First Friday: Your Small Business Resource
Presented By:
Topic: Telling your story on a budget
Speakers:
Cassie Jones
Director of Sales | Owner - CMD Publishing
The Williamson Herald & Southern Exposure Magazine
www.williamsonherald.com |
Graduated from Western Kentucky University in December 1992 with a degree in Advertising and a Marketing Minor. Upon graduation Cassie accepted a position at The Courier-Journal newspaper in Louisville, KY where she stayed in Advertising Sales until 1997. In 1997 Cassie accepted a position at The Tennessean in Advertising, to move back to Nashville and be closer to her family. She met her husband, Derby, there.
Cassie left the Tennessean to go into medical sales with Quest Diagnostics from 1999-2001. From there, she accepted a position with The Tennessean in Advertising from 2001-2003 to help launch an entertainment publication called The Rage. Derby and Cassie married in 1999 and they have two children, Derby (10) and Maggie (12). Derby is a 4th grader Edmondson Elementary school and Maggie is a 7th grader at Brentwood Middle School.
Cassie came on board at CMD Publishing in 2011 after getting her son in kindergarten.
She is currently a member of Williamson Inc., Downtown Franklin Association, and is part of the 2016 Leadership Franklin Class. She is also involved in the Franklin Noon Rotary Club and was Vice President of the Foxboro Women’s club.
Cassie's role in CMD publishing is to oversee the sales and marketing aspects of the business, photography, writing stories, covering events and being a liaison between businesses and the community.
She has a passion for helping connect leaders in Williamson County and for being a voice for the community.
Derby Jones
Owner | Publisher - CMD Publishing, LLC
Williamson Herald & Southern Exposure Magazine
www.williamsonherald.com |
Derby is originally from Johnson City, TN. His interest in publishing began at a young age working in the Advertising Department for the family newspaper (Johnson City Press). He graduated from the University of Tennessee with a BS in Communications, and worked for the student newspaper, The Daily Beacon, as Advertising Manager.
He joined The Tennessean in 1994 where he worked in the advertising department, advertising sales and sales management. In October 2006 Derby invested in Main Street Media, which purchased the Williamson Herald in November of 2006. Derby and his family moved to Brentwood in 2005, where he is active in a variety of Williamson County activities:
- Leadership Franklin, Class 2007-08
- Past President of the Franklin Noon Rotary Club
- Board of Directors of J.L. Clay Senior Center, Franklin, TN
- Past Board of Directors of Carter House, Franklin, TN
- Advisory Boards - First Tennessee Bank (Williamson County) currently, Past advisory board member for NHC Healthcare, and High Hopes
- Member, Brentwood United Methodist Church.
- Elected to Williamson County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors in 2015, serving a three year term.
Derby is married to Cassie Jones and they have two children –Maggie, 12, and Derby, 10. He spends his spare time attending his daughter’s soccer and basketball games and his son’s football, baseball, and basketball games as well as attending local community events and all the Titans home games.
Kelly Gilfillan
Owner | CEO | Executive Editor
Home Page Media Group
www.brentwoodhomepage.com |
Gilfillan is a Brentwood native whose diverse resume includes leadership positions in the fields of sales and marketing, including media and healthcare.
After a reorganization and expansion, Gilfillan assumed the titles of CEO and executive editor of Home Page Media Group – formerly BrentWord Communications. The company just reached the six year mark and has four news sites and a style-centric site under the company umbrella. The sites serve the communities of Brentwood, Franklin, Nolensville and Spring Hill.
Gilfillan is an alumni of the Leadership Franklin Class of 2014, Brentwood Police Citizens Academy and the Transit Citizens Leadership Academy. She was recently recognized by the Nashville Business Journal as a 2015 Small Business Most Admired CEO and HPMG was honored with a Small Business Award this summer. She enjoys serving her community in board position with Williamson Inc, Davis House Child Advocacy Center, LION Publishers and Franklin’s Charge.
