Libby Ballengee, A Multi-talented Communication Arts Professional
5:37:00 PM
BIO: Libby Ballengee is a multi-talented communication arts professional. During her 13-year career as a photographer and art director in educational publishing, she has been widely respected for her creative instinct and innovative strategies. Libby is personally requested by national publishers to lead their creative teams. Last year she struck out on her own, founding her own companies Venus Child Productions and Libby Images Inc. She also lends her expertise to the Folio Designhaus team, a downtown design, and marketing firm with the coolest offices in the city.
In her role at Venus Child Productions, she works passionately to curate exciting and eclectic music, dance, art and well-being events. She strives to bring together the various arts in the community for one common goal: to make Dayton, Ohio a vibrant destination for music and art lovers. Libby also writes the Dayton Music Insider blog for Dayton.com and contributes articles to Dayton Most Metro. She is a natural leader and helps others make seamless connections.
Libby is heavily involved in growing the Dayton community. She serves as the President of the Dayton Ballet Barre, is an Honorary Trustee of The Dayton Performing Arts Alliance Board of Trustees, and a co-host of the Gem City Podcast. She is a volunteer project lead for UpDayton, serves on the Ideas Team at The Engineer's Club, and presents “Dayton Big Quiet”, a free mass meditation event to promote peace in the community.
In the past, she helped organize the 2015 Santa Pub Crawl to raise funds for the U.S. Marine’s Toys for Tots campaign and co-chaired Party Arty 2014, which benefits music education programs throughout the city. She also mentored as a Big Sister through the BBBS of the Greater Miami Valley. In 2015, she received the Dayton Business Journal’s “Forty Under 40” Award and was listed as the “Top 25 Most Influential Dayton Twitter Accounts.”
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Lean In Dayton: Tell us a little about you- your background and your most recent role or occupation.
Libby Ballengee: I've worked in the educational publishing industry for over a decade, and still work in this very challenging industry currently, however my employer is now based in India. I've gone through all versions of downsizing, offshoring, and now it's come full circle where offshore teams need Americans to work with them in order to keep quality and customers happy.
Lean In Dayton: What career and/or academic achievement are you most proud of?
Honestly, surviving the massive downturn in the publishing industry, especially the K-12 educational market, has been one of my biggest achievements. I went from working with hundreds of people to a small handful, without ever changing my job! I went through buyouts and was always deemed one of the most valuable employees.
Lean In Dayton: Name any awards and recognitions you've received.
2015 Dayton Business Journal 40 Under 40; 2015 Top 25 Tweeters in Dayton (DBJ); 2008 Honoree 'Newcomer of the Year' Mercury Nomination, Greater Dayton Advertising Association
