Profile: Rhea Becker
Rhea Becker received a 15–year service recognition award from the College in May. She was the third member to join the Public Affairs Department in 2000 (known as Communications and Marketing today). As editor, she was responsible for putting together a monthly eight–page newsletter called Emerson College Today. She also wrote and edited the alumni magazine, which was called The Beacon at the time.
Today, Becker is associate director of communications and marketing. She is responsible for the publication of the triannual Expression magazine, which includes planning content, writing and editing articles, repurposing College news stories for publication, and collaborating with Development and Alumni Relations for the alumni and class notes sections.
She also oversees four of the College’s official social media accounts. During the academic year, she creates about two new Facebook posts per day and four to six tweets per day. She posts to Instagram about every 48 hours and also posts to Pinterest. In addition, she consults with the staff in charge of the College’s YouTube channel and LinkedIn groups.
During the academic year, one student worker assists her in creating social media campaigns and researching the newest tools. Becker really enjoys overseeing the social media accounts because she spent six years writing a blog called The Boomer Chronicles. During that time, she learned about web analytics and how to build and maintain a powerful web presence. She was even invited to South by Southwest to speak on a panel about her blog.
Becker enjoys working at Emerson because of her “great association” with the College. She spent her freshman and sophomore years as a student at Emerson and then transferred to Boston University to obtain a degree in journalism.
Becker was 20 years old when she got her first full–time newspaper job, at The Tab, which is a chain of weekly newspapers. She also worked for People magazine and Boston Woman magazine. She transitioned to the world of higher education when she took a job at the Harvard University Gazette.
A New Jersey native, Becker lives with her Lhasa Apso, Sparky, in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. She has lived in Jamaica Plain for 21 years and loves it because of the “great community feeling” there. Becker has a busy life outside of the office. She has served on the board of Women in Film & Video New England and has been the president of the Jamaica Plain Historical Society. She has also dedicated time to political issues, such as tenants’ rights and sexual violence against women.
Her hobbies include biking and taking day trips. She is accomplishing a major goal this summer: visiting all 48 continental states. Last on her list are Idaho, Iowa, Montana, and North Dakota.
Becker is looking forward to having more time for her hobbies next year, as she is enrolled in Emerson’s Integrated Marketing Communication graduate program and expects to graduate in December 2015.
Nancy Howell (Creative Services)