Cool Communication Job: Aimee Boyd at the Kentucky Derby Festival
by Janna White
 Co-workers race a bed on wheels around a track while their CEO steers. A young woman in a white ball gown is named queen. Five hundred thousand spectators ogle the largest fireworks and pyrotechnic show in North America.
These events—The Great Bed Races, Derby Ball, and Thunder Over Louisville, respectively—are just a few examples of what one can experience at the Kentucky Derby Festival. The festival, which basketball great Magic Johnson once called “the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras rolled into one,” entertains Louisville, Kentucky residents during the weeks of anticipation leading up to the Kentucky Derby horse race. As vice president of communications for the Festival, Aimee Boyd works year-round to ensure that word gets out about this award-winning community celebration.
At the time of our interview, Aimee was gearing up for the busiest time of her year—April’s whirlwind festival weeks, when she and the festival’s communication team both promote and attend all 70 of the festival’s events. “We have three web sites dedicated to the festival and we send out e-mails to our subscriber list, so we communicate with the public as well as the media. Our main goal is to get information out about our events. We do pre-event media pitches, send out press releases prior to the event, and we send out recap releases afterwards.
"You get to a point where you work purely on adrenaline, because you’re just going, going, going, all the time,”says Aimee. On one such recent occasion, Aimee had to wake up at 3 a.m. so she would be on time to promote the festival on the 5 a.m. news. Luckily, Aimee is no stranger to the odd hours of working in television. After graduating from the University of Kentucky with a degree in telecommunications and journalism, Aimee became a producer at a local TV station. The station had an exclusive contract to produce live coverage of Thunder Over Louisville, the festival’s kickoff air and fireworks show.
Sound bites
Favorite festival event—“Thunder [Over Louisville] holds a special place in my heart. But I really do like them all!”
First gig after high school—“Candy striper. I had lofty goals of being a doctor, but the hospital just wasn’t the place for me.”
Not everyone loves the festival—“There’s a huge market for people who leave town and rent out their houses!”
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Producing coverage of Thunder not only became Aimee’s favorite part of her job—it won her two Emmys for Best Midwestern Live Event Program as well. So when a job opened up at the festival itself, Aimee naturally jumped at the opportunity. “I like to challenge myself and try things that I’m not necessarily good at. [When I moved from the station to the festival] I was looking for the next step, a new way to hone my skills. I’ve always enjoyed working with news and media, but I became a TV producer for a reason! I wanted to be behind the scenes and controlling what went on the air, not be on the air myself. So learning how to talk to media, give them sound bites, and be on camera myself was a great opportunity to learn something new.
“One of the ways my supervisor had me train was by being on the radio. [It’s a good way to ease into it because] you can have a cheat sheet there with you. You have to talk to [the media] like you’re just having a normal conversation with any person. You can rehearse for hours, but they’ll never ask the exact question you think they’re going to ask, so you have to be prepared and be on your toes and know your topic really well.” Despite now having five years of experience making on-camera appearances, Aimee still avoids the limelight when she can—she admits she is always “the last one to volunteer” to be videotaped at family reunions.
Though the festival may be seasonal, Aimee’s responsibilities span the entire calendar year. During the “off-season” from May to September, the festival offices are still buzzing with activity as their staff begins to plan for the coming year. “We have more than 400 sponsors, so [immediately after the festival ends] the whole office is involved in putting together follow-up packages so sponsors can see what their ROI [return on investment] is. I gather photos and media reports and see what numbers we have as far as how many stories were generated this year. We also enter different awards competitions and start having committee meetings to plan for the next year.”
Aimee says she is lucky to have enjoyed every job she has ever held, and attributes her good fortune to a combination of her strong “over-achiever” mentality, and pure serendipity. “It’s important to know that you’re not going to get your dream job right out of college. Everybody has to start somewhere. A job might not be your first pick, but it will still be a good experience. The more diversified your skill set is, the more marketable you’re going to be to future employers. Be dedicated to your job. You don’t have to eat, sleep, and drink your work, but go the extra mile. What you put into it is what you’ll get out of it.”
In Aimee’s case, more than one million people flock to Louisville every year to reap the benefits of her efforts. “It’s spring in Kentucky, the dogwoods are blooming, flowers are coming up. It’s the one time of the year when the entire community comes together in celebration.”
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