Coomes, a graduate of The Ohio State University, was hired as the Main Street executive director this spring after the departure of Andrea Keller. She had been onboard since 2019.
Among her first tasks on the job was finding two teammates. She selected Alivia Minton to handle communications and as office administrator and Staci Roth as community engagement coordinator and to handle volunteer initiatives.
Coomes grew up in Delaware near Columbus, a community she said is larger than Troy but has a similar night life and downtown.
She studied child and youth development and received a degree in education. She completed her field placement in a third-grade classroom.
She said she enjoyed working with children of that age but felt confined in the classroom. “I found I like positions where I can network, be out in the community, wear many hats. I think that is how I wound up in the nonprofit world,” Coomes said.
An internship with Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Delaware and Union County led to her love of working in nonprofits.
That internship was followed by a job with Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Shelby and Darke counties.
“I came on to do program coordinating, and then found my strengths lie within the marketing and communications realm,” Coomes said. “I like being the person behind the scenes. Here, I find I am both the face at times and then the person behind the scenes.”
An interest in Troy was sparked when Coomes attended the 2022 Strawberry Festival. She then returned to enjoy the downtown restaurants and other offerings.
She joined Main Street at a busy time just weeks before the opening of the biennial Sculptures on the Square project and a full summer schedule of activities, including concerts on the Public Square, First Friday events, and, later this month, the Tour de Donut including a Friday night Donut Jam.
Coomes has goals in mind for Main Street but said the focus for now is on short-term goals.
Those goals include finding more people for the organization’s events committee to help plan events and more volunteers to help pull off those events.
For more information on Troy Main Street, visit http://www.troymainstreet.org.
Contact this contributing writer at nancykburr@aol.com
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