Allyson Roberts
Vice President Allyson is the product of a high school English teacher and a high school guidance counselor. She naturally inherited writing and grammar skills from her father and a love of people from her mother. That makes her custom-made for the communications field, because she can combine the technical writing skills with the interpersonal ones to get to the heart of and tell a good story. How Allyson Got Here Allyson Roberts knew Laura Bishop from another public relations firm where they both worked. When Allyson left that firm to join the Office of University Relations at Widener University, she continued to seek out Laura’s professional advice. Of course, by that time, Laura had opened LBC for business, too. As Laura began to grow LBC, she knew the firm could really benefit from Allyson’s media relations and public relations savvy. Plus, Laura knew Allyson would be great fun and work well with the LBC team. So, in the winter of 2017, Allyson joined LBC, where she is thrilled to be back working alongside her mentor. Allyson enjoys the communications field because it enables her to pair her writing and interpersonal skills to get to the heart of and tell a good story. Allyson excels at this aspect of her work. Not only does this make her a public relations asset to our clients, but it brings a special dimension to the grants she writes on behalf of LBC’s clients. Talents and Expertise Allyson’s got some serious cred! While at Widener, she amassed a resume that has prepared her well for serving LBC’s diverse clients, especially those in education. She served as the primary communications contact for the College of Arts and Sciences; School of Business Administration; School of Education, Hospitality and Continuing Studies; Center for Human Sexuality Studies; and Institute for Physical Therapy Education. At heart, Allyson is a true storyteller! She leveraged that ability at Widener to help each school and program tell its own stories through the news media, social media, internal and alumni communications, and the university website. One of Allyson’s greatest strengths is her ability to tailor story for different mediums while “staying on message.” Allyson also edited Widener University’s internal newsletter, “What’s Up @ Widener.” She led the process of integrating the newsletter into the Widener University website to ensure the mission-rich content had greater reach and engagement. |
The University’s social media team also benefitted from Allyson’s talents, by helping to guide the development and execution of social media strategies to boost engagement while delivering key marketing messages. It was a success! The team’s work on a Social Media Commencement Campaign in 2014, earned it a Ladle Award from the Philadelphia Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.
But that wasn’t her only award. Allyson also earned multiple awards from the College and University Public Relations and Associated Professionals Organization, also known as CUPRAP, while at Widener. Among her honors was a gold award in 2014, for the media relations campaign she led to introduce Widener University’s own earth-friendly coffee, WU Brew. Her Favorite Projects Allyson really likes seeing a project through from start to finish, and then having measurable results to validate your thought process and efforts! She finds the brainstorming that goes on at the start of a communications campaign so much fun – it’s the ability to let the creative juices flow before letting the strategic thinking take over. The other piece of the business that Allyson really likes is pitching to media. Allyson loves the excitement of having a TV station or two show up for a story she has pitched, or having a reporter call just moments after hitting the send button on a pitch note. She says that when she gets those calls, she knows that she has articulated why the story is newsworthy successfully. Allyson finds generating media interest for a client so rewarding. She says she does an internal victory dance each time a reporter calls after a pitch. Other Stuff Allyson Does Allyson grew up in Monroeville, New Jersey, and currently resides in Mullica Hill, with her husband, Brian, and three young children, Gavin, Carter and Taylor. Allyson says that in her free time she likes to spend time down the shore with her family. She also enjoys running and trying other forms of exercise to help her keep up with her very active family. We want to know when she thinks she has that free time? Education Allyson graduated summa cum laude from the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University with a bachelor’s degree in public relations. She holds a master’s degree in corporate communications from Rowan University. |