Celebrating 10 years with T&C

T&C’s President and CEO Jennifer Thompson bought the company on April 1, 2009, nine years after starting as an intern. She has spent the past decade mentoring and empowering each and every T&Cer, and is dedicated to growth in all ways. From five employees in 2009 to more than 20 employees in offices across the country in 2019, T&C has come a long way.To celebrate 10 years, we’re coming at you with a list of 10 accomplishments, important milestones and unforgettable memories of the last 10 years.

Baking with the “Ace of Cakes”

When you work on behalf of the Alaska Travel Industry Association and the state is celebrating its 50^th anniversary, you have to pull out all the stops. That’s why we made sure Alaska would have the best statehood cake that anyone had ever seen.We worked with Chef Duff Goldman from Food Network’s “Ace of Cakes” TV show. He designed and delivered a special cake to the Experience Alaska media event in 2009. The cake was featured in the season premiere episode of the show. It featured both the cake and highlights of Goldman’s adventures during his visit to Alaska.

Work hard, eat hard with Paula Deen

What can we say, the T&C team loves good food and if we get the chance to showcase Alaska and our eats to one of the best, we’re going to take it. T&C team members and the Alaska Travel Industry Association showed Paula Deen and her crew from Cooking with Paula Deen what Alaska has to offer. That resulted in a 19-page spread in the January 2011 issue of her magazine and another two-page companion story in the June issue.

Shop ‘till we drop

In the last 10 years, we’ve had a ton of partnerships to get excited about. One of the best that we had the chance to be a part of was Anchorage & Valley Radiation Therapy Centers partnering with Nordstrom in 2011. What’s the only thing better than a day of shopping at Nordstrom? Having the store all to yourself!Nordstrom opened its doors early to provide a hassle-free day of shopping for cancer patients in and around the Anchorage area. It featured demonstrations on scarf tying, men and women’s skin care, personal styling and more. The event started as a partnership with one national retailer and in the years to follow it extended to the entire mall.

T&C Freezin’ for a Reason

It’s not easy to get this team to take a plunge into freezing waters, but tell us it’s for a good cause and we’re in! One of our Tenets & Convictions (that’s what we call our company values) is to be grateful and give back, and each member of T&C takes pride in supporting the community that has given us so much.We’ll do just about anything to support the organizations that are doing good in our communities. From sleeping outdoors in freezing temperatures for the Covenant House Sleepout to a freezing jump into Goose Lake for Special Olympics Alaska. We like to complain about how cold the waters were that day, but if we’re being honest, this memory will always make our list of favorites.

Not your average Walgreens opening

When the first Walgreens in Eagle River opened its doors in 2013, it was a truly “Alaska” affair. When Walgreens wanted a grand opening event that was bursting with Alaska themes, they knew who to turn to. From having Pulitzer Prize-winning Alaskan Eowyn Ivy present to sign copies of "The Snow Child" to serving up reindeer sausage dogs from Indian Valley Meats, it was a day of honoring our favorite state. To top off the event and show some real Chugiak-Eagle River pride, the JROTC from Chugiak served as color guard and a donation was made to Armed Services YMCA.

T&C Top boss earns top recognition

PR News named Jennifer one of the Top Women in PR in 2014. PR News recognized that the intern-turned-owner in Alaska was making big moves. In 2014, Jennifer coordinated with NBC’s “Today“ show producers to go live from Mendenhall Glacier with Natalie Morales on-site. Big wins like that, in addition to her hard work creating an agency culture that prioritized a work-life balance, helped her to earn this top honor.

Getting social!

In 2013, we helped Anchorage Economic Development Corporation launch the Instagram page @iloveanchorage that showed off the city that we all love as part of their “Live. Work. Play.” initiative. Everyday people who call Anchorage home spent one week each taking over the account to show off all the reasons why they loved their city. Over the years, the page highlighted our favorite spots and introduced us to plenty of new ones. In 2015, T&C and AEDC earned an honorable mention for the page in the “Instagram: Best PR Campaign” category of the PR News’ Social Media Icon Awards. Work on this campaign, among many others, led to a new digital services team at the agency. The team provides social media strategy, digital marketing tactics, and SEO support to our clients. Learn all about our digital capabilities in 2019.

T&C Houston opens its doors in 2016

From the Last Frontier to the Lone Star State, T&C VP Liz Baker took her skills south and launched the Houston office. She set the goal to expand the team by one member each year. Her three-person crew now includes a born-and-raised Texan as well as T&C’s first digital marketing specialist. Together, they support the agency with national media relations outreach and business development, among other things.The Houston team has since joined Public Relations Society of America Houston Chapter, Visit Houston, Greater Houston Women’s Chamber of Commerce, Galveston Chamber of Commerce and American Marketing Association Houston chapter.

T&C introduces a bold family leave plan

T&C is strongly founded on its tenets and convictions. They’re our driving principles that encourage us to support one another and our dedicated clients. We’ve always believed that family comes first, and it’s proven that happy employees are the best, most productive workers.In 2017, Jennifer implemented the family leave plan that offers eight weeks of paid leave for male or female employees becoming parents. Once parents return to work, they are further supported by being allowed to bring their children in until they become mobile or ready for peer interaction at daycare. Plus, a bonus to having an office baby means coworkers can take a load off with “baby breaks.”

Taking home the trophies

In 2018, T&C was honored to receive the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce’s prestigious Gold Pan Award. The awards program, its longest standing program, recognizes companies making a positive impact on the Anchorage community.As T&C’s fearless leader who continues to drive the agency to success, it’s no surprise that Jennifer was recognized for her personal achievements and named the UAA Alumni of Achievement.These are just a few of our top memories over the last 10 years. We look forward to even more in the years to come!