Every business has its cycles, but in a down economy, is it better to hunker down and wait it out, or look for opportunities to grow? April Williams McCrory ’86 is used to answering these questions, and as president and visionary of North Star Marketing, she and her staff help their clients navigate the tricky waters of marketing during tough times. In 1997, with experience as a marketing director and investment broker, McCrory started the Rhode Island–based firm, which has become known for clever marketing of some of its own ideas, such as the company’s “World’s Smallest Newsletter”—a four-by-six–inch postcard designed to get attention. McCrory is also the consummate networker and gets the word out about her business through a series of “Happy Hour” seminars (tag line: “worth getting up for”), covering relevant issues for the current environment, such as “Marketing on the Rocks.” A political science major and women’s studies minor in college, McCrory says that her Wheaton education gave her the courage to leave corporate America and start North Star Marketing. “Wheaton played a critical role in my belief that women can do whatever they set their minds to do—that we need to speak up for what we believe in, care for each other, and we absolutely can change the world one small piece at a time.”
Every business has its cycles, but in a down economy, is it better to hunker down and wait it out, or look for opportunities to grow? April Williams McCrory ’86 is used to answering these questions, and as president and visionary of North Star Marketing, she and her staff help their clients navigate the tricky waters of marketing during tough times. In 1997, with experience as a marketing director and investment broker, McCrory started the Rhode Island–based firm, which has become known for clever marketing of some of its own ideas, such as the company’s “World’s Smallest Newsletter”—a four-by-six–inch postcard designed to get attention. McCrory is also the consummate networker and gets the word out about her business through a series of “Happy Hour” seminars (tag line: “worth getting up for”), covering relevant issues for the current environment, such as “Marketing on the Rocks.” A political science major and women’s studies minor in college, McCrory says that her Wheaton education gave her the courage to leave corporate America and start North Star Marketing. “Wheaton played a critical role in my belief that women can do whatever they set their minds to do—that we need to speak up for what we believe in, care for each other, and we absolutely can change the world one small piece at a time.”