Member of the Month: Lisa France
Welcome to the MN AMA’s Member of the Month!
Member of the Month is designed to show appreciation for and recognize MN AMA members for their membership. Member of the Month is also a great way for other members to get to know each other. Once a month a member will be chosen at random at the end of the month and receive a congratulations email at the beginning of their month asking them for an interview.
Member of the Month receives:
- Recognition on the MN AMA website, all social media outlets and at all monthly events.
- Free attendance at all events (mixers/programming events) that month (minus Annual Conference).
- Thank you card from VP of Membership and President.
- Personal Phone call from VP of Membership.
Join us for our New Member Orientation on Sept. 25 to learn more about the benefits of MN AMA membership including access to an abundance of resources and a chance to connect with the chapter’s leadership.
September Member of the Month: Lisa France
I was pretty eager to join the AMA once I knew what it was. Having a background in the Social Sciences, I didn’t know a lot about professional organizations, let alone whether I should join one or not. One of my colleagues was familiar with the Minnesota Chapter and I decided to join her at a meeting. Unfortunately, we never made it to the meeting because we got into a minor car accident. Fortunately, I did not let that stop me from taking a chance and going to a meeting by myself.
I joined the AMA to gain knowledge and experience that I couldn’t get being an entry-level market researcher, but I came away with much more. How? I was recruited to volunteer at the very first event I attended! I didn’t actually know what I had committed myself to, but all of a sudden I found myself on the Board of Directors.
In the seven years I was on the Board of Directors, I learned what it takes to run an all-volunteer non-profit association: begging. Actually, that’s not entirely true, but it did give me an opportunity to get to know marketing and establish my leadership style.
When I quit a job a while back, I was really worried about getting another one. The one thing I didn’t have to worry about though was the support of the AMA and from all of the friends I’d made throughout the years. I’ve learned a lot over the past 11 years of being a member, but what I’ve really taken away are some amazing memories with some incredibly talented and dedicated people who I can now call my friends.
Lisa France is a Senior Research Manager at Maritz Research, a global marketing research company.
