Following Mother’s Day yesterday, we want to shine a light on one of our fantastic team members who truly keeps the TPG wheel turning. Our Senior Enrollment Strategist, Candace Spencer.
Alright, let’s give everyone some context here. What exactly is your role at The Parish Group?
I am the Senior Enrollment Strategist, which includes brand strategy, content development, communications audits, counselor training, and the kitchen sink.
When did you start working for The Parish Group?
I joined in July of 2012.
What’s your favorite memory at The Parish Group?
Oh man. Warmest feeling: We had a client fly to the office for Meredith to unveil new creative. There is nothing like being in a room where all that work culminates in oohs and ahhs.
Most fulfilled: Marcus and I did counselor training for Campbell summer of 2021. We went in with a group of new counselors who reported feeling an average of 61.25% prepared for their jobs. After two days of training, the same counselors felt 92.5% prepared.
Funniest (and grossest): Once upon a time I did sales for TPG and was in the middle of nowhere Texas, coming back from a new client and starving. There was a Pizza Hut, a tumbleweed, and a dirt road. So I got a personal pizza and didn’t wait for it to cool off. And the roof of my mouth immediately got so hot that it blistered up and felt weird and I was too hungry to figure out what had happened. I grazed the blister with my tongue and that mess popped all over the rental car windshield. I called Bill to share and he snorted drink out of his nose laughing at me.
What has been your favorite project you’ve worked on at The Parish Group?
I have loved being a part of our rebranding efforts for clients, most recently for Morehouse College. It’s inspiring to have phone calls or focus groups with students and build an identity and communication strategy for the school that matches those student experiences.
Really cool to see that come together and then actually WORK in getting new, ideally-fit students admitted to the institution. That is the most full-circle and fulfilling part of my job, and those have been my favorite projects each time.
Work questions aside, what would we most likely find you doing outside of work?
My time gets split in even quarters:
1. Being with my family, where I am the only female in my house overrun by testosterone aged 3-36. It involves a lot of picking up Hot Wheels, stepping on legos, algebra homework, and tickling.
2. Rooting for underdogs, having widows over for dinner, connecting neighbors over game nights, and sprinkling in some hospital and nursing home visits.
3. Accidentally getting in too deep with some kind of craft project and being surrounded by little tiny pieces of paper that may one day turn into a labor-intensive gift.
4. Getting exhausted by 1-3 and playing Animal Crossing or watching James Acaster, hopefully while on a stationary bike, but while eating ice cream regardless.
And finally, what does higher education mean to you?
Higher education is opportunity. Regardless of school, regardless of degree or major, education is a chance to better understand yourself and the world, and to put yourself in a position to contribute more fully to those around you.
