Keith J. Kennedy
Director of Marketing
STUDIOS Architecture
June’s Member of the Month is a seasoned marketing professional within our New York chapter that you need to know! Keith Kennedy serves as the Director of Marketing for STUDIOS Architecture and describes himself as a “jack of all trades”. With an engineering background and a passion for knowledge, his overwhelming drive and effectiveness serves him well on the Communications Committee. Let’s read below as Keith has shared some of his thoughts and ideas with us.
- Describe your career path from college to now.
Engineer to Marketer: I graduated from college in 2011 with an engineering degree and a year later started as a marketing assistant for a mid-size engineering firm where I quickly realized this is what I should be doing. Less than two years after that I became the marketing director of a large architecture firm in Manhattan and since then have moved to STUDIOS in the same role.
- Best career advice you’ve received to date.
My mother—who can be equally as frustrating as her career is successful—gave me the greatest advice before criticizing me for becoming a marketer: “they pay for your opinion, so don’t ever be afraid to give them exactly what they’ve asked for.”
- What can we look forward to from the Communications Committee?
It’s a very exciting time for our chapter–we’re refreshing some of our communications in a big way to better connect and engage with our members. We’re launching this Fall–and there’s still plenty to do, so join the committee if you’d like to be a part of it all!
- Best marketing read?
Harvard Business Review—I firmly believe in never, ever looking inside our industry for ideas ever again. HBR, both in print and online, is worth every penny for a subscription. There are a lot of fresh ideas that can be paralleled in our industry and that’s exactly what we need these days.
- What have you gained from being a mentor in SMPS New York’s mentor program this year?
Aside from the fact that my mentee, Zennia de Mesa, has taught me more than I could possibly teach her, the program has opened my eyes to one of the greatest things SMPS New York offers—the people we connect with. Everyone—and I do mean everyone—should be a part of the program.