Helen Mumaw looks back on thirty years at The Ohlmann Group:
Wow! It was 30 years ago that I began my journey at The Ohlmann Group, known back then as Penny/Ohlmann/Neiman. I remember it like it was yesterday. It actually began about 6 months before I was hired. I needed a change in careers and saw an announcement in the P/O/N newsletter that Linda Kahn had just been promoted to Sr. Vice President/Media. She had a client who advertised on the radio station where I worked at the time. I called her and sent a resume hoping that she might need an assistant. She called me back 6 months later for an interview. I actually came to work the weekend before Christmas to help her out of a jam but my official 1st day was the day after Christmas and what a gift it has been! I am privileged to have worked with all three founders as well as some very talented and colorful co-workers who have seen me through 3 babies, buying a house, getting those babies through college and out of the nest, and, more recently, my dad passing away. I have experience the incorporation of computers into our offices, then adding the internet and email to our toolbox. I still use a rolodex (it’s faster than creating an address book) and binders (according to the printing industry by printing all my orders, I am actually stimulating forest growth and the economy). I still prefer phone calls to email and CD’s to iTunes, but I do love my smartphone and tablet.
I have also enjoyed working with many media reps over the years. I have tried to walk that fine line between partner and client with each of them. I’ve never minded when a company would send their newest rep into meet me. It has been my pleasure to aid in the training of many fine media professionals. I chuckle at some of the advertising opportunities they have brought me. I always joke that if you want to advertise on a Baby’s behind, I can probably find someone doing that. I’ve placed ads in restrooms, gas stations, movie theaters, restaurant menus, in about every magazine “genre” you can find, had messages trail behind airplanes, recommended trade shows, seen the outdoor industry move from hand painted bulletins to printed vinyl to digital signs, seen internet advertising transition from the next big thing to mobile, and mourned the state of the newspaper industry.
I am not sure what the future will hold, but if Walter, Linda and Lori will let me tag along, I’d like to find out. Please accept my heartfelt gratitude for taking me onto the team and making me part of The Ohlmann Group family!
