T’Naus Nieto
The Chronicle-News
‘I’m approaching it from a different perspective… Hopefully more friendly and effective’
Victoria Klein officially started her new position last Tuesday, Sept. 17, as the new communications coordinator for the City of Trinidad. She hopes to expand and improve communications internally and externally and add a fresh perspective to the position.
Originally from a small town in Indiana, Klein moved around often since her mother worked at a military bank. Once she grew up, she was used to moving and traveling to many new locations, never staying in place for too long.
“I’ve lived in big cities across the county throughout the last 30 years,” Klein said in an interview with The Chronicle-News. “I just turned 40 this year. I wanted to go back to a small town. I was raised in a small town. I miss that feeling.”
When asked why she chose Trinidad, Klein said, “I have a friend who knows a lot about Trinidad and has a lot of family here. I came and visited a few times (and) thought it was perfect. I’ve been here for a little over a year now.”
“Before this position, I was in a remote role for a company doing onboarding for software that gyms and yoga studios use,” Klein said, responding to a question about what she was doing in town before being hired as the city’s communications director. “So, my job was to get them onto the software to get them functional. I’m a former full-time yoga teacher as well, so I have a lot of digital background and in-person background. I did that for about two years. It was a lot of fun.
Although Klein was pretty content with her remote position, after friends notified her about the new city opening, she had to take a look.
She said, “Once I read the job description, I thought, ‘This is absolutely perfect.’ I’ve done a lot of what I’ve done in bits and pieces over the years through various companies. It was a chance to bring my experiences together and try something a little bit different.”
“I’ve never worked for a government before. [it’s] a little bit different… I have more experience with multimillion-dollar businesses online. So, I’ve done a lot of business management, social media management, and communication for businesses like that. Communicating for a city government is [slightly] different, but it’s a nice challenge.”
“We, of course, want a consistent voice. It’s a work in progress, as we all know,” Klein said, referring to her vision with the city’s communications. “We all know it is not perfect, and that’s exactly why I’m here.”
When asked about her goals with the city’s communication, she said, “My focus is both internally and externally. Internally, I want to [ensure] that every single city employee knows exactly what’s happening. They have all the internal information they need, and if they have a question, they know exactly who to [contact.] They’re always informed, no one’s surprised, no one misses anything… Externally, we, of course, want to make sure every business owner, every citizen, and hopefully every tourist has the information they need. Now, when I say ‘every’, that’s definitely an ambitious goal; we all know there’s no perfection. It’s literally impossible for me to make everyone in this town happy.
“But the goal is definitely to improve where we are, and we want to make sure people know about emergencies as fast as possible in as many ways as possible, emails, text, phone calls, all of it. We want everyone to know everything they need. Of course, when exciting things are coming too (like) Rad Fest, we want everyone to have all the details they need. Road closures, what to expect, how it will impact parking, all of those kinds of things. Business owners matter, people who live here matter, and tourists matter.
“So, my (primary) goal is to make it as easy as possible for people to get their answers.
“I’m approaching it from a different perspective,” Klein said when responding to questions regarding her approaching communication in a more business-orientated approach, as opposed to government bureaucracy. “My working experiences are from free market online businesses, so a totally different angle and approach… Hopefully, it will be more friendly and effective. That’s what we’re shooting for.”
Klein cautioned against people expecting too much too fast, saying, “Obviously I’m a human being, I’m going to screw up, the city’s going to screw up, we’re all human, it’s never going to be perfect. But it has to be better than what it is now. Because that’s what the citizens want, and everyone working here is a citizen of the town, too.”
When asked if she had a message for the community, Klein said, “Tell me what you think. I want to know… That’s how communication works. Communication isn’t just me barking at you. I need people to come back to me and tell me what’s working and what doesn’t work.”
Klein offered her email address so people could contact her. Still, she promised to eventually create a consistent newsletter and an anonymous feedback form the city is working on and developing.
Members of the community may contact Klein directly at victoria.klein@trinidad.co.gov.
