“My favorite part of my job is the people. I like working with people, and especially this past year, I miss being in the office with my coworkers.”
Marketing and Engagement Manager Jillian Bishop is here for the people—specifically, EIM’s people! Whether onsite or working remotely, employee engagement is a huge part of Jillian’s job. “I’m always researching and implementing ways to keep people engaged with EIM. And that’s not just the fun things, like company events or our annual Halloween costume contest,” she adds, “That’s making sure people feel safe at work, and free to express their thoughts and opinions.”
Most of Jillian’s day is spent at the helm of EIM’s marketing department. “In management, you have a lot of pans on the stove! Step one is keeping track of the marketing team and helping them prioritize. Keeping projects moving. I’m also mainly responsible for all our graphic design work.” An average week finds Jillian working with her team on new campaigns, assessing recent lead captures, and meeting with the President, Vice President and other EIM Managers to implement business strategy. She also coordinates with our web consultants, and regularly monitors and adjusts our advertising campaigns to improve their effectiveness. When COVID-19 struck, it brought some changes for Jillian’s marketing team. “One of the biggest challenges was coping with reduced staff while going completely remote. We had a team member who was called up to serve in the National Guard. We’re happy he’s doing what he’s doing for the COVID response in our community. But it’s definitely been a challenge for us to keep up with marketing while being down a person.” Jillian reflects that upskilling her remaining marketing team and trying to maintain engagement with half of EIM’s workforce being remote has been the toughest pandemic challenge for her as a manager.
Abruptly transitioning to remotely managing her team overlapped with jumping headfirst into homeschooling her daughter, Savannah. “She’s much like me in that she likes to lead the charge,” Jillian says. “Homeschooling and raising a little mini you is challenging, but she’s gonna rule the world someday, so it’ll all be worth it.”
Savannah was also Jillian’s inspiration to volunteer for the Dartmouth CHaD ICN Parent Council, where she helps make the parent experience better for those with a premature baby staying in the Intensive Care Nursery, something she’s been passionate about after her own journey through the ICN when Savannah arrived prematurely. As a volunteer, Jillian speaks with incoming nurses to give them deeper insight into a parent’s perspective of the ICN experience and advises new parents on how to deal with going home with their preemie for the first time, and how to set boundaries with guests. She also breaks out her graphic design skills sometimes for items like baby clothes that the ICN Council will gift to families.
In her down time, Jillian and her husband Jason love playing board games. Mille Bornes, Shut the Box, and UNO are regular favorites. They also like to break out their camper and cruise around New England—a recurring favorite is Old Orchard Beach, where Jillian and Jason both vacationed with their families as kids.
But Jillian’s lifelong passion is art. Illustrating, painting, making home décor slate signs, and ornaments are just some of the artistic projects she gets up to. Her dream project? “Someday I hope to illustrate a children’s book.” Until then, Jillian continues growing her illustration skills designing commemorative pet portraits in her Etsy store—something that started as a way to set aside some Christmas money. Jillian’s pet portraits turned into a side business she still enjoys creating seven years later.
A passion for the arts and her teammates are just a handful of the qualities that make Jillian an amazing Marketing & Engagement Manager! Want to connect with Jillian? She’s a LinkedIn regular, and loves to share her thoughts on great marketing, and making work a happier and healthier place for everyone. Connect with Jillian on LinkedIn.
