gotta give them a shout-out. Love it. So spend a lot of time doing that. Um, and and then yeah, like a lot, just the community work, it does take up a lot of time, but it's it's so uh rewarding personally. And and I have had to be

Reading, Family Life, And Time Choices

SPEAKER_02 35:46

more picky about and thoughtful about my time because you know it sounds like oh yeah, that is a lot, but you know, yeah, I I have I have come to learn as I've gotten older that you have to be intentional with your time. Absolutely. Um and so I look for things that I feel like I can really make a difference and help with where they really need that perspective. Um, and so yeah, it's it's it's been it's been a great 20 years in Charleston. Um I can't believe I've been here this long. Um and yeah, I spent some time with my husband. Um, and he he is like as busy, you know, he's the COO over at Patriots Point, and so um doing doing a ton of work um uh at the end of the year.

SPEAKER_01 36:28

Golly, they had a big one last. Was it last weekend? Was the um the Bill Fish classic that was out there?

SPEAKER_02 36:34

Yes, he did.

SPEAKER_01 36:34

Oh my goodness. That's a big show.

SPEAKER_02 36:37

Yeah, he got to meet um, oh my gosh, the guy from that country band that I'm not gonna remember, but it was like a really big deal.

SPEAKER_01 36:46

I was so I was bummed up. I was out of town seeing the tartan army in Boston.

SPEAKER_03 36:50

Oh my god, we're gonna have to talk about that after this.

SPEAKER_02 36:52

It's like a big deal or something. But anyway, um, obviously my memory is is is blurry with all the things we got going on. Yeah, he said just some pretty cool stuff on the art.

SPEAKER_01 37:01

Oh, that seems awesome.

SPEAKER_03 37:02

Yeah, and I saw they had um a concert with two friends on the boat, which looked really cool on the Yorktown. Is that that last week this past weekend?

SPEAKER_01 37:11

So that was Yes. Was that also last weekend? Yeah, good lord, they did everything.

SPEAKER_02 37:16

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So another same video. Because you can rent the space, and so a lot of those events are not even, you know, um Which is cool. But they can like people can book like I know they booked the space for yoga. I've done a workout on the cool background. I'm back.

SPEAKER_03 37:32

I just I did spinning there, and you're like looking out at the bridge at like nine o'clock in the morning and all the boats going. It was probably the coolest experience.

SPEAKER_01 37:41

I mean, if you're talking about one of the biggest great marketing for Charleston, one of the biggest landmarks is you know, Patriots Point and everything. I'm still waiting before we can have an NCAA basketball game on the carrier.

SPEAKER_02 37:51

They've done wrestling before, and I think they did do a basketball tournament once. They did it, it was and like there was condensation. Oh, maybe it wasn't. I don't remember.

SPEAKER_01 38:00

I know they they used to do them every now and then in like Corpus Christi on there.

SPEAKER_02 38:04

It's hard to do some of that stuff out there.

SPEAKER_01 38:06

Yeah, I mean, how do you put it on a court on a freaking increase?

SPEAKER_02 38:11

There's that here. Getting stuff on the ship is not easy. And he's gonna later he's gonna be like, why are you talking about the job? I'm like, I hope I got most of that. Well, and he started in marketing, he started as a PIO. So we both went the same routes. He left Channel 4, became the PIO at Patriots Point, and now he's the chief operating officer. So like it it's all that to say, like, if you are in marketing, don't ever feel like you are boxed in. Because I feel like marketing and communications professionals are the best leaders.

SPEAKER_01 38:44

I would totally agree. I mean, I mean, they're the best leaders, they're the most creative too at the same time. You talk to anyone in marketing or PR or whatever they've been through, they'll talk to you for hours. It's fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 38:56

Yeah. Well, you kind of get to know like every part of an organization too, because you're not just marketing, you're also having to talk to like sales or fundraising or um programs, and like you really get that well-rounded view of any organization that you're working for because you have to be involved in it to know messaging and and marketing and putting creative out there.

SPEAKER_01 39:19

Well, marketing is in everything, it's the foundation of any business, right?

SPEAKER_02 39:23

Like, but you'd be surprised sometimes that when the marketing or the communications people don't have a seat at the leadership table. And I always say that is like the worst mistake you could ever make as a leader, whether you're a business, a nonprofit, government agency, your communications director needs to have a seat on the leadership team. They should be involved. Not and that's the problem sometimes, is like you only call them when you need them. When it's like, I need you to

Why Marketing Must Lead

SPEAKER_02 39:49

put out this fire, but if they had been there from the beginning, they'd know what the fire is about. Exactly. They would have probably given you advice on how to avoid the fire in the first place, but then also would already be up to speed to help you put it out. So the proverbial fire could be right.

