Jody Stout brings years of experience on the production side of advertising with organizations like Gannett and Yellow Pages Group to her new role as operations manager with Well Done. In the years since she left advertising, she finished her degree, stayed busy raising two boys, and managed an 800,000-square-foot book distribution warehouse. Learn how she found her way back to marketing and discover why we may steal her process-oriented brain for a bit of proofreading in our interview.
Q: Jody, tell me a little about yourself.
A: I’m a mom of two boys, ages 16 and seven. I’m a lifelong Hoosier. I graduated from IUPUI in 2015 with a degree in English. It took me 22 years to finish, but I finally did it! I’m currently working on my MBA, and hope to finish that up in December.
Q: An English major! Would you be willing to hop on the occasional proofing task for the creative team, if necessary?
A: Yes! Once I get the hang of things on the operations side of the business, I would love to help out wherever I can as time allows. Proofing, research, anything really that will give more insight into the business and to help out the team.
Q: What are your two boys into?
A: My oldest just turned 16. So driving is big on the list. He recently started his first job working at his favorite restaurant, Chick-fil-A. He loves manga, anime, and playing video games. My youngest just learned how to ride his bike without training wheels. He loves riding his bike as fast as he can and racing the cars down the street. He’s my energetic, athletic kid. He’s also my artist. He spends hours a day drawing and creating, especially monsters and creepy things.
Q: As a lifelong Hoosier, what’s your favorite thing about Indy?
A: I like that Indy feels like a “small” big city. You have access to a lot of events and activities, but it doesn’t feel overwhelming. I took my oldest son to Chicago for a Cubs game at Wrigley Field and all the touristy things and the public transportation and getting around with kids was so stressful to me. I like that we can do fun things around Indy with my kids, without that extra stress.
Q: What led you to Well Done Marketing?
A: I spent many years working on the production side of advertising, starting out as a proofreader for a Canadian company, Yellow Pages Group, and most recently as an operations manager at Gannett’s design center, designIQ, managing print and digital media production across many of Gannett’s markets.
I left Gannett to pursue other opportunities which led me to a very different role as an operations manager of an 800,000-square-foot warehouse that distributed books. I ran the entire operation during the second shift. A desire to get back to my roots led me to Well Done. I wanted to get back into a creative environment.
Q: Are there any parallels between managing an 800,000-square-foot warehouse and wrangling a bunch of erratic creatives?
A: That is a really great question. Working in a creative workplace, there’s a lot of free-flowing ideas and synergy happening; there tends to be a lot more variety in the day-to-day. Whereas, a warehouse is a very prescriptive and process-driven environment with highly repetitive and functional tasks.
On the operations side, they are fairly similar. Both businesses want to have the best people, performing the best work to optimize the business, create an impact, and provide value for our teams, customers and communities.
We’re excited to learn more about your lovely family, Jody. In the meantime, welcome to the Well Done family!