Name: Norah Carroll
Bio: Lava Row strategist, Drake University j-school graduate, Minnesota native. Proud mother of a hedgehog named Woz (after Steve Wozniak, of course).
Title: Digital Strategist at Lava Row
BECOME A SPONSOR
Join us in championing the narrative of success, resilience, and ingenuity that defines Nebraska’s startup community. Learn more »
Age: 22
City: Des Moines, Iowa
Website: norahcarroll.com
Twitter: @norahcarroll
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/norahcarroll
Intro music: “I Like to Move It” by Reel 2 Real
Silicon Prairie News: You describe part of your job as “helping companies share their stories in new and engaging ways.” What are some general rules of thumb — regardless of the medium you’re using to convey it — for making a story resonate with an audience?
Norah Carroll: A story comes to life through its characters. In working with our clients, I challenge them to find the characters — whether they’re employees, customers or other stakeholders — with the most engaging stories to share. If your audience feels like they can connect with the people behind your brand in real, meaningful ways, they’ll keep coming back for more.
SPN: In teaching social media workshops for Lava Row, what are some of the most common obstacles and misconceptions about social media you have to help pupils overcome?
NC: One of our greatest challenges is taking our workshop attendees beyond their personal experiences with social networks and preparing them to approach social media from a business perspective. It’s easy to get bogged down by our own complicated relationships with Facebook and Twitter, but we need to move past that in order to see the value of social media for business.
SPN: You work as an Apple retail specialist. What’s the rundown of Apple products you use? Which is your current favorite, and why?
NC: I use a 21.5″ iMac at the office, a black MacBook at home and my iPhone 4 everywhere in between. My favorite Apple product is the Apple TV: if I’m home, I’m using the Apple TV to stream music from my iTunes library, watch TV show episodes through Netflix or catch up on recent episodes of Revenge through the ABC app on my boyfriend’s iPad. It’s an entertainment powerhouse and — here’s my sales pitch — only $99!
SPN: Back in October, you won a Thinc Iowa ticket with the top answer to the question “Why Thinc Iowa?” Now time for the follow-up. What are the three most important things you took away from the conference?
NC: The most significant thing I took away from Thinc Iowa was more of an intrinsic lesson — the fact that many established corporations communicate in a fundamentally different way than smaller companies and startups communicate. For anyone wishing to bridge the gap between corporations and startups, it is essential to be willing to meet in the middle. Jerri Chou’s talk awakened in me an interest in social entrepreneurship, a topic I’m getting to know a lot better now, and I also learned that when you gather together a group of entrepreneurs, there’s no such thing as too much Red Bull.
SPN: Our crack team of Twitter researchers unearthed the following tweet from you: “If you were a Kardashian, which Kardashian would you be?” Turnabout is fair play, so … which would you be?
NC: I’m probably most like Kris, but if I could be any Kardashian, it would be Khloe. She’s married to NBA forward Lamar Odom, and I have a shameful obsession with professional basketball, so I’d love the courtside seats and NBA swag.
Image credit: Photo courtesy of Norah Carroll.
Prairie Portraits: To learn more about this series, see our introduction post, or visit our archives for past Prairie Portraits. To suggest an individual for a future Prairie Portrait, contact editor@siliconprairienews.com.