SPEAKER_01 40:05

I mean, but you think about it at its core level, and I talk to people all the time starting a business around everything, and they're just going from the ground up. What do I do? And and branding is marketing, right? I mean, Albert, for example, yeah, that's great branding, and it's the it's a you know, first out there, you guys gotta get your name. Be in social medias, and you can do that all yourself, and it's it's not easy work, but it's a it's important too at the same time. So I got another question for you. So if I was someone trying to get into a little bit more of a nonprofit work and everything, what's kind of the way to get into it career career-wise? I know you bounced around a little bit, maybe not everyone uh has the same route or in PR marketing right now.

SPEAKER_02 40:44

Yeah, you know, I think it depends on um like the type of nonprofit service. Right. So like I sat on the board of a domestic violence nonprofit, and a lot of the people that work in um in that nonprofit came from victim services, right? And then maybe they work for the police department or for um for the hospital system and then end up at this nonprofit. So I think it depends. Um but I mean, anyone I mean, we when you think about what a nonprofit is, it it's a business.

SPEAKER_04 41:15

Oh yeah, right?

SPEAKER_02 41:16

Like you have to earn revenue to to be able to do your thing. Right. The difference is the output of where that funding goes, right? Like it feeds itself and and and provides the service. Yeah. Um, but at the end of the day, it's run like a business. So you have everything from finance to uh development is a huge part of it, raising money, which takes a very special type of person. It is not easy to to raise funds and and and meet goals. Um then there's marketing and then there's operations depending on the nonprofit. So um that's one thing, but in terms of like board service, I think that that's another way that especially marketing

Getting Into Nonprofits And Board Work

SPEAKER_02 41:53

professionals. I mean, tell me one nonprofit that doesn't need a marketing professional on their non-profit on their board, like and and different nonprofits operate differently on how they want to stack their board, but the good ones want diversity in the types of professions, right? Absolutely. They want a lot of them want an attorney on there, right? That's gonna add another one may want an accountant. But marketing is is is really important, and not just so that you can help post social for social media, and maybe some small nonprofits need you to do that, but also from a strategy level, you know?

SPEAKER_01 42:25

Oh, it's hugely important.

SPEAKER_02 42:27

They may not they may not afford be able to afford a communications person, and so having that advice um where you hopefully is are convincing them to raise money to hire communications, um, is is really great. And there are so many nonprofits. Um, we have thousands of nonprofits. I mean, I'm you know this, like in the Tri-County, so many, yeah, some of which I've still I still learn about new nonprofits all the time. And I live in this world every day, and they need board members. Um, so I if I'm constantly sharing those opportunities on LinkedIn. So if you don't follow me on LinkedIn, please like you'll find those some random um uh thoughts about leadership and and public speaking and things like that. But um, yeah, they're always looking. And and Trident United Way actually does a really good job of trying to build those leaders. You guys I know have a program where you're helping train um what it's like to be a nonprofit, a nonprofit board member. So, and and I know the chamber's done that work as well. So yeah, I think it's it giving back to your community uh is just an important part of of being a human. So it when you're a marketer, you have a skill that is very much needed. So I urge, I plead, I beg you to find something, but do something that you care about. Absolutely. Don't like, you know, and I it's interesting because like I'll get a lot of requests for things for for for boards, and I really have to I stop and I think like, is this something that matters to me? And every nonprofit matters, right? But what makes you tick? What are you passionate about? Exactly. Like, do you care about the oceans or are you like sustainability or domestic violence? Like, what means something to you? Because it's hard work, yeah, and you're gonna need that passion to to be dedicated to doing something for free. Absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:20

Like, and that's valuable.

SPEAKER_02 44:21

And your time is valuable, and oh, and and sometimes people uh will take advantage of that. So you really have to remember like your time is valuable, so you need to really invest it in something that matters. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 44:33

I completely agree with that. All right. So I feel like we we got a big one coming up too. The TEDx experience.

