Social Media and Marketing Project Manager

“Cultivating a Life U Family with Intentional Relationships”

For Lindsey Farley, family means the world, so it’s nice that many of her immediate family members live within a roughly 15-minute perimeter of her home in Acworth, Georgia. Farley and her husband Derek have been married for eight years, and they look forward to their bouncing baby boy Derek Michael Farley Jr.’s, whom they call DJ for short, second birthday in November 2022.

DJ has recently enjoyed being able to be out and about a bit more, going to gym class on the weekends to “rumble and tumble and knock things over.” The other two babies in the Farley household are canine fur kids Wilbur and Junebug. Her son loves his two big dog friends and even gets confused when he sees a small dog, because, to him, dogs should be pony-sized. Fun fact: Wilbur is a rescue, and Wilbur’s sister Lily lives with one of Farley’s sisters. When Farley is not working, she can often be found spending time with her two sisters and the rest of her sprawling family, including many family dogs, barbequing and enjoying time together.

The Marietta native attended Pope High School before continuing her education at Columbus State University, graduating with a Bachelor’s in Communications and later a Master’s in Public Administration- Health. Farley spent her early career years in the hospitality industry, first in the Southern Southeast Sales Office for Marriott International as a Business Development Researcher. This role mainly entailed researching leads to fill hotel room reservations, a good role to get Farley into the professional world and meeting contacts, but not a place for her to personally grow long term. So, she found a communications-related opening with The Ritz-Carlton, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Marriott International.

In her first role there as a Public Relations and Marketing Coordinator and later as Communications Coordinator, she managed and maintained two Atlanta hotel websites, serving as the direct assistant to the Directors of Public Relations and the Director of Sales and Marketing for The Ritz-Carlton, Hotels of Atlanta. She worked there for two years, but again she reached a point where she did not see room for growth.

In November 2014, shortly after her marriage, Farley joined the Life University (Life U) family in the Marketing Department as Marketing Coordinator, title since changed to Marketing Project and Social Media Manager. November 2022 will mark her eight-year anniversary at the University.

“It was a really great shift to go from hospitality to higher education. I learned quickly that the quality of work-life balance is more important to me than trying to get up the financial ladder,” said Farley.

Long commutes and long hours did not really make sense in Farley’s life, so Life U gave her some stability and the ability to be creative with a welcoming team. In particular, Farley speaks highly of Shelly Batcher, our Executive Director of Marketing that has been at Life U since 2006.

“It begins with the leadership, and working under Shelly for seven years has given me a lot of insight, growing under someone with experience, helping people with their career and goals and setting them up for success,” said Farley.

Relationship building is key for success at Life U, and Farley knows that well and has cultivated many working relationships in her time here.

“Being consistent, being friendly and following through with what you say you are going to do, and meeting deadlines – it really helps make things flow,” elaborated Farley, “Lots of people across campus in all the different departments have great processes and responses to things, and there are so many people who have been here longer than myself that kind of help show you the way with certain things and are willing to share information and point you in the right direction.”

 

Faces of LIFE is a story campaign that showcases members of the dynamic Life U community, including faculty/staff, students, alumni and health science professionals. Interested in being featured or nominating a candidate? We want to hear from you! Email Marketing@life.edu. Read more Faces of LIFE stories.