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Public relations worker strives
By
MARIA REMAI HARRISBURG, Pa- Women across America are deciding they want to “have it all. For many women, “having it all” means being a wife, a mother and a professional. It is hard to go from the home to the workforce without training and education, but many are finding a way. After watching the last of her four children go off to school, Janis Shmees was left with the dilemma of what to do next. Now she finds herself doing a job that is fulfilling, exciting and worthwhile. Shmees always found the hotel business interesting. Shmees decided to give it a try while living in Detroit. Without a college degree, she found herself at the bottom. “I had to work extra hard,” Shmees said. Through hard work and dedication, she became an administrative assistant and enticed companies to bring their conventions to the hotel where she worked. From there she moved up to become an administrative executive in public relations. In public relations, Shmees found herself mingling with heads of major corporations, sports figures and entertainers. It was fast-paced and exciting. Shmees said she was in her element. She worked at several different hotels and through the lens of promotion she saw what a wonderful city Detroit was. It was then that she decided to focus her attention on promoting the city. Shmees started work on changing the image of Detroit. At the time, it was seen as a smog-filled industrial city. While working for the Detroit Visitors Bureau, she helped to create an image of culture and prosperity for Detroit. She worked and succeeded in attracting out-of-town business to the area. Shmees said that the work was exciting, but more importantly it was rewarding. As she encouraged visitors to come to the area, she was helping the people already in the area. She explained that more tourism brought more jobs and helped Detroit grow. She said she is proud to be a part of that. In September 2001, Shmees and her family moved to the Harrisburg area. She has now set her sights on creating a new image for Harrisburg. As President of the Hershey-Capitol Visitors Bureau she works with surrounding businesses to attract and welcome visitors to the area. Shmees is happy with the way her life has turned out, but if given the chance she would have done things differently. “I would get my degree,” Shmees said. “It would have made it all a lot easier.” Nancy Stewart, vice president of the bureau, said Shmees is great to work for. “We have the same focus,” Stewart said. “That focus is the visitors that come to Harrisburg.” All stories in this magazine are the intellectual property of the individual
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