National spotlight focuses on state

By Janice Kurbjun
Times staff writer

For the first time in more than a decade, representatives from Development Counsellors International drove the Interstate 80 corridor last week.

The visit to Southern Wyoming could mean national press for some Wyoming businesses.
Susan Brake and Erin Bodine were in Wyoming as part of their firm’s partnership with the Wyoming Business Council, a contract that began with the council’s birth in 1998.

The trip’s purpose was to gather information that could illustrate why Wyoming is a good place to do business.

The firm specializes in getting news about businesses into national media outlets such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Denver Post and “Fox Business News.” In the past, “The Christian Science Monitor,” “Popular Science” and “Inc Magazine” as well as various trade productions have published stories suggested by Development Counsellors International.

If everything goes according to plan, Oprah’s Magazine, “The O,” should print an article about Wyoming in May, said Carol Stearns, manager of the business council’s marketing and attractions team.

The story should focus on Climb Wyoming, a Cheyenne organization that trains single mothers for historically male-dominated jobs.

“We have taken to calling it Rosie the Riveter 2.0,” said Erin Bodine, one of the visiting public relations representatives. They said their effort was successful because the story fit well into trends of work force shortages and skills training nationwide.

Southern Wyoming was chosen because it has recently popped up on the radar as an area bubbling with unique economic progress.

Bodine and her partner Susan Brake’s two-day whirlwind trip included visits to two Carbon County enterprises — the Elk Mountain Hotel and the Carbon County Higher Education Center. Both were chosen by Mark Ducker, the director of the Carbon County Economic Development Corporation. The women also visited Wamsutter, Green River, Evanston and Rock Springs.
The cities and towns are home to businesses that vary from fuel production to health and beauty product development, so each lends itself to interesting stories for the media.

“We pick different companies that are doing exceptional things and pitch those stories to the national media,” said Julie Curtin, regional director of the firm’s Denver branch. “Once we land on a good one, we will use it as long as we can.”

Bodine and Brake said Wyoming is opposite most of the country in terms of labor needs, skilled labor training and economic growth. That profile should mean that media can easily latch onto stories.

It’s important to bring the public relations folks to Wyoming, according to Ben Avery. Avery is the director of business and industry for the business council.

“If they actually have the opportunity to be on site, they’re able to sell the material to the national writers with a lot more enthusiasm and knowledge and, hopefully, it’ll help to close the deal a little better,” he said.


PR reps tout county gems

In their journey along Interstate 80, public relations representatives Erin Bodine and Susan Brake saw strong possibilities for news stories about Carbon County businesses to appear in the national media.

The Elk Mountain Hotel and the Carbon County Higher Education Center could lend themselves to stories about tourism and work force shortages.

“They’ve been around the world and ended up here. And they love it,” Brake said of Arthur and Susan Havers, owners of the Elk Mountain Hotel. Bodine agreed, saying “she’s a Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef. It shows there’s a variety of backgrounds and culture right here in Wyoming.” The hotel’s story could be touted as a weekend travel destination, appearing in regional publications like Denver’s “5280.”

Brake and Bodine say CCHEC’s effort to cater to local businesses is remarkable. While people are losing jobs across the country, Wyoming needs workers and CCHEC officials are addressing that need. They hope to ride the work force wave to promote the school, particularly using the story of vocational educator Dave Urasky’s work with Hyland Enterprises.

“Wyoming is an innovator in work force training,” Bodine said. “There’s a desire to grow their own. (The state) has a mentality of just getting the job done ... and they don’t even know it sometimes.”