Andrea Gribble

I’m a natural-born cheerleader. I love cheering people on, helping them do their best, and shining a spotlight on their accomplishments. In high school, I cheered from the sidelines, but in my career, I celebrate through the use of technology. Since 2014, I have dedicated myself to helping schools use social media to celebrate their students and staff. I am a highly skilled and experienced social media authority, having trained more than 2,000 school communicators through my webinars, workshops, and in-person speaking events. I am a frequent presenter at the annual NSPRA seminar and appear at state chapters and other school marketing associations throughout the year. My company uses its extensive knowledge of social media marketing to serve more than 80 school districts with full social media management and provide an online community that offers ongoing professional development for school social media champions. I also host a weekly podcast, “Mastering Social Media for Schools.” Helping schools recognize their daily awesomeness and sharing that story with the world is my thing! I do this through my virtual membership program for school communicators. But it didn’t start out that way. After a successful thirteen-year run in the corporate world, I found myself on the sidelines – but this time, I had been benched. I was laid off in 2013. As a single mom with two little girls, I had to become my own cheerleader. It wasn’t easy, but I taught myself the ins and outs of social media marketing. The superintendent at my small school district in Wisconsin asked if I could help launch Facebook and other social channels. He didn’t have time to figure it out and – luckily! – he trusted me enough to help. (Hey, I did graduate at the top of my high school class back in 1996. Who cares if we only had thirty-two kids in my grade?) I loved it. It didn’t feel like marketing. My job was to share photos, videos, and stories on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. I got to be a cheerleader again – this time, celebrating the amazing students and staff at that district! And guess what? That little community in New Auburn started reaching more than 5,000 people every week with the stories we shared. Word started to get around, and I picked up a second school, and then a third. Today, I’ve built an entire cheerleading squad that helps me celebrate hundreds of schools across the country! We provide full social media management, and we have a vibrant online community that provides ongoing professional development for school social media champions. I also host a weekly podcast called Mastering Social Media for Schools and have a host of free resources available on my website, socialschool4edu.com. When I’m not cheering on K–12 schools (public, private, charter, online – we serve them all!), I’m cheering on my family. I have an amazing husband, two daughters, and four stepsons. Between basketball, volleyball, golf, and football, we also squeeze in as much time on the lake as possible.