Alumni Spotlight - Natalie Gray
Natalie currently serves as the Youth Services Manager for the Toledo Arts Commission. She loves that her job allows her to be connected to the Toledo Art Scene. She is
responsible for promoting, hiring seasonal staff, scheduling, grant reporting and
social media. She also oversees the Young Artists at Work Program and the Marcy Kaptur's
Ninth Congressional District Invitational High School Art Exhibition.
She started working with the Toledo Arts Commission as a volunteer, moved into an internship. When she graduated she moved into a full-time position in Creative Placemaking.
She relies on communication skills constantly in her role. She believes that the ability to communicate with all different kinds of people is vital to success. Flexibility is key since innovation, creativity and collaboration are what drive the art scene. She often works to connect people to projects which involves getting support from various stake-holders. This also requires her to have a sense of cultural competence since so many different kinds of people orbit the Toledo Arts Commission.
Her experience in the UToledo Communication program played a major role in her success. She explains that “the faculty were great. They helped me learn how to advocate for myself. I learned my DIY attitude. You have to advocate for yourself because no one else is going to advocate for you.” She appreciates that her communication degree taught her a variety of skills. “I like that the Communication degree helped me become adaptable and diverse. It didn’t pigeon-hole me too much.” The most important skills were networking, public presentations and interpersonal communication. If she had one piece of advice to give to incoming students, it would be “It’s more important to be curious than right. Don’t let your dream muscle become atrophied.”
