Transcript Connecting the Dots

Connecting the Dots
Julie Armstrong
Steve Jobs said it best…
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can
only connect them looking backwards. So you have to
trust that the dots will somehow connect in your
future
You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life,
karma, whatever. This approach has never let me
down and it has made all of the difference in my life.”
-- Steve Jobs, 1955-2011
Some of my obvious dots
 Faculty, St. Edward’s University (current)
 Faculty, Colorado State University-Pueblo (3 years)
 Small business owner (8 years to present)
 Healthcare marketing and communication professional
(25 years)
 Masters degree in Communication (St. Mary’s
University)
 Bachelors degree in English & Art (Trinity University)
And, not so obvious dots…
 Internship after college at Dallas Museum of Art in
education, curatorial, and public relations
departments
 With an English degree came strong writing skills
 Livelong love of fine arts and visual communication
 Love affair with healthcare but too right-brain
dominant to be a clinician or physician
 Which path would I take?
Healthcare Communication:
the road less traveled
 Started as entry-level community relations
coordinator at 416-bed acute-care tertiary care
hospital in San Antonio
 Promoted three months later to PR director
 Promoted again to Marketing Communication
Director
 All within four years!
Why is this woman
smiling?
Because it’s been a great
ride!
 Director of marketing communication for Penrose-St.
Francis Health Services, Colorado Springs
 Director of communication for Physician Reliance
Network (now US Oncology)
 Director of marketing communication, South Texas
region, Columbia HCA
 Director of marketing communication, Shannon Medical
Center, San Angelo, TX
 Director of marketing communication, Humana Hospital
New Orleans
More dots…
 Director of marketing communication, St. Luke’s
Lutheran Hospital, San Antonio
 Director of marketing communication, Humana
Hospital-San Antonio
 Intern, Dallas Museum of Art
 College student
 Child who won the first grade essay contest:
“Why I want to Be a Teacher”
The Best is Yet to Come!
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone
else’s life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living
with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let
the noise of other's opinions drown out your own
inner voice. And most important, have the courage to
follow your heart and intuition. They somehow
already know what you truly want to become.
Everything else is secondary
 Steve Jobs, Stanford commencement address, 2005
“The world is a book, and those
who do not travel only read a page.”
- Saint Augustine
Thank you!
 Julie Armstrong
 [email protected]
 #juliecolorado