Shelly Robertson Birdsong
CEO
Robertson Media Group, LLC
www.yourwilliamson.com |
Robertson-Birdsong has been an active member of the Williamson County community both professionally and personally for many years. She has grown up in Franklin and continues to make her home here. Shelly is the owner of Robertson Media Group, LLC that publishes local, social, community and lifestyle publications: YOUR Williamson - A Distinctively Southern Place and YOUR Sumner – A Distinctively Southern Place. RMG offers marketing, public relations, social media, design, custom publishing, event management and consulting services. They are also in the process of launching new YOUR locations, growing their scholarship fundraising event – Fairways Fore the Community and developing several additional new community events for 2017. RMG is poised to offer the continued production of Williamson County’s premiere lifestyle-social-community and business magazine in YOUR Williamson, as well as offer new niche publications, a full online magazine with daily content, calendar and social media website at www.yourwilliamson.com, and yoursumner.com and provide multiple other services both to existing advertisers and new clientele in a specialized and affordable way, catering in particular to small business and non-profit marketing and design needs. Robertson-Birdsong was previously President of the Cool Springs Chamber of Commerce and member of the Chamber Unification/Transition Board of Directors, serving to facilitate the Chamber’s move towards the consolidation of all three countywide Chambers. Prior to launching her own company and subsequent community publications, Robertson-Birdsong was the Managing Publisher for VIP City Magazines – VIP Williamson and VIP Murfreesboro Magazines. Prior to VIP, she was the Director of Special Events & Fundraising for the Heritage Foundation of Franklin and Williamson County/Downtown Franklin Association, and Director of Community Relations for O’More College of Design. She has extensive advertising and sales experience having previously worked for the Review Appeal/Brentwood Journal, Journal Communications, and online local website City Search as well as previous non-profit fundraising and management experience with the National Kidney Foundation and Leukemia Society. Shelly is a member of the Franklin Noon Rotary Club, Soroptimist of Williamson County (now Women of Williamson County), Franklin First United Methodist Church, and has been involved as a community volunteer with numerous organizations and activities for many years. She has been a member and participated in both the previous Williamson County-Franklin and Brentwood- Cool Springs Chambers as well as previously serving on the Board of Directors for the Cool Springs Chamber of Commerce. She now serves as Ambassador and member of Williamson, Inc. Shelly has served a Chair of the Heritage Ball, Williamson County’s largest and longest running charitable ball as well as the Mardi Gras Ball for My Friends House, on several occasions. She has served as committee member and chairperson for multiple other community events and fundraisers including groups such as the African American Heritage Society (awarded their 2016 Communications Award), Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, CASA, Williamson County DUI Court, The Davis House, My Friend’s House, Battle of Franklin Trust, BRIDGES of Williamson County, Franklin Rodeo, Franklin Tomorrow, and many others over two decades of volunteer work in Williamson County. Shelly is a graduate of the University of Mississippi with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Journalism. She graduated from Franklin High School in Franklin in 1992. She is an active Alumnus of Ole Miss and recently started an endowment scholarship fund –the Stuart B. Robertson and Robertson Media Group Endowment - which will be awarded to it’s first recipient from the graduating seniors and Williamson County students attending the University of Mississippi in the fall of 2017. Shelly is married to Johnny Birdsong, President of Robertson Media Group; She is mother of three year-old daughter Stuart Keeling and stepson Bo Birdsong who is 15. The Birdsongs reside in downtown Franklin and enjoy participating in all things community.
Tom Lawrence
Radio Host
WAKM AM 950
WAKM's Tom Lawrence is in his fifty-second year in local broadcasting; and, he has decades of experience in hosting WAKM's Hometown Radio Show. He has just recorded his 25,000th interview. Experienced in news, sports, and talk-radio, he has been involved in many aspects of community life. He served a chairman of the Williamson County Chamber of Commerce on two occasions; and, he has served as chairman of the Board of the Franklin Family YMCA. He is a Rotary International Paul Harris Fellow; and, is a National Association of Broadcasters' Certified Radio Advertising Marketing Consultant. He is managing partner of WAKM Radio.