SPEAKER_02 44:38

Oh my gosh. Let me tell you, if anyone is thinking about doing TEDx, people ask me all the time. They are like, I want your advice. I want to apply for TEDx. It is amazing. You basically get free training because the volunteers that this local TEDx group has put together are some of the best of the best. They some of them are like Dale Carnegie and Toastmasters trained. Like you get this amazing training for free. What I don't think I realized was the intensity for the preparation. I can imagine. Four months meeting twice a week, one-on-one with your coaches. You get assigned two coaches, and then workshops where they have you do like really interesting kind of activities to get you out of your shell and to practice. They had us like dramatically read like a children's book. I have a picture of me going like this, like you're supposed to use your hands. That is awesome. It was meant to like help you emote. You know, like how do you, you know, I don't have trouble talking with my hands, I'm Cuban. But like some people like needed that assistance, so it was meant to kind of teach them that. So um it was intense. And I I was terrified. Um, I remember getting on that red dot. Oh, and they also do something super interesting, which I think is half hysterical, half terrifying. So the night, the day before TEDx, you do dress rehearsals. And I hope I'm not giving away like a secret of

TEDx Prep And Vulnerable Storytelling

SPEAKER_02 46:00

theirs. I don't think it's a secret. I feel like um it's not something they didn't say. There's a behind the scenes. But they the dress rehearsal, they invite an audience for you to practice. And it is literally the scariest audience you can imagine because they're teenagers.

SPEAKER_01 46:17

Oh my god. There's no way. They have teenagers.

SPEAKER_02 46:20

They're high school students, they bring them. I it's hard to keep their attention, especially. These topics are like heavy and so like you're like, I I I blacked out, I think.

SPEAKER_04 46:32

I don't I don't remember half.

SPEAKER_02 46:34

I I know I skipped half my talk. I'm totally messed up. And but it got me ready for the next day. It got you got that out of the way. Nailed it the next day.

SPEAKER_01 46:43

That's a that's a shocking all winning.

SPEAKER_02 46:46

I felt like it's psychological warfare over Mike Sodak over at TEDx. Thanks for uh really thinking outside the box. Like, we're gonna throw the hardest thing at them first, and tomorrow we'll be around. And then it's a freeze, it is smart. Um, and so that was really interesting. And I'll I remember like I was like midway um in because there's like what 10 speakers, I was like halfway, and I got off stage and I got like an instant headache. It was like like all the adrenaline. It's it's scary. You have no script, you have no um no cue cards, like you're you're on your own out there, and you're being incredibly vulnerable if you're doing it right. Like that's what they teach you in the world.

SPEAKER_01 47:23

You're also explaining a subject to people who don't know it at all. Right. Which can be really difficult.

SPEAKER_02 47:28

Yeah. And they want you to tap into parts of yourself, like they want to tell you to tell your story. Like, who are you? Why does this matter to you? Not they don't actually like accepting um talks where you're just pitching like this idea or your organization. They want like someone who's gonna be raw. And I talked about like why public libraries matter to me, why public service mattered to me. And I talked about my parents being you know immigrants and that sacrifice and what that meant. So, like that to me was like the first time I had like gone on a stage to talk about that, but it connected people to who I was, who I am. And when you make and make yourself more relative, then you're gonna tell a better story.

SPEAKER_03 48:10

Absolutely. That's a very vulnerable thing to really share something so personal.

SPEAKER_01 48:14

Oh, I would be sweating on that stage, it'd be so embarrassing.

SPEAKER_03 48:17

Yeah, I was freaking out.

SPEAKER_02 48:18

I would forget everything, like yeah, and it's it was five minutes, right? So like it feels quick, but yeah, um, yeah, but it was an amazing experience, and to this day, after that TEDx experience, I I do a lot of public speaking um with conferences, and sometimes it's talking about the library or leadership. And I kind of I I take with me all those tips and things that I learned. Like that's awesome. Yeah, I mean, I used to like write out everything I was gonna say that is. So you bring in your own teenagers before every conference. They have like an entourage and they sit in the audience the night before and they're like, yeah. I'm gonna suck.

SPEAKER_04 48:54

And then they feel like you'll be really next time and we're gonna go.

SPEAKER_02 48:59

But all right, I can do this.

SPEAKER_04 49:00

Oh, that is amazing.

SPEAKER_02 49:01

Now I just do it for my kid and he'll tell me the same thing. Mommy suck.

SPEAKER_04 49:06

I was about to say, let's even take it a step further further with it.

SPEAKER_03 49:11

Oh, so that kind of um, you know, leads into I know something that you're really great at is building a personal brand. Um, you came and talked with us at our cocktails and conversations with a lot of um young professionals. So, what what kind of advice would you give around building your personal brand? Why is that important? Um, you know, especially today with everything being social and on the web and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 49:34

Especially with social media, I feel like it takes an extra layer of effort here. And what I told the table at at y'all's event, and really I tell a lot of people, is uh at at the root of what I think is building personal brand is authenticity. And I know that sounds super cheesy, um, and that's what they tell you. Like, you talk to any marketer who's giving advice to a client for social media marketing, what do they say? They're like, be authentic, and that's what the algorithm wants, right? Yeah. So this is not by any means like anything um, you know, uh innovative, but I have been really intentional in being authentic and real, um to a fault, maybe. Um one of the stories I told at the table was I went to do a public talk um with a local organization who asked me to come talk about leading boldly as a female and all that. And it was like three talks back to back because they were rotating the rooms. And right before the talk, I went to the bathroom and I looked in the mirror and I had worn like a satin shirt that day, and I looked and there was like a huge sweat stain

Personal Brand Starts With Authenticity

SPEAKER_02 50:42

in my butt.

