You Can Come Home Again

Employee Spotlight Profile
 

Heather Gaynor
Editor-in-Chief, VALVE Magazine
Contributing Writer, Products Finishing
Gardner Business Media Inc.

When I left Cincinnati for college, I wasn’t sure I’d ever live here again. I had big plans to land a journalism job in Chicago or New York, ideally working for National Geographic so I could travel, write and live a rich life in exotic locales.

Lucky to have gone to Japan twice, this trip in 2015.

 I was one of the lucky ones who landed a job before I graduated, but it was in a small town near Akron in the middle of the Cuyahoga Valley National Forest — not quite the big city or magazine I had dreamed of, but it was a job in journalism.

I worked full time throughout college, so I didn’t have the time to intern, especially because the ones I found were unpaid. I was the first in my family to attend college, and the onus was on me to finance it, too.

Landing a job in publishing before I even graduated was a dream come true, even if it was for a small publisher writing about trenchless technology. What is that you ask? It’s replacing or repairing pipes or tunnels without disrupting the surface. Growing in popularity, I got to represent the magazine at a couple of trade shows and conferences, experiencing business travel for the first time and it was a rush!

My life meandered a bit and I fell for a guy and got engaged. Ironically, he was from northeast Ohio, but was offered a great opportunity in Cincinnati. My family was thrilled, especially my mom, that I’d be coming home. But in all honestly, I was a bit let down. I had moved on to another job working for an automotive aftermarket magazine for a larger, family-owned publisher much like Gardner. While I enjoyed the job, I was still hoping to get to a bigger city with more opportunities if I were to leave that role. But love brought me home.

After a parting of ways with my guy, I was so happy to be home and have the support of my family and oldest friends through my divorce.

Soon after that, I lost the editorial job I had, as it was the early 2000s and everything was moving online so the future of trade publishing seemed a bit dicey. I ended up switching over to b-to-b PR and spent a lot of time pitching my main client, Makino, to Modern Machine Shop and MMT, and producing the company’s own customer-focused publications. I loved digging into that world and learning so much about manufacturing and machining.

Eventually the itch for a bigger, better opportunity in a larger city prevailed and I was on the hunt for a new job. I applied all over the eastern U.S. — Chicago, New York, DC, Charlotte — and ended up getting a wonderful offer from a b-to-b PR firm in . . . Cleveland. While it wasn’t as glamorous as I hoped, it was an easy move as my best friend from college lived there, and I’d spent a lot of time there when I lived 45 minutes away in Akron. It was a change, and that was what I was seeking at that point.

While in Cleveland, I switched roles a few times, moving to corporate communications and working for a large, global manufacturer of valves, regulators and tube fittings — which proved very fortuitous for becoming the editor of VALVE later. In this job, I had the opportunity to travel a lot, across the U.S. and even internationally to Japan, India, Scotland, Portugal and other places in Europe. My wanderlust continued to grow and no matter what I did, I couldn’t get enough of exploring new places and cultures and creating friendships with colleagues across the globe that exist even today.

I was approached about a new role, working for the Society of Manufacturing Engineers marketing the organizations training group, and it seemed like a great fit. I soon learned that marketing wasn’t where my heart was, that I was a communicator and better at longer form content and writing.

Me and 3-Michelin star chef Christian Jurgens in Germany, with my pal Flat Stanley.

The same colleague who lured me away from Swagelok shared that her company was hiring, and the manager for the role was a friend and former colleague. I got the job as the communications manager for Vitamix, working for the first time with a consumer product, but also their commercial line. To say it was my most fun job might be an understatement. As a long-time viewer of Food Network, I was working with chefs and influencers I saw on television and in magazines. It was a rush! Travel was frequent, and I went to Germany my first year twice in three weeks! Participating in global trade shows in Europe each year, and managing our global PR partners, I found myself again traveling at least monthly and loved every second of it. Maybe I wasn’t living in a big city, but I had the advantage of living in modestly priced Cleveland and being able to afford to tack on days to my trips and explore places I’d only dreamed of visiting.

