Profile: Ashley Peterson
Ashley Peterson is the associate director of development at WERS. In charge of individual and major giving for the station, she fundraises all year long, with the help of her colleagues. Her team recruits and stewards nearly 6,000 members, a third of which make monthly contributions of $6 or more. The development team as a whole raised more than $1 million in FY19 from membership, underwriting, and grants.
Peterson oversees major fundraisers each October and April, called Live Music Week. Around 30 musical acts perform live at the station during the week, and listeners who pitch in are eligible for a number of prizes. Involved in everything from choosing prizes to soliciting matching gifts, Peterson approaches the fundraiser a lot like Christmas. “It’s stressful, there’s a ton of planning, and it’s really important. But at the end of the day, there’s an outpouring of generosity and support, and you never know what’s going to happen!”
For six years, the station has held a community service fundraiser with community partner Rosie’s Place. WERS community members pledge to volunteer one hour at Rosie’s Place for every $500 raised for the station. A firm believer in the lifesaving power of Rosie’s Place for local women, Peterson is hopeful that the community will once again rally around the station and the shelter during the end-of-year giving season. Volunteer dates are tentatively slated for February 2020.
The partnership with Rosie’s Place is one with a long tradition at WERS, but in the past year, the team has worked on creating new ones with local businesses including Taza Chocolate in Somerville, MA, and Atomic Coffee Roasters in Salem, MA, allowing the station to offer various gift boxes at different donation levels.
A current fundraiser that Peterson is working on is WERS’s 70th birthday party on November 2. Musicians Nick Lowe and Adia Victoria will perform at the Paramount Center. Nearly 600 students, staff, and listeners are expected to come out to celebrate the region’s longest running non-commercial radio station, with VIPs enjoying a pre-party complete with cupcakes and a champagne toast. Peterson is responsible for this portion of the event and is currently finalizing the VIP guest list.
Last year, she and her colleagues planned and executed WERS’s first-ever free festival on Boston Common. They ran a “Fund the Festival” campaign to bring six musical acts to the Wicked Good Festival. The event was a great success, bringing 10,000 people to the Common; happily, the second Wicked Good Festival will take place in August 2020.
Peterson said that her favorite thing about working at Emerson is the students. Approximately 75 students work at the station for non-tuition credit each year. They do everything from DJing to social media marketing to graphic design. She enjoys their creative natures and optimism for the impact they can have on the world.
She started out as membership coordinator at the station more than three years ago. Prior to Emerson, she worked as a marketing coordinator at a community foundation in the MetroWest area of Massachusetts. She has a BA in marketing from Bentley University and an MA in Integrated Marketing Communication from Emerson.
Peterson is a native of Plainville, MA, and currently lives in Lowell, MA, with her partner and their cat. Her passion for music expands into her life outside the office; her partner is a musician and they enjoy participating in the Lowell music scene. She also likes to practice yoga and hike; one of her go-to hiking spots is the Blue Hills Reservation in Milton, MA.
Nancy Howell (Communications and Marketing)
Image by In Bae ’20