Rogers named top influencer

Even though community marketing manager Danielle Rogers has only been with the City of Newton since 2017, she is no stranger to awards. Recently, she received a spot on the list of local government influencers and received the 2019 Traeger Award by Engaging Local Government Leaders (ELGL).

The award itself is given out by ELGL, a nationwide group of local government employees. The Traeger Award is named after Chris Traeger, a fictional character from the show “Parks and Recreation”.

“Chris Traeger is my favorite character from ‘Parks and Recreation’ ... It just makes me realize being in the local government is where I am meant to be,” Rogers said.

The list of those in local government who are influencers wasn’t just from Iowa. The nationwide award recognized 100 individuals, with Rogers coming in 54th. Rogers doesn’t know if she will receive a plaque but she doesn’t see that as too important.

“It’s honestly not necessarily about that. It is being recognized with this entire group ... To see myself listed there kind of makes me realize the work I am doing really does mean something,” Rogers said.

Among the work Rogers completed throughout the last year, creating a tourism campaign for the City of Newton stuck out to Rogers, among others.

“We had a video that we produced with our marketing agency and we ran that on local media,” Rogers said.

There were plenty of other things completed including promoting
Newton as a place to live, work and play
according to Rogers, which was accomplished through multiple mediums.

“We just showcased our community as, it’s not a bedroom community, there are things happening,” Rogers said.

Throughout the time Rogers has been in Newton, she has been the recipient of multiple awards. In 2019, the Hashies by the Social Media Club brought her an award for social media professional of the year and in 2018 she won the Ashley Okland Community Service award from the Des Moines Register and Young Professionals Connection during the 2018 YP of the Year Awards.

“Being apart of ELGL and having that network to learn from and then being considered a teacher almost in that group with this award as someone who has an influence on what’s happening in local government it’s the cherry on top of the ice cream sundae that was all of last year,” Rogers said.

In the year to come, Rogers plans to continue working on the video marking campaign and continue promoting Newton. A new project to highlight is the upcoming Project Fastpitch and the Arbor Estates development, among others.

“There is a lot happening in Newton that I think we want to make sure people are aware of,” Rogers said. “Making sure to continue to tell Newton’s story is the overarching main goal for this year.”

Contact Dustin Teays at 641-792-3121 ext. 6533 or dteays@newtondailynews.com