Mote’s Marketing Coordinator joins YPG board
Mote Marine Laboratory is proud to announce that its Marketing Coordinator, Sofie Wachtmeister, has joined the Board of Directors of The Sarasota Young Professionals Group (YPG).
The YPG is a networking organization of dedicated, talented young professionals of ages 21-40 in Sarasota County. YPG began with an explosive launch in May 2003 and a simple agenda: To enrich the community by uniting and developing its young professionals. Today, the roster has grown to about 500 young professionals from a wide variety of careers and industries.
“Mote is proud to see Sofie grow from an intern, to a staff member to a leader in this community in a short amount of time,” said Stacy Alexander, Assistant Vice President for Community Relations and Communications at Mote. “Mote has been a longtime member of the greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce and we support her role on the YPG’s board and we know she will make exciting and positive changes for the community both at Mote and the YPG.”
Wachtmeister joined Mote in June 2015. In July 2016, she joined the YPG and a month later she applied to join the Board as the Membership Recruitment Chair. She will recruit potential YPG members and collaborate with the Membership Engagement Chair to implement quarterly new member orientation events.
“I'm happy to not only be holding a board position, but also to be giving Mote a bigger presence in the Chamber,” Wachtmeister said. “The Chamber gives local professionals, no matter the age, many opportunities to get involved in this community and I'm thankful to be given this one. YPG has helped open a door for me to meet a variety of people in the area. Career-wise, it has helped me become more familiar with local organizations and companies and their missions.”
Wachtmeister serves as the Marketing Coordinator in the Community Relations & Communications department at Mote. She is responsible for helping create advertisements for Mote Aquarium and placing those ads in various outlets around the area. She also assists with communications plans for major events and future exhibits, project management and event planning of some Aquarium and fundraising events, and maintains the organization’s social media sites.
Wachtmeister completed the Marketing, Public Relations & Donor Relations internship at Mote in summer 2014, assisting the Community Relations & Communications and Development departments with various duties. She returned to Mote fresh out of college in June of 2015, ready to get her feet wet (literally!).
She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Relations with a minor in Communication from Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia.
“After joining YPG a few months ago, I've started to see just how many young professionals are passionate about the place they live,” Wachtmeister said. “I know some others my age who find it hard to live here without the support of a group like this. The fact that there is an organization dedicated to growing yourself professionally while expanding your personal network gives you a strong sense of community.”
To learn more about YPG’s board of directors, visit: https://www.sarasotachamber.com/ypg-council.html