SPEAKER_03 50:42

And I was like, Oh my gosh, you've gotta be kidding me.

SPEAKER_02 50:45

What am I gonna do? I mean, it was it was really noticeable. Like, like I'm not saying like something small that you can hide, like I could not go like this, like keep my arms down, like you could still see it. So I was like, looking at my phone, I was like, is there like we were on King Street. I was like, my husband will kill me if I buy a $700 shirt.

SPEAKER_04 51:01

Like literally, like marriage from my heart.

SPEAKER_02 51:04

So like I was like, I don't really have a lot of options. So then I started to think about it and I was like, kind of created this plan, and I was like, you know what? I'm just gonna like lean in. So I borrowed a very oversized sweater from someone to start the talk because I felt like it would have been distracting from the very beginning. Yeah. And I started my talk with the story. I take the sweater off and I was like, hear my pit state! This is what happened, and the whole room laughed, and everyone, you know, these events that you go to, like any public setting, really, right? When you're with other people, people can be tense and you're you're nervous, and so everyone's shoulders dropped, they were calm, and like people at ease.

SPEAKER_01 51:41

I've always thought laughter's like the easiest icebreaker.

SPEAKER_02 51:44

Absolutely. And like also the humility. Like, I made myself real. Like, look, I'm sweating. There's a connection.

SPEAKER_01 51:50

We all had the same thing happened to me two weeks ago. I did have to buy a new shirt.

SPEAKER_03 51:56

Is it a $700 shirt in the street?

SPEAKER_01 51:58

Luckily, it was not that. However, I was in Time Crunch and I had to get to the Western wear store. So uh stop. I promise you, I went from a cotton button down to like fun little flowers on a shirt.

SPEAKER_02 52:14

Oh, that's awesome. But yeah, and it ended up being a really fun LinkedIn post because I was like, well, you know, if those people in the room appreciated that, then I think the audience on LinkedIn will will maybe take a grain out of that. And if they're afraid next time of something embarrassing, they'll lean in. So um, so yeah, I think again, just being who you are, sometimes you'll be surprised. Um, that authenticity just helps people connect with each other. It goes back to storytelling, right? Like at the root of of making an impact and in someone's life is is hearing their story. And so that's part of it.

SPEAKER_03 52:48

I love that. I think we might be getting close to time here.

SPEAKER_01 52:54

Yeah, we're getting a little close.

SPEAKER_03 52:56

What other questions do you have?

SPEAKER_01 52:57

I know, I got a lot of them here. So I know we're getting kind of down to the end of everything. Is there any other stuff that you want to let everyone know about that's kind of coming up in the library? I know we talked about the website a bit, but what's the new things happening?

SPEAKER_02 53:09

Yes, I would be remiss if I didn't give a plug to the CPM. Absolutely. So, first and foremost, if you haven't watched the TEDx talk, I would encourage you because what I do think it does is share like how libraries have evolved and how they've changed over time. If you haven't been in a library in the past decade, I promise you. Go check it out. At your grandmother's library. We were just talking about we got learn how to sew, um, the creative spaces, creative studio, editing uh software.

SPEAKER_01 53:37

They have everything.

SPEAKER_02 53:38

Small businesses can like especially marketers too. Like we have a lot of people who are building their business and doing marketing, and as you know, marketing can be expensive, and they'll come and use our video cameras to shoot content. Um, so lots going on there. Obviously, I at the end of my TEDx talk, I joke. Like, I talk about all the things the library does, and then I'm like, we still have books, which of course we do. So, like tons of materials, millions of materials that are accessible. And like I talked about earlier, the thing I about did you know that you could access these free premium resources in a subscription base. Those are on our website under research. Um, you just need a library card and you can access all of those things. But we do a lot of things as well to help um, especially our most underserved community members. So we have the Center for Strong Families with Trident

What CCPL Offers And How To Connect

SPEAKER_02 54:26

United Way. We also do summer feeding with the school districts. So we feed kids under 18 years old. That's so cool. At select locations, and we also feed them year-round um in partnership with the Low Country Food Bank, which is an amazing organization. And so we do after school snacks during the year. Um, we have free notary. If you haven't checked our socials lately, we get to marry people pretty often. I love seeing them. It's so fun. I love seeing them. And it's been like there's been a huge uptick too. We've seen a lot more than we used to. So people come and can get married. Um, definitely call your branch first to make sure you make an appointment with your mother.

