CHAMPAIGN — A more connected business community is one of the goals of the newly hired executive director of the Champaign Center Partnership.
Jenna Manolakes said she would like to see more collaboration between the three districts served by the partnership.
The nonprofit partnership builds a network and provides marketing and event planning for Champaign’s downtown, midtown and campus towns. The Midtown area includes the central commercial area along University Avenue and First Street.
“My job is to network between businesses, create engagement with the community, and make it a gathering place for people to visit,” Manolakes said.
Mr. Manolakes is not new to the North Neil Street office. She has held the role of Marketing and Events Her Coordinator since September 2021.
The job will handle social media responsibilities and help former executive director Zander・It was meant to support Hazel.
CCP Board Vice Chair Lauren Gramley said there are several strong candidates for the executive director position. “Her enthusiasm, dedication and passion for both the Chinese Communist Party and our community make her an outstanding candidate,” Manolakes said.
Manolakes said he was “definitely going to take on” the job.
“The whole time I worked here, it was just me and one other person in the office,” she said. “A lot of responsibility was shared.”
Champaign Center Partnership is a membership-based business organization that provides marketing and promotional opportunities to its members.
Founded in 2010, the partnership also offers a residential membership component where residents can become members and receive priority access to events, deals exclusive to member businesses, and information about the neighborhoods they serve. .
The partnership was created through the merger of the Champaign Downtown Association and Campustown Business Group.
Manolakes earned a bachelor’s degree in creative writing from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
“At that time, I wanted to be an actress,” Manolakes said. “I worked at Second City. We did shows there and played around town.”
She said it was a great experience.
“I met a lot of really great people,” she said. “I miss it. I didn’t want to be an actor who was struggling too much.”
Additionally, she hated Chicago’s cold weather, so she decided to move to Nashville and lived there from 2014 to 2017, navigating the music scene.
Manolakes met her husband, Kevin, there, but after looking at home prices in the Tennessee city, she decided she needed to move back to Champaign-Urbana, where she grew up.
It’s still cold in Illinois, but Manolakes likes the community.
“I like that it’s an intellectual small town to a big town and there’s a lot of great things going on. We also have a university, so there’s an intellectual side as well,” she said.
“I love the community here. The people downtown and in Campus Town are all so welcoming to new people.”
In my first year, I coordinated the Homer Soda Festival and served as an activities director at an assisted living facility.
Manolakes said she plans to hire someone to fill the marketing position she previously held.
