Roy Sexton: “I’m Roy Sexton, Director of Marketing for Clark Hill and I am also the 2023 International President of the Legal Marketing Association. The one piece of advice I have has been hard learned and it has really been galvanised in the last four years of working at Clark Hill and it’s going to seem both counterintuitive and a bit twee at the same time. Slow down, pause. Listen to the people around you.
“We often are there in support of people who have their hair on fire for good reasons and we sometimes want to be doers and we want to respond and we want to react. And we take that chaos energy into ourselves and we just start doing stuff. Lean into your team, lean into the people around you and even if someone’s coming at you with heightened energy you don’t have to be dismissive of that, be empathetic, say, I hear what your needs are.
“State a timeline back to them and say, could I do some digging on this? Work with the team. Can I get back to you in a week with a recommendation? Nine out of ten times, unless it’s a media crisis or something, people will always understand, but then follow up. Meet the timeline that you suggested.
“And I also tell the folks that work for me, don’t screw up the easy stuff. If someone needs an update on the website, just do that quickly and get back to them and show them that you did it. Because that makes the harder conversations that much easier later because you’ve earned the credibility.
“But in short, I would say take a pause, take a breath, assess the situation, and then figure out a solution in collaboration with the smart people that you get to be around every day.”
We are all grateful for YOU and for all you are doing for our profession and industry. EXCERPT:
“I’m Roy Sexton, Director of Marketing for Clark Hill Law and I am also the 2023 international President of the Legal Marketing Association – LMA International. I am thankful for a group of humans I met early on when I joined the Legal Marketing Association. Gina Furia Rubel, Nancy Leyes Myrland, Heather Morse-Geller, Gail Porter Lamarche, Lindsay Griffiths, and Laura Toledo
“We’ve all kind of now moved on and gone our separate ways in some respects, but that was the core group. I tell this story quite a bit. I was at the Orlando LMA annual conference and shy and nervous, which nobody believes, and feeling very insecure and I was lurking around the pool. Nothing good usually comes from that. And they were all there as a social media special interest group, having a meetup.
“And Gina saw me and she said, ‘Come over here. Who are you?’ And sometimes I cry when I say this because she just wrapped me in love and got to know me during the course of that afternoon. And they became my mentors and my friends, and they have been with me ever since, supporting me, giving me hard truth, and helping show me the way through this profession.
“And I had always had a fairly serendipitous career until I met them. And it really locked in that I like what I do, I like who I support, and I will always credit them for the mentoring they provided me early on, the way they adopted me and the way they’ve looked out for me ever since.”
I love my brilliant, kind, creative friend Gail Porter Lamarche. She shared her wisdom and wit with me and a strangely absent Rob Kates on Legal Marketing Coffee Talk today. We discussed the importance of authenticity, the magic of #music and fabulous parenting, the benefit to firms of marketers who engage the community, how much we love Legal Marketing Association – LMA International, the fabulous learning and connection at LMA21, the power of digital thought leadership, how to coach attorneys to network with intentionality, Norman Love Confections, Theatre Nova, taco Tuesdays, beloved furbabies, and more. And how proud we are of ass-kicking Laura Toledo!
Shout outs to beloved family, friends, and colleagues include Nancy Leyes Myrland, Gina Furia Rubel, Heather Morse-Geller, Lindsay Griffiths, Megan McKeon, Kelly MacKinnon, John Byrne, Ross Fishman, Don Sexton, Nancy Slome, David Ackert, Passle, James Barclay, Tommy Franz, Kevin Iredell, Maggie Stuart Watkins, Adrian T Dayton, and more!
Legal Marketing Coffee Talk is brought to you by: By Aries and Kates Media.
Clockwise from top left: Justin Scott Bays, Roy Sexton, Elizabeth Jaffe, Diane Hill, K Edmonds, John DeMerell, Kristin Clark
Just FOUR more chances to see SING HAPPY! http://www.theatrenova.org … Come hear the music play – through Sunday!
This celebration of the work of Broadway’s famous duo, Kander and Ebb, features a star-studded ensemble of singers, who take the stage with showstoppers from CABARET, CHICAGO, KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN, and many others. Directed by Diane Hill, with music direction by R. MacKenzie Lewis, SING HAPPY! is not just a musical revue. It’s a show that ultimately weaves a tale of strength and determination, one we can all relate to in these times.
AUDIENCES AND CRITICS ALIKE LOVE SING HAPPY!
From Pulp Magazine: While the show leads off with the encouraging “Sing Happy” from Flora the Red Menace, the show’s best moments are the wistful, introspective, and sad songs. The singers come and go throughout the 70-minute revue with no intermission. The tentative story they tell is one of guarded hope, which seems appropriate to our current situation.
Photo by Sean Carter
Director Diane Hill keeps it simple and the singers respond with performances that grasp the conflicting emotions that are at the heart of Kander and Ebb songs.
Photo by Sean Carter
John DeMerell brings a meditative quality to his rendition of “I Don’t Remember You,” a song about a once-close relationship that now seems lost forever. Justin Scott Bays brings more heat to a plaintive yearning for a lost love in “Sometimes a Day Goes By.” The two voices sing in counterpointed empathy.
Photo by Sean Carter
Perhaps the best-known song in this mood is the comic sad “Mr. Cellophane” from Chicago. Roy Sexton sings the mournful tale of a man who wonders how invisible he seems to be. Kander’s music is a shuffle and Sexton glides across the stage making like a sad, dancing clown.
Kristin Clark brings that wistful quality to “Colored Lights,” another song about what might have been.
Photo by Sean Carter
K Edmonds brings her big voice and expressive face to a rollicking showstopper from Chicago, “When You’re Good to Mama,” a warning to inmates about how things work on the inside.
Photo by Sean Carter
Elizabeth Jaffe has fun with a sassy celebration of a daytime lover in “Arthur in the Afternoon.”
Photo by Sean Carter
Theatre Nova is alive and it wants to stay alive and offer a chance for everyone to come and see fresh, new, exciting plays at a reasonable price. In the music and words of Kander and Ebb, “what good is sitting alone in your room, come hear the music play, life is a cabaret, old chum, come to the cabaret.”
“What a fabulous evening of song! The energy level was high and the numbers flowed seamlessly one to another. I especially enjoyed seeing Kristin and her mom sing together. So great to be back to live theatre, and I appreciate the precautions you’re taking to make everyone feel safe.”
Photo by Sean Carter
“The show was yet another reminder of all the fabulous talent we have in our area. Great Performances, wonderful show.”
“Delightful show! Heartfelt and accomplished singers. Enjoyed every song.”
Reel Roy Reviews 