Jamie Benson
Digital Marketing Manager at CUNY Dance Initiative
About me
Hello. I am a choreographer, comedian, and accidental marketing professional. Wielding a bold, irreverent voice, and informed by a scrappy and singular past, I employ unobstructed imagination and technical savvy in bold marketing campaigns for culture-making companies. I aim to revolutionize how creative entrepreneurs and industries advocate for worthy causes through:
marketing strategy
social media
press solicitation
email marketing
advertising
graphic design
website / SEO
I have worked with Sony Pictures, Houston Symphony, Trent and Company PR, Pilobolus Dance Theater, CUNY Dance Initiative, LMCC, Conductor Ming Luke, Joyce Theater, Karole Armitage, NYU Tisch, and famed film composer David Newman.
Lily Binns, Producer for the Rockwell Group, claims that “for all of the conferences, books, newsletters, blogs, & feeds that all of us follow, Jamie Benson's approach is hands-down the best I've come across.”
INCREDIBLY VERSATILE
As a public relations executive, I write pitches that grab national attention. As a grant writer, I dramatically increase annual budgets. As a social media manager, I package and distribute bite-sized messages for maximum reach and engagement. As a public speaker, I break down complicated concepts for a mass audience. As a screenwriter and filmmaker, I have been curated into multiple festivals.
I consult on how to build relationships with media contacts, govern brand identity, develop content and execute paid and organic social media strategies. Through data assessment, I clarify existing audiences and identify potential audiences.
TOP RANKED EDUCATION
Graduating magna cum laude, I hold a Bachelor of Arts degree in Digital Communications from Baruch College, named by Forbes as one of "America's Top Colleges of 2019".
MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE
I started my career producing wild, no-budget, hole-in-the-wall performances that became city wide sensations. With a history of getting results with little to no resources, I see problems as opportunities.
RAW IMAGINATION
Coming from an arts background, I bring unadulterated creativity to all of my business pursuits. Being institution-less, I'm known for ideas that, at first, seem to come from left field. I have a mind for bold promotional strategies, like media stunts, as well as a deep need to connect people with the humanity behind a product and/or service.
WILD ART ORIGINS
Rebel-Clown Choreographer: As a choreographer, I defy performance traditions and dare a mass audience to interact with me. Heralded as "Chaplin-like” by Backstage, “insightful and irreverent” by LA Weekly, my highbrow meets lowbrow work has been presented throughout the U.S., across the international film festival circuit, featured in the Phaidon book Wild Art, and funded by Brooklyn Arts Council.
Comedy Nerd: Fed up with the pretense of hot-moves and high-art, I divorced the dance industry and ran away with comedy- writing, performing and hosting comedic happenings. My sketch Avenue WTF is an official selection for NYC Short Comedy Film Festival, Philly Sketchfest, New Filmmakers, Battle of the Sketches, Portland Comedy Film Festival and NYC Independent Film Festival. As a comedian, I’ve performed for Broadway Comedy Club’s Yaaas Fest and Thoroughly Gay Thursdays. I’m also spotlighting other queer talent as producer and host of The Straight Man at Peoples Improv Theater.