Meet Julie Wickert: President’s Award recipient

by Catie Corcoran 

Julie Wickert, a communications professional with 17 years’ experience in the industry, will be the recipient of the President’s Award at the upcoming AWC Austin Banner Brunch.  Her experience includes time spent as a marketing communications specialist, proposal manager, business development analyst, and technical writer.  

In 2008, Wickert founded True Story Communication in Austin to help companies “get their stories out there.” 

With experience spanning a number of industries, including telecommunications, software development, local government, manufacturing and education, Wickert is now using her expertise to meet the business communication needs of her clients, preparing case studies, white papers and proposals for these companies.   

Wickert has been an enthusiastic member of AWC Austin for three years. 

AWC’s Austin Chapter President, Erin Huddleston, who selected Wickert for the award, said: “Julie worked tirelessly to bring in sponsors to support AWC this year.  Prior to her role as co-VP of Development, she produced two outstanding Get Smart conferences.  Julie always goes above and beyond in her volunteer commitment to AWC and has been invaluable to us in forming relationships with individuals and businesses in the community.  We look forward to continuing these great relationships in the coming years.” 

AWC: What inspired you to start your own business?  Did you believe there was a gap in what was being offered by local communications firms?  

I just knew I had reached a level of maturity, experience and skill in my career that I would be able to offer unique value to the market. I can pretty quickly wrap my head around complex information and communicate it to a given audience in a lively, engaging way. I have narrowed my focus to three primary areas: case studies, white papers, and proposals. By helping companies and nonprofits develop content in case studies (stories) and white papers (informational articles), I provide them with solid content they can reuse in lots of useful ways – as proposal proof points, web content, brochure copy and more. 

AWC: Can you describe one of your recent successes for a client?  

I recently completed one of my most enjoyable projects for a client. This client is a voting equipment manufacturer and one of their biggest customers is Harris County, which is the third-largest county in the nation. This past August, Harris County’s warehouse burned to the ground and they lost almost everything they had — more than 10,000 pieces of voting equipment. 

Through diligent disaster planning on the part of the county and my client, as well as significant heroic effort by many, Harris County was completely up to speed in time for early voting for the 2010 midterm elections. Based on this dramatic story, I wrote a case study about disaster recovery and risk mitigation – information of value to all in the elections industry. My client then had me repurpose the case study into a white paper for an audience of Secretaries of State. It was a great illustration of how reusable a good, solid content piece is. 

AWC: What is your advice for women considering entering the communications field? Are there particular skills that are important or personality traits that help when dealing with clients?  

Communications is a satisfying area to work in. It’s creative, and it takes brain power and grace. There’s always something new to learn, and of course, “communications” encompasses a broad array of career choices. Advice? Realize your value, take good care of your employers/clients, and carve out time to take care of yourself and enjoy life. 

AWC: How has your involvement with AWC Austin been beneficial to your work and business over the years? 

I’m a fairly recent AWC Austin member, but I dove in headfirst by volunteering to help with the Get Smart professional development conference. Being involved with AWC Austin as a volunteer is a tremendous learning experience – in a good way! The organization has pretty much raised me – taught me tons about working with a team, about leadership, about networking and about the various communications professions. I’ve made indispensible connections with fellow members and had the opportunity to do some things I wouldn’t have dreamed of, like inviting Betty Sue Flowers to be our keynote speaker for Get Smart.