RESUME

LUELLEN SMILEY

MARKETING & EVENTS STRATEGIST | Turning Creative Ideas Into Profit

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

A resourceful communications professional with a proven track record of curating high-profile exhibitions, managing multi-platform media campaigns, and producing award-winning written content. Combines creativity, research acumen, and a strong business sense to translate trends into opportunities for brand growth and audience engagement. Experienced in public relations, event management, content creation, social media, branding, and business development. Known for building collaborative relationships, maintaining integrity, and delivering results with enthusiasm and a clear strategic vision. Blue Ribbon Award for Smiley’s Dice in the 5000-10000 category | California Newspaper Publishing Contest. Retail sales experience selling art and clothing.

KEY SKILLS & AREAS OF EXPERTISE

SELECTED ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Curated and managed the exhibition strategy for a gallery, including marketing, public relations, receptions, opening night extravaganzas, advertising, and media planning; exhibitions featured iconic photographers worldwide: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, The Who, Janis Joplin, and Joni Mitchell.
Awarded the California Newspaper Publishers Association Blue Ribbon Award for excellence in weekly column writing.
Founded and grew Odyssey of Adventures, a globally read blog featured in the New York Post and More Magazine.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

The Scott Varley Team Keller Williams – Saratoga Springs, NY 2019 – 2025

Public Relations & Promotions Consultant

Owned accountability for media relations, promotions, event planning, and advertising for a real estate brokerage.
Implemented SVKW communications strategy with guidance from the Director.
Increased brand awareness and ensured consistent branding, voice, and messaging across all digital platforms.
Planned and executed social media campaigns to advance communication and engagement goals.
Identified and leveraged opportunities to raise awareness of SVKW initiatives, partners, and collaborators.

The Gallery Loulou – Santa Fe, NM, & Taos, NM 2006– 2018

Owner/Gallery Manager

Oversaw the development and execution of exhibitions and events related to photography.
Secured exhibitions with world-class rock & roll photographers and established the Southwest’s only gallery of its kind.
Translated vision into executable annual operating plans.
Served as an internal decision-making authority across contributing photographers.
Managed vendor relationships across framing, shipping, and cost analysis for all gallery functions.

Main Street Media – Del Mar, CA 2002 – 2007

Arts & Lifestyle Columnist

Authored a weekly column on arts, cultural events, character interviews, and personal lifestyle on travel and horse racing.
Collaborated with the art department, colleagues, and city-wide councils.
Utilized storytelling skills to cover news, including city council meetings, press conferences, and special events.

Galerie D Art International – Solana Beach, CA 2005 – 2007

Publicist & Marketing Director

Managed all functions relating to external communications and media relations.
Coordinated media interviews for gallery artists and occasionally served as a spokesperson.
Supported division-level PR and media-related programs.
Originated the collaboration between the community theater and gallery to co-produce theater in the gallery.

ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE: Leasing Manager at Terraces Condominiums | Founder of United Steps Dance Productions | Marketing & Leasing Director at Torrey Pines Science Park

Associate of Arts (A.S.), Art History and Literature |Sonoma State University

EDITING OUR PATHS

Featured ~ LouLou ~ Leave a comment

There are reasons to quit and more reasons not to. The one reason that hovers above all is that everything we do in life needs revision. We are never through evolving into more thoughtful, loving, or wise human beings. Every day, there is an opportunity to revise your valor and conviction.

Revising the position you walk, talk, judge, form opinions, contribute to your home, friends, and partners. Discovering what you’ve learned, dreamed, and mastered is your novel. Just as writing a new chapter when the knot tightens, and you are trapped by decisions that are outdated. Antiquities of a former persona.

Changes in life are like undeveloped photographic images, blurred. Mentally, the angles don’t fit, like schedules, routines, and commitments. Returning to former lifestyles and looking at old photographs, what I see is someone else.

This week, I walked into Scripps Clinic for laboratory testing. The last time was 2012, when I was with a former boyfriend. J was all encompassing, all consuming, generous, intelligent, outgoing, and he had to be near me like a new pet. I lasted a year, the obsession of closeness suffocated my spirit and my writing.

After the appointment, I looked across the street at Torrey Pines Science & Research Park, where I was appointed Marketing and Leasing Director in 1986 over 150,000 square feet of vacant space. I visualized myself taking clients, Qualcomm, and the Jonas Salk Institute through the newly built office buildings. My confidence was slightly off when scientists asked questions about the mechanics and cable routes, but I loved that job. My boss was the most intelligent developer I’d met; he carved me into a broad thinker, allowed my off-the-chart ideas and proposals to progress. Tears welled because the memory was enflamed by my long-distance running days up Torrey Pines hillside. I doubt I’d be running today, maybe scuffling. Life is a runway that we have to steer for ourselves. If we allow others to take the wheel, we are not authentic. No one is steering my wheel, and I have hit a lot of potholes and assholes along the way.

The puzzle is how to live, where to live, and for whom. It is the same with manuscripts; they improve with each revision.

RAVELING THOUGHTS ON DEL MAR HOTEL LIFE, EMPLOYMENT, AND MEMORIES.

Featured ~ LouLou ~ 3 Comments

The vigorous, and victorious day has arrived, I am in Del Mar.

My attention is not to the guests, it is to the staff. Sabrina, Frank, Lorenzo, Jeremy, Nicholas, Trevor, Adam, Jazmin, and a few others. I listen to their stories, feel their pressing preparation to greet guests with jovial expressions, and patience. And checking into a hotel is no hands-on, swipe, scan, and off you go.

I chose a bench, just beyond the entrance, beside the pond and fountain, enveloped in Birds of Paradise, and plants I cannot name. That is my place for coffee and sunrise, and sunset, and a glass of wine. I can see the distant trees over Del Mar, the silhouette of rooftops, and the clouds. And, I see myself forty-three years ago, like Christopher Columbus, when I discovered Del Mar. A vignette of beachcombers, surfers, and a few scientific geniuses, celebrities, and, of course, Dinty Moore’s, and the former just horses racetrack. I was most content with Del Mar since leaving Westwood Village.

Some say wherever you live, all that you possess psychologically goes with you, in a suitcase full of dreams. Mine did, and it has been a month, to fold up those memories, wrap them gently, and go away, not far, just enough to drain what was once.

Employment search is like this: click the link, upload, and then a text, no phone calls, no in-person interviews. The qualifications are two full pages, mostly in acronyms I’ve never heard of, overtime, weekends, and, for that, a trailblazing blessing to be part of the innovators, driven to success, on the cusp of revolutionizing the algorithm-interpersonal technology. Paraphasing one sample description for a Marketing Director. It is more than a Brave New World, it’s All in for ALGORITHMS: a data-tracking system in which an individual’s internet search history and browsing habits are used to.. JOIN, PURCHASE, SELL.

And AI: Machine Learning: This involves training algorithms on data sets to create models that can perform tasks such as making recommendations, identifying patterns, and predicting outcomes.

Deep Learning: A subset of machine learning that uses neural networks with many layers (hence “deep”) to analyze various factors of data.

Natural Language Processing (NLP): This enables machines to understand and respond to human language. TO WRITE YOUR NEXT BOOK?