Meet: Amy Stevens, Public Relations Account Executive

We have many team members at MB whose jobs keep them occupied with a select few accounts, and we don’t often get the opportunity to introduce them to the rest of our clients and the world. As part of an ongoing weekly series, we’re sharing a fast, interesting Q&A with one of our people that will let you (and us!) get to know them a little better.

Name: Amy Stevens

1. What was the most unusual job you have ever had?

At Keene State in New Hampshire, we had a Pumpkin Festival every year around Halloween. I would volunteer to be a member of the ultra-important Pumpkin Patrol on the square on Main Street. It was a huge responsibility because my fellow students and I had to guard these enormous towers holding thousands of lit jack-o-lanterns. Well, each year the city of Keene would break the Guinness World Record for the largest simultaneous number of jack-o’-lanterns on display. The biggest record was set at 28,952 in 2003. Unfortunately, in 2006 Boston broke the record with 30,128.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering where all the pumpkins ended up afterwards: local New England pig farmers received special deliveries from festival organizers.

2. If you could learn anything at all, what would it be?

How to cure cancer would be my first choice. However, if it has to be something someone else already knows how to do, I would say I would learn how to speak several different languages. Thanks to four years of high school classes, I’m only partially Spanish literate.

3. What is the single most important piece of advice you would offer to newlyweds?

Marriage is not always 50/50. Some days you may have to put forth 95 percent of the effort and your spouse will only give 5 percent. While other days you may wake up and give 25 percent and your significant other will make up the other 75 percent. Don’t keep score. (Unless you find yourself putting in most of the effort all of the time!)

4. What is the farthest you have traveled from home?

I actually had to do the math because I thought for sure it would be my honeymoon. We went to London, flying out of Boston. But that was only about 3,300 miles. Turns out Hawaii was the farthest, again flying out of Boston through Dallas before finally touching down in Honolulu. That’s more than 5,000 miles! I had no idea how far that island state was located off the coast of California! I’ll never forget watching that little plane-graphic inch along at a glacial pace on the cabin’s screen.

5. Where do you usually get most of your news about what is going on in the world today?

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert for political laughs. Fark.com is also an amusing read. For serious news, I usually scan the Indianapolis Star and various other major news websites including Google news, CNN and ESPN depending upon the time of year (I’m partial to the NFL and MLB). I always listen to NPR in the morning on the way into work and then go through my email and read the PR industry news alerts and other news briefs I have in my inbox.

I also find Twitter is where most news breaks first. On the flip side, I also enjoy figuring out how I can entice journalists and bloggers to make my client part of their upcoming news content.

5. What is something you have not yet done that you would like to accomplish in your lifetime?

I would love to visit every state in the U.S. (airport connections don’t count). So far I’ve either lived in or visited: NH, RI, ME, VT, MA, CT, VA, TX, NY, PA, FL, GA, LA, MS, NC, SC, WV, OH, IN, IL, OK, TN, AR, DE, UT, NV, OR, AZ, NJ, MD, AL, HI and Washington, D.C. So that makes 32 (not counting Washington, D.C.). Only 18 more to go!

Next week, we’ll introduce a member of our creative team. See you then!