Business Booster
Does your city or town have a chamber of commerce? In the United States, there are more than 7,500 of these organizations. They’re designed to support local businesses, boost the economy, and help communities thrive. In Colorado, the Boulder Chamber of Commerce has been serving its community for more than 100 years. Erika McNab is program coordinator there. It’s her job to manage and plan professional-development programs for members. Your Hot Job spoke to McNab about how she arrived at this role and what it takes to get the job done.
Meet Erika McNab
McNab coordinates four programs for the Boulder Chamber of Commerce. One helps young professionals build their networks and learn important skills. A second celebrates the accomplishments of local businesswomen. A third provides content to help Black business owners build their companies. And a fourth works to develop local leaders.
It’s rewarding work, McNab says. It’s also a career shift: In college, she studied theater. After graduation, McNab went on to get a master’s degree in theater history and criticism, as well as a master of business administration degree. She landed a job with the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, but then COVID shut everything down. “That whole field just went on hiatus,” McNab told Your Hot Job. “It was a really hard time to be in the performing arts industry.”
The need to pivot was clear, so McNab started applying for jobs in other fields. Transitioning was tough. Her arts-heavy resume wasn’t something many hiring managers understood. Yet the skills she used in theater—balancing budgets, thinking creatively, and ensuring an action’s smooth execution—caught the eye of her current boss at the Boulder Chamber of Commerce. There was no question that McNab had what it took to succeed as the organization’s new program coordinator. Here, McNab shares what she’s learned on the job.
Project management skills are key. McNab juggles various responsibilities, selecting themes for group events, hiring speakers, and coming up with activities to keep people engaged. Project management skills are key to coordinating all the moving parts. For each event, McNab must reserve a location. But she can’t do that until she knows how many guests will attend. Once the head count is confirmed and the location is locked down, she can arrange for catering. Then she can focus on inviting a guest speaker. It may seem like a step-by-step process, but it’s not so simple. McNab has learned the hard way that it’s never too early to start planning ahead. “There are all of these puzzle pieces that are very dependent upon each other,” she says. “You can’t control other people, so building in as much time as possible is critical.”
​ Flexibility helps. At each event, McNab must be able to think fast and adapt quickly. Perhaps plans need to be changed at the last minute because the room layout was different from expected. Or the sound system is suddenly kaput and there are 300 people in a room with no microphone. Being ready for the unexpected, and having backup plans, is super important. “Hosting an event is not any different than hosting a live performance,” McNab says. “You are on your feet, pivoting, problem-solving, troubleshooting every second of that event.”
There’s always room for improvement. Being open to feedback makes Boulder Chamber programs better, McNab says. After each event, she asks attendees what they liked. And she asks what didn’t work so well. That way, she can make improvements, going forward. McNab has also found that the little touches really matter. “People appreciate when you put in that extra ounce of effort,” she says. “Whether it’s adding a theme, decor, or even little takeaways.”
Making a difference feels good. McNab enjoys helping her community flourish by supporting local businesspeople. One of the programs she coordinates is Leadership Fellows of Boulder County. This group of mid-level professionals meets once a month, from January to September.
Over those nine months, McNab helps mold a new group of trailblazers by giving them the opportunity to build their networks and learn from experts. The goal is to give participants the tools and the confidence to take the next step in their career. “There’s definitely a mother hen kind of feel, when at graduation you get to see all your baby chicks have grown up,” McNab says. “They’re leaders.”
