IABC Nashville Announces Music City Gold Pen Awards 2018 Winners

The International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Nashville Chapter presented the 2018 Music City Gold Pen Awards on Sept. 20, 2018 in Nashville, Tennessee. Pete Weber, the Voice of the Predators who is beginning his 21st season as part of the Nashville Predators broadcast crew, presented 28 awards in categories ranging from internal communications to social media programs. Photos from the event are posted on Nashville.IABC.com.

Genma Stringer Holmes and Pete Weber, the voice of the Nashville Predators.

Lysa Rigo and Genma Stringer Holmes

Pete Weber

Gene Boulware, IABC Nashville Chapter President and Genma Stringer Holmes

Award winners at this year’s event, which was sponsored by Exhibits South, StagePost, Vincit Group, and Sollie Studios, represented a range of industries, including strategic communications, education and healthcare. 2018 year’s award winners are:

• Angela Argiro, MP&F Strategic Communications
• Michelle Fowler, MP&F Strategic Communications
• Amanda Gambill, MP&F Strategic Communications
• Laura Haynes, FirstBank
• Genma Holmes, The Ohio State University
• Mich Michaud, M*Modal
• Mich Michaud, Metro Nashville Public Schools
• Cole Miracle, MP&F Strategic Communications
• Misty Moore & Mignonne Blair, HCA Physician Services Group Communications
• Ameerah Palacios, APR, MBA, Metro Nashville Public Schools
• Rosemary Plorin, Lovell Communications Inc.
• Jan Read, Vanderbilt University
• Rob Scobey, World Christian Broadcasting
• Javier Solano, MP&F Strategic Communications
• Millie Wert, MP&F Strategic Communications

“It’s a great joy to recognize the most talented communicators in middle Tennessee and southern Kentucky with the Music City Gold Pen Awards,” said IABC President Gene Boulware. “The annual awards ceremony not only recognizes great work, but also provides attendees with the opportunity to connect with top professionals who are raising the bar for excellence in communications.”

Genma Stringer Holmes, the owner of Holmes Pest Control and GSH Media, won three Gold Pen Awards for Excellence in Communications for her work with The Ohio State University. She won in the division of communications research, digital communication, and social media.  Genma shared later, "It was an honor and privilege to work with the researchers at the Martha S. Pitzer Center for Women, Children, and Youth at The Ohio State University College of Nursing. I am so thankful for Dr. Karen Patricia Williams and her guidance throughout the project with the university and beyond. To receive recognition by IABC who sets the global standards for communicators is more than I ever hoped or imagined. It was a beautiful day and to have so many friends from near and far to be in attendance to show their support will always be cherished by me."

Visit Nashville.IABC.com to learn more about the Music City Gold Pen Awards, IABC Nashville, and our professional development luncheons and networking mixers. Connect with us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.


ABOUT IABC NASHVILLE
IABC Nashville is one of more than 100 chapters in 70 countries providing learning opportunities for its members and professional development sessions that offer new insights into the latest communication trends, technology and issues facing the industry. The chapter is diverse, with members representing area agencies, broadcast stations, corporations, universities, businesses, and nonprofit organizations. IABC Nashville also offers ties to job bank services and the annual Music City Gold Pen Awards program. IABC is the only place to connect with communicators globally.

"Connect here. Go anywhere!"

Photos by Earl Flippen

Genma Stringer Holmes: IABC Connect 17 Speaker

The IABC Southern Region represents some of the finest business communicators in the world. Join us for limitless career conversations, networking and fun, at this year’s Connect17 Conference in Houston, Texas – The City with No Limits, October 25-27, 2017. 

This year, I will be a speaker! I am look forward to sharing how to connect with influencers and brands with award winning campaigns, creative visuals and great story telling.  

 

All About Me:

Genma Stringer Holmes is a serial entrepreneur. She is the owner of Holmes Pest Control, Executive Producer of Living Your Best Life Radio, and the Editor-in-Chief of GSH Publishing. She has created, managed and branded numerous award winning Social Media Campaigns for not-for profits and for-profit organizations. She has won several "Excellence in Communications" Awards and Merit Awards from IABC, International Association of Business Communicators, for her editorial work with several print publications and digital communications.

She has managed and created social media campaigns for The Ohio State University, MD Anderson Cancer Center, University of Houston, Intercultural Cancer Council, University of Tennessee at Memphis, Meharry Medical College, The Links, Incorporated and the National Day of the American Cowboy to name a few.

Genma has also been recognized for her philanthropic endeavors by the Association of Fundraising Professionals as a Difference Maker Honoree on National Philanthropy Day for her work with military families in 2015. In 2017, she was a  Nashville Business Journal's Women of Influence Honoree. Genma has been recognized for her work as the founder of the Military Fund at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville, Tennessee. Genma has helped raised over $600K for military families during her annual Christmas #livingtogivenow social media campaign and with her fundraisers that benefit veterans.  

