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Emily Schmidt
Director of Marketing and Digital Media at Montgomery College
Professional Background
Emily Shimamura is a distinguished marketing and communications specialist, carving a niche for herself in the realms of higher education and the arts. With a rich tapestry of career experiences to her credit, she has consistently showcased her expertise in developing and implementing effective marketing strategies that resonate with diverse audiences.
As the Director of Marketing and Digital Media at Montgomery College, Emily plays a pivotal role in shaping the institution's outreach and engagement initiatives. Montgomery College, recognized as Maryland's premier community college, serves an impressive cohort of over 60,000 students annually through its varied credit and noncredit programs. Under Emily's leadership, marketing initiatives have flourished, highlighting her ability to connect with students and the community at large.
Before her impactful tenure at Montgomery College, Emily served as the College of Arts and Sciences Marketing and Communications Manager at American University. In this role, she was responsible for crafting, launching, and assessing the effectiveness of marketing and communication strategies tailored to the largest school within the university. Her contributions significantly enhanced visibility and engagement for the College of Arts and Sciences, showcasing the vital programs, events, and initiatives that enrich student lives.
In addition, Emily's previous role as the Director of Press and Marketing at Dance Place solidified her reputation as an innovative leader in arts marketing. By spearheading comprehensive marketing and media relations efforts, she successfully cultivated a loyal audience base of over 20,000 attendees and participants annually. This role required a fine balance of creativity and strategic thinking, qualities that Emily embodies effortlessly.
Emily's diverse professional journey also includes positions as the Marketing Associate at Jane Franklin Dance, House Manager at Imagination Stage, Assistant House Manager at Arena Stage, and the Student Supervisor of Facilities at American University. Throughout her career, she has cultivated a broad skill set that encompasses marketing strategy, advertising, publication and project management, social media outreach, email marketing, web strategy and analytics, content management, as well as writing and editing.
Education and Achievements
Emily's academic foundations are as robust as her professional achievements. She earned her Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Psychology and Dance from American University, a unique combination that enhances her understanding of audience engagement through psychological principles and artistic expression. Her education is further elevated by a Master of Arts (MA) in Arts Management from George Mason University. This advanced degree equipped her with the strategic frameworks and analytical insights necessary for navigating the complex landscape of arts management and marketing in educational environments.
Her educational background not only underscores her commitment to lifelong learning but also enriches her professional contributions, allowing her to connect with students, faculty, and the broader community meaningfully.
Notable Achievements
Emily Shimamura's career is punctuated by several notable achievements that reflect her dedication and innovative spirit within the marketing sector. At Montgomery College, her capacity to lead transformative marketing initiatives has significantly increased awareness of the college's offerings, thereby expanding its reach and influence in the community.
While at American University, Emily's strategic direction in marketing efforts led to a substantial boost in enrollment and engagement within the College of Arts and Sciences. Thanks to her skillful management of marketing campaigns and stakeholder relationships, both the visibility and reputation of the arts programs expanded, attracting a wider array of students eager to pursue their passions.
Her time at Dance Place was marked by successful programming that advanced the organization's mission of making the arts accessible to all. The innovative marketing approaches employed under her leadership enabled Dance Place not only to retain existing audiences but also to attract new participants, fostering a vibrant arts community in the heart of Washington D.C.
In every role she has held, Emily has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to excellence in marketing and communications. Her strategic mindset, combined with her artistic sensibility, positions her uniquely within the industry, enabling her to forge connections that bring educational and artistic initiatives to life. Emily continues to inspire those around her with her passion for the arts and education, paving the way for future growth and innovation in her field.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.