As we know, life has a funny way of working itself out. After four years, my role at Vitamix was eliminated — along with 30% of my marketing and communications colleagues — and I was searching for a job again. I wanted to stay in Cleveland, I’d built a life there and bought my first house. I spent hours each day job hunting and doing some freelance work to stay afloat, and after a year I was offered another dreamy job — PR manager for luxury and import brands for Sazerac Company, with my office at Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky. Talk about a left turn! I was so sad to be leaving Cleveland but excited to be joining an established company that was on a growth spurt. My primary role was promoting a bespoke brand of whiskeys and liquors that sold on average for $3,000 to 7,000 a bottle. What a ride!

We were in the process of planning a PR tour in Scotland with a few key journalists, touring distilleries and hosting tasting dinners with top chefs and distillers in February of 2020. On March 20, 2020, a week after being sent home to work remotely for a couple weeks until this novel virus outbreak was behind us, I was laid off. With the world in a state of chaos, the company wasn’t going to be promoting these exotic and expensive brands. Now what?

My life was once again upended. There was no reason to stay in Frankfort. My divorced parents were both retired, and both facing health crises of their own, unrelated to Covid. It was time to come home for good this time, and it was bittersweet. I would finally have to accept that Nat Geo wasn’t calling, and Chicago would be my favorite city to visit but not someplace I’d ever live. Moving home was a hard pill to swallow and honestly was a bit of an ego blow. I was one of a few of my friends who left the city for more than university, and never intended to return, yet here I was again without a job and with no place else to go.

It took a few months, but while Covid was still raging, I landed a marketing job and took it knowing it wasn’t likely to be my last job. I wanted to get back to writing and maybe even editorial if that was possible. Fast forward a year to a job posting for the editor of VALVE Magazine, here at Gardner Business Media. I was stopped in my tracks! This was an amazing opportunity to get back into editorial and to lead a magazine about a product and industry I’d spent almost a decade learning and promoting. In my first conversation with Kate Hand, she said she wasn’t even sure they’d find someone who knew what a valve was, let alone someone who had valve on their resume. After a circuitous journey, I got the offer to be the next editor of VALVE Magazine and become part of the GBM family.

Former colleagues who had made their way to Gardner said that it was a great place, and they were right. I can honestly say that I’m working with some of the smartest people, and colleagues who really love what they do. Leadership is visible and interacts with employees, and always makes sure to add in plenty of social and fun activities to engage employees and show their appreciation for us. Lots of companies say they are a great place to work, but my time here has been better than I hoped.

My mom, sister, niece and I in Seattle. My most important people.

I never thought I’d be as happy as I am to be back in Cincinnati. The city has changed drastically from when I left for college, and all for the better. It’s fun relearning my way around and experiencing so many new places. I bought a condo last year, I’m with my family for every birthday and holiday, and I have reestablished friendships with people I knew in high school and from previous jobs. Sadly, I lost my dad, but my mom is doing amazing and is fully recovered from her health setbacks. I have one niece, who is about to graduate from college, and it’s so great to be able to take her to dinner or hang out on a random afternoon or evening. It’s these little things that I no longer take for granted that have shown me that you can come home again, and I’m so glad I’m here to stay.

The universe knew that my happy ending was indeed at home in Cincinnati, and now at Gardner, the place I hope to retire from someday many years from now. Like Mick and the Stones said, “You can't always get what you want / But if you try sometime you'll find / You get what you need.”

Need more information?
Heather Gaynor  HGaynor@gardnerweb.com
Editor-in-Chief, VALVE Magazine
Contributing Writer, Products Finishing
Gardner Business Media Inc.
513-388-2191
LinkedIn

About the Author

Heather Gaynor

Heather is the Editor-in-Chief of VALVE Magazine and a contributing writer for Products Finishing. She has worked in industrial editorial, marketing and communications for nearly three decades, including six years marketing valves for Swagelok Company. She holds a B.A. in communications from The University of Akron, and an MBA from Cleveland State University. She volunteers at a number of theaters as an usher to feed her love of live performance, and travels at every opportunity.