Genma has been featured in numerous publications including the Nashville Business Journal, The Tennesseean, Style Blue Print, Essence Magazine, Black Enterprise Magazine, and Huffington Post. She has been heard during the holidays on Tom Joyner Morning Show for nearly ten years. 

Photo credit: C-Suite Pics

How My 2013 Networking started off with Good Signs

I have long advocated for courses to be taught on networking  and relationship building. It should be mandatory for future business leaders, especially in the age of social medial. Social media can take the human factor out of getting to know a person long term. I have started three very different business without any experience in either field by networking with others to learn the ropes of each industry. For me, networking has always been about building relationships and relationship can not exist without getting to know people.

At this stage in my life, I have learned the value of my time. I try to focus on quality vs. quantity in every area of my life. I take meeting people seriously and have developed a few ways to eliminate time wasters and energy drainers. Meeting people is an art form that must be cherished.


Dependency on the Internet has diluted the value of meeting with individuals. In 2012, I spent most of the year growing Living Your Best Life Radio's audience. It was very different from working in the fashion industry, pest control, or writing for media outlets. As odd as those combinations of careers are for one person, I know them fairly well. Expertish even. But in the world of broadcasting, I was a newbie, a babe with a mic. While focusing on developing content for the show and learning the industry, I could not meet with my breakfast clubs.

Breakfast club meetings had become a steady diet of referrals for Holmes Pest Control. Business breakfast clubs are groups of small business owners who have gotten to know each other well and refer customers regularly. Meeting with individuals who were like minded two to three times a week had become my main source of new business for nearly two decades. I have learned over the years if I wanted to build an exclusive list of pest control customers, small clubs were a gold mine for building relationships with other business owners who only referred if they knew you well. No yellow page shopper types were allowed in this network of relationships-first-then-business individuals.

In 2013, I will start back meeting with my Brentwood breakfast clubs. But I also decided I needed to meet new people. Before taking the plunge, I called a friend, Dawn Rutledge, in December to ask her about a few recommendations that would make the most of my multiple networking needs. I told Dawn I had three requirements: small, no crazies, and no drama. I put emphasis on crazies and drama. Laughingly, she understood my emphasis. She gave me the names of several organizations to look into.

After researching the groups and their membership rosters I was given, I settled on two groups to visit. One of her recommendations,  IABC Nashville, peaked my curiosity because of it's January speaker, Kate Herman, President and Publisher of the Nashville Business Journal. I have long wanted to have a one on one conversation with her. Listening to someone speak and observing them with others is a great way to learn their world view. I made my reservation and jotted down a few notes on signs to look for if the group would be a mutual fit.

Arriving late from a volunteer outing, I entered the room as everyone was introducing themselves. The room was packed so I stood in the back waiting for an opportunity to find a seat. When asked to introduce myself, I hastily said "Genma Holmes of Holmes Pest Control."  Ms. Herman, not knowing she was the hook to my being there, offered me her seat. Hmm. Good sign, I thought quietly.

Shortly after giving me her seat, Ms. Herman began her presentation titled, The Changing Face of the Media and What PR Pros Need to know. Upon hearing the title, I nearly fell out my chair. This topic is one of my hot buttons. Not the PR PRO part but the Changing Face of the Media. I thought immediately, "Lord, when you deliver, you deliver!" Good sign. .

The presentation was chock full of stats, information on the business community, partnerships and events galore. She emphasized over and over the importance of relationships. I was in heaven. Heaven! I took pages of notes as if I was studying to become a new PMP (pest management professional). That's big for you non-bug industry people.

After her presentation, I could not stop myself from going up to her to add my unsolicited two cents about some of the statistics she gave. Instead of bristling, she agreed. The more we talked, the more I wanted to follow up. Kate Herman was engaging, informative, confident ("We really do not have competition."), and was not afraid to ask the lunch crowd for email addresses to stay in touch.  I asked her about a future appointment and she said, "Yes." Then she turned to make sure I had her business card. Good sign. Wait...great sign!

IABC Nashville's first meeting of the year was a good way to start my networking through relationship building in 2013. I called Dawn to thank her for her recommendations. I shared with her how impressed I was with Kate Herman, the presentation, and the group. We discussed the presentation and Nashville's business community, the printed and unprinted. We chatted about a few other things and promised to talk later.

The very next day, I got a call from someone who attended the meeting. She knew of Holmes Pest Control and wanted extermination service for her home and business. Yes ma'am, I will kill your bugs! An appointment was set. This was more than a good sign, this was a new customer in a New Year from a new group! I immediately thought, "I attended a meeting for communication professionals for lunch and managed to nab a pest control customer out of the deal." Manna. Networking, when done right, will net results. Excellent signs for 2013.  Now that's what I am talking about!

Photos: Genma Holmes