About Jenan

     Jack of all trades may sound like a cliché, but for Jenan Hicks it’s an accurate description of her job position.  As the office manager and administrative assistant for MediaFit Strategic Marketing & Advertising Inc., her duty list runs a mile long and continues to grow all the time.  “I do anything and everything they need me to do here.  It’s constantly changing and evolving.”  From creating presentations and flowcharts to making travel arrangements to ordering supplies, she strives to keep the firm on schedule and running as efficiently as possible. 

     Before starting at MediaFit, Hicks worked as senior secretary to the director of compensation and benefits at North Carolina Baptist Hospital.  Her duties included many of the same things she currently does, but she characterizes her time at the hospital as challenging.  “The director always had back-to-back meetings, so it was very hectic.”  She laughs.  “Of course, compared to juggling the schedules of three kids, it was a snap.”  When her boss planned to retire, she decided to look for something close to home and a little more laid back.  She found the answer in MediaFit, a small, strategic marketing and advertising company that prides itself on the close-knit, flexible, and creative culture they’ve created, both for their clients and their employees.  “I enjoyed working at the hospital.  It’s like a small city—a whole other world.  At MediaFit, I can balance my work and home life.  I love the atmosphere here.”

     Hicks also appreciates the variety her job affords her.  Whether on the phone or in person, she’s often the first point of contact for the office.  Her day may include a menagerie of tasks such as maintaining schedules for the firm’s principals, making sales calls, organizing customer databases, writing letters, and answering phones.  However, working in the innovative field of marketing and advertising also gives her an opportunity to learn about that creative process and branch out in ways she never imagined.  “I’m involved in quite a few new projects at the moment.  One of them is being the media plan coordinator where I’m responsible for tracking and submitting the ads—magazine, newspaper, phonebook, and direct mail.  It’s like a living, breathing document, changing all the time.”  She’s also in charge of finding more efficient ways to manage the many processes for other team members involved in those projects.  Research comprises a valuable part of her time, whether it’s researching new software or preparing information about a client’s area of expertise and their competition.

     In whatever free time she has left, Hicks enjoys reading and spending time with her family.  Having originated from California, she likes to travel and plans to do more of it in the future.  But even at home, she defines herself as a born organizer and task manager.  With the ongoing challenge of maintaining a household and raising three kids with active schedules, she acknowledges she can be a stickler for getting things done right and done on time.  “I’ve planned and coordinated trips for approximately 100 people—Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, church groups—making reservations and collecting money.  You need to be conscientious and detail-oriented to get that done.”

     Even with her busy home life, she admits to being drawn to MediaFit’s world of advertising and marketing.  “The process of design, from beginning idea to the finished product, really interests me.  I’d like to keep learning and become more involved in the creative aspects as well as continue to manage the office.”  At MediaFit, she feels she has space to grow.  Whether she’s managing projects or scheduling people or helping with design, for Jenan Hicks, it’s all about doing what’s needed to support the team.

Biography written by: Carrie Graves