Kirstie Smith
Communications Director, Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce
Kirstie has more than 20 years of experience in marketing and communications. Prior to joining the Chamber in 2005 she held marketing positions with both Joplin-area health systems. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from Ottawa University with a double major in Marketing and Theatre. Her responsibilities include all marketing decisions, media and public relations, governmental affairs, website design and maintenance duties, editing, writing and all creative design for the area’s largest chamber of commerce, which serves over 1,100 business members.
On May 22, 2011, Kirstie learned firsthand about crisis communications when an EF5 tornado destroyed nearly one-third of the community and wiped out more than 500 businesses. Her quick response via social media and her intuition that information needed to be understandable and accessible to the business community helped ensure verified information was passed to employers in the area though all available channels. Her white papers and articles written about crisis communications have helped numerous organizations across the country prepare for disasters. She has been interviewed extensively about disaster communications and has spoken on the subject to many different audiences.
Originally from New Orleans and raised all over the world as an “Army brat,” Kirstie and Brady, her husband of 23 years, live in Joplin, Missouri with their two children.
