Yla Eason teaches, develops and creates relevant marketing communications and digital strategies for organizations. A member of the TED Ed Brain Trust, Women in Technology, and the American Marketing Association, Yla Eason specializes in digital advertising curriculum for professionals and has played an instrumental role in every organization she has worked with.

Yla is currently the Acting Director of Marketing, Communications and Recruiting for Essex County College located in Newark, New Jersey. Yla Eason has successfully developed a marketing campaign to recruit more students to the school which resulted in 1,150 new applicants for the Fall semester. In addition, Yla implemented a open house advertising strategy which helped grow spring applications 10% when compared to the same time in the previous year.

Yla Eason has also been charged with launching a new branding strategy, including a new logo, for the school in an effort to differentiate Essex County College from other schools based on academic excellence. Yla has worked to merchandise the campus by incorporating more pictures of students, college history and the schools messages throughout the campus. Yla Eason has worked tirelessly to encourage a stronger relationship between the school and the student’s success.

In addition to to her marketing and rebranding endeavors, Yla Eason has also orchestrated public relation efforts for high profile visitors to the campus, such as Governor Chris Christie and Senators Cory Booker and Robert Menendez. Yla has also managed the Inauguration and Investiture of Dr. Gibson, coordinated the materials needed for the 2014 graduation and convocation, and developed a College fair for students to learn about transfer opportunities.

The changes that Yla has implemented at Essex County College so far has helped to increased enrollment and  fostered a better relationship between students and the school. Moving forward, Yla Eason has many more digital marketing projects in store and is looking to build off of her previous success. Some of her current initiatives include launching a new website using metrics from web analytics to improve usability and engagement to make the site a more effective recruiting tool as well as beginning a search advertising campaign to retarget visitors who have previously researched the school in an effort to convert visitors into students.

In her previous work, Yla Eason taught advertising and promotions at Rutgers University School of Business and electronic commerce at CUNY’s School of Professional Studies. During this time, Yla was also the Learning and Development Director for the digital advertising agency R/GA. In this role, Yla directed learning activities of R/GA University and delivered over 78 global learning events where attendees discussed the trends, ideas and processes that affect the fast changing digital, social and mobile marketing landscape. Furthermore, Yla Eason spent time at the Business School of Medgar Evers College as a lecturer and the coordinator of the entrepreneur training program.

Yla Eason has been well recognized for founding Olmec Toys, a multicultural toy company, in 1985. Yla developed the company after hearing of comments made by her son, who said that he could never be a “superhero” because all superheroes are white. Yla was alarmed and concerned by the idea that her son was limiting his dreams based on his race so she searched for an African-American superhero doll to no avail. After securing investors and developing her product, Yla Eason was able to grow the company to $5 million in sales. The success of Olmec Toys has led to it becoming a case study for business school classes teaching multicultural marketing. Yla has also earned numerous awards including The Business Enterprise Trust Award from President Bill Clinton in 1996 and received an honorary Ph.D from Bloomfield College. In addition to her honorary Ph.D, Yla Eason received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Fitchburg State University.