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Bio & Contact
What makes me a communications professional
So what makes someone a good communicator? Is it education? Experience? Training? Personality? It is a combination of all these factors. To be a good communicator you need to be comfortable talking with people and getting to the essence of their issue or need. You also need to know how best to communicate to the public to get their attention and get your message heard through the noise of daily life.
I began my career as a weekly newspaper reporter – covering everything from politics to human interest stories. From there I obtained a Combined Honours BA in English/History from the University of Western Ontario and a Print Journalism Diploma from Centennial College.
After graduating from college I was hired as the managing editor of a group of community newspapers in Chatham-Kent. It was during this four year experience that I honed my skills as a reporter and learned the importance of community involvement. As a member or chair of nine committees, I found the best stories came from spending time meeting with and listening to the people in the community. Some of the best stories I wrote were the result of personal contacts, not news releases that came over the fax machine. This includes a story I wrote about the treatment of blacks in Dresden in the 1950s that won a National Community Newspaper Award. I was able to spend an afternoon talking with two civic rights champions who had been refused service in a Dresden restaurant in the 1950s based on the colour of their skin.
Being a newspaper editor was great training for my next adventure – a Communications Specialist for the City of London. This allowed me to bring my writing skills and community relations experience to the corporate world. In this role, my prime responsibility was developing and implementing communications, media relations, community relations and marketing plans for a variety of municipal events and programs. The beauty of working for municipal government is the vast array of experience gained. One day I would be working on a media relations campaign for the re-opening of Storybook Gardens and the next day I would be at police headquarters organizing communications to Londoners about the hydro outage. During this time I also earned my Professional Certification in Public Relations and Corporate Communications from the University of Western Ontario.
Having earned my stripes as a Communications Specialist, I was promoted to Manager of Communications for the City of London in September 2004. My focus then switched from proactive communications to reactive communications – issues management and emergency preparedness. I was now the person who would be brought into to study an issue or report, determine the positive and negative corporate or public reactions and develop an appropriate communications strategy. Knowing that any organization’s success depends on its public reputation, the role of issues management was important in the City of London’s goal to position itself within the top rank of Canadian municipalities. One of the most complex issues I worked on was the Ontario Fire Marshal’s Report that contained 44 recommendations for improving the London Fire Services’ fire inspection and public education departments. After endless hours of meetings and weeks of pouring over all the details of what could have been a very damaging report, a communications strategy was developed that would bring all the issues forward in a positive and proactive manner.
And this brings us to Cynthia Lockrey Communications. After spending 15 years as a journalist and corporate communicator, I decided it was time to become an independent communicator. I can work with your business or organization to develop effective communications strategies and deliverables aimed at your audience. Having spent a decade as a journalist, and three years as London’s Emergency Information Officer, I do not work a 9-to-5 workday. I am dedicated to spending the time needed to get the job done, and can make myself available during the hours that work best for you.
Phone 604-505-9312
