Professional Profile:
Julia Mace of the UC Foundation
Our Promotional Writing class had the opportunity to create some new material for current and prospective students by interviewing members of the Professional Writing Advisory Board and writing professional profiles. This piece was intended to “provide insight into the board member, but it should also give some insight into how this advisory board member benefits the Rhetoric & Professional Writing program and its students;” the final profiles will be used on the RPW program website and in other promotional materials.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Julia Mace, APR, who I had worked with previously in a professional capacity (we sat together at a number of conferences and PRSA Media Days). Our conversation covered professional experience, our favorite memoirs and coffee shops, the struggles of working at a university, and everything in between. I worked to make this profile as interesting and fun as Julia is; she was pleased with the final product, and I was, too!
For Julia Mace, it’s all about the story.
Officially, Julia serves as the Associate Director of Communications at the University of Cincinnati Foundation. It’s a position that was hard earned and well deserved: She is, after all, a polished communications professional and public relations strategist with more than 20 years of experience (and several awards) under her belt. She’s responsible for driving the Foundation’s public relations and social media strategies as well as researching and writing articles about the Foundation’s mission; she’s also known for her ability to craft exceptionally detailed, award-winning annual reports.
However, Julia’s true passion is telling stories. In fact, she’s branded herself as a “Storyteller and Relationship Builder” on LinkedIn. Meeting new people, learning about their lives and the motivations behind their projects, and sharing their impact with the community—that’s what energizes her. Storytelling has been the driving force behind her whole career. In fact, as she wrote in her blog, “I’ll confess – sometimes I’m writing a story in my head while it’s happening.”
Despite her reputation as a seasoned writer, Julia didn’t plan on becoming a professional communicator when she was young. A native of Cincinnati, she attended Indiana University in Bloomington and studied English, but only because “I had to pick a major!” she says. “I'm not like a lot of these UC students that I meet these days, who are really, really focused on what they want to do. I had no clue! I just liked writing.”
Julia Mace, APR
Getting a degree in English seemed like the right fit, given her love of books and writing, but she had no clear-cut plans for her career after college. “I went to England for a year after I graduated from college, so I didn't even do a professional job right away,” she recalls. When she returned, she landed a job in journalism, covering school district news as a reporter for The Pulse Journal in Mason, Ohio.
Though she only worked at the Pulse Journal for a year, that first job set the tone for the rest of her career. Journalism is all about the story—the who, the when, the why—and storytelling is “like the thread in my whole career,” she says.
Julia used those skills in storytelling in other jobs: As the first ever Communications Coordinator at Mariemont City Schools, she was responsible for managing the school’s image and brand through communication activities and publications. Later, she served as the Senior Communications Officer at the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, where she produced award-winning reports, articles, and videos for more than 12 years before stepping into her current role at the University of Cincinnati Foundation.
All of these positions were different and challenging in their own ways, she says, but she found that focusing on the stories, and the people behind them, was the key to success.
“It's the same thing that I always like in all my jobs. I really like meeting people, and covering their stories and showing the impact,” she muses. “For me, everything circles back to the story. You know, we all have bad days, and sometimes I feel like my workload is crazy. But meeting all of these people is really energizing, and it reminds you of like why you're doing it.”
For instance, “a couple weeks ago I did a story about the provost of UC…he gave a scholarship fund to his husband as a surprise gift, and they're raising their grandkids together,” she recalls. “I met them at the Arlington Center and we did a photo shoot and interview. And it was just really cool to show how people are so generous and making a difference. I got to meet these cute little kids, and I had so much fun with the creativity of the photo shoot. So really, that's like the thread in my whole career. It's funny, like I started out writing stories and it's still my favorite part, honestly.”
Julia’s love of sharing stories is evident; it also explains the recognition and accolades she’s received for her work, both professional and personal. Along with a handful of CASE Awards and Blacksmith Awards for her work at the UC Foundation and Greater Cincinnati Foundation, her personal blog, I Love Kids Books, was recognized in CityBeat’s 2017 Best of Cincinnati issue.
Not only has Julia earned awards for her storytelling, she’s found a great sense of community through it, as well. For several years, she was involved with Women Writing for (a) Change, a local non-profit organization that focuses on nurturing women’s voices by facilitating supportive writing circles. The community she met and connected with there is still a major part of her circle today.
“Women Writing was a big influence on my life, because I felt like it helped me find my voice with writing, and I also met a lot of friends there,” she said. “Some of the older women there were great mentors, and my book club is all people I met at Women Writing. It was a huge influence on me, writing-wise and friendship-wise.”
And now, Julia is in a position to offer guidance to younger writers herself as a member of the Professional Writing Advisory Board at UC. She was invited to join the board during her tenure at the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, and “it was a nice coincidence that I ended up at UC,” she says. “I’ve loved the experience. It has been nice to meet students, and has been a nice networking vehicle for me as well!”
Now a seasoned professional and consummate storyteller, she has a few pieces of advice for today’s students that she wishes she’d known when she was just getting started.
“One thing I’ve learned is that it’s okay to admit that you don’t know something, and it’s also okay to reach out to other people for help or advice,” she says. “And you can be sensitive. One of my writing teachers would always tell me that ‘your sensitivity makes you a good writer.’ We’re interviewing people, and we need to be able to really listen to them and hear their stories. Personally, I think that it makes us better at what we do.”
Overall, though, she says that success comes from being confident in your abilities and keeping that passion for your craft alive.
“Even now, my dream job is to just be writing stories and learning about people,” she says. “I wish I could tell my younger self that it’s important to just be more confident in yourself and your abilities. You are more talented than you think you are, and no matter what happens, you’re going to land on your feet.”