SPEAKER_03 55:03

Show up, we made up people. I didn't know friends of mine had gotten married, and then I saw their picture on the library. I sent a screenshot and I was like, So are you telling anybody? She was like, shh. Well, it's the cat's out of the back.

SPEAKER_02 55:18

I was like, oh boy. A little thing gone viral.

SPEAKER_01 55:21

Charleston library is stoked.

SPEAKER_02 55:25

Yeah, so like lots of things to experience. And that what I love about the library is that it's for everyone from every walk of life. We have this program called Um Free and Fresh, which I also talk about in TEDx. Free fruits and vegetables. I love that. It's not whether you're in need or whether you're just curious about trying a new fruit or vegetable, like it's for everyone. We have them at four locations now. Um, and you can come and get um some funny fruits and the recipe cards with it. Yeah, sometimes we'll get some surprises from our partners because this is only thanks to partnerships. They'll bring us eggs sometimes. So we'll stock eggs, sometimes flowers. Um, we work with Katy's Crops and Charleston Parks Conservancy. Um, and they're they provide the produce throughout the year, and then during the winter months, we get um we're so grateful to Roper Foundation, they provide funding for us to purchase fruits and best production.

SPEAKER_01 56:13

Oh, that's so cool.

SPEAKER_02 56:14

So it's a really great program. It's been going on since 20 uh 20, since COVID. Yeah. Um yeah, and we're gonna be coming up with some fun programs related to the fridges and food. Uh, we got a federal grant earlier this year, so we're building some really cool programs, so stay tuned. Um, but like I said, whether it's food literacy, um, we're looking into adult literacy now more. We are partnered with some organizations doing GED classes and um ESL, and um we're looking into uh teaching foundational reading, which is it's just there's just so many things I could go on. I would say the best way to figure out what we're doing is one, go to our website, ccpl.org.

SPEAKER_01 56:56

Just about to ask, where can people find y'all?

SPEAKER_02 56:58

Oh yes, um, and so uh and don't judge us by the site because it will I'm just kidding, it is amazing, but it's gonna be so much better um soon. And so, um, and then follow us on our socials. We post some really amazing content. We have a great team um that goes around our system finding great stories and showing people because we have like endless content. We do so much that they always have something to share about what we're doing, or sign up for our e-newsletter, it's called Off the Shelf, and it has tons of events and programs that we do throughout the year.

SPEAKER_01 57:26

Oh, that's awesome! And if if people are looking to donate, also is that just on the website?

SPEAKER_02 57:30

Yeah, fantastic. They can donate anything from produce if they've got fruits and vegetables, as long as they're in good condition, they can take them to the fridges. We also um take book donations through the friends of the library, and that they sell those books, and then that money goes back to us. And then, of course, any anyone can make just a donation to the library in general, and it usually goes to the innovative services that we put together, um, like our financial literacy courses or any of our social services, the money goes there. So that's all it will be well spent. Um maybe another Albert costume. I was wondering.

SPEAKER_03 58:04

Albert's your wants to, you know, this is what it's really good. We found the new mascot.

SPEAKER_01 58:14

Don't tempt me with a good side.

SPEAKER_02 58:15

How do people find you? Oh, so um, I am on LinkedIn, so Natalie Callahof, um, also on Instagram, Natalie Seahoof. Um I try to, you know, post content about the library, but also about the nonprofits. Try to give a little bit of sage advice based on some of the things I've learned. So um, yeah, please follow on all the platforms.

SPEAKER_01 58:35

Well, fantastic. Well, it really has been nothing but a pleasure. This has been very fun chatting with you. And um, hopefully we have you on again in the not so distant future.

SPEAKER_02 58:46

Anytime I'll wear the Albert. Give us the sold. Just bring the head on top of the There's actually a photo floating around somewhere of me wearing that.

SPEAKER_01 58:56

Like Lee Corso when he used to do all that stuff. Yes, yes, except not his mean.

SPEAKER_02 59:02

Oh, awesome. Well, thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_01 59:05

Absolutely. Perfect.

SPEAKER_03 59:07

Um, we want to give a huge shout out to our sponsors, Charleston Media Solutions. So we're giving a shout out also to the South Carolina Research Authority.

SPEAKER_01 59:16

Great to have you guys.

SPEAKER_03 59:18

Bye. Bye.