A Day in the Life of Kym Frank, President at Geopath

Geopath

A Day in the Life of Kym Frank, President of Geopath


Tell us a little bit about you/your background, and what you currently do:

I’ve always been a bit of a math nerd.  In fact, I’m pretty sure the only trophy I ever got for anything in high school was for being a Mathlete.

My first job was scooping ice cream at Dairy Queen in Sparta, NJ.  That was the greatest!  I also worked in a pool hall for a while and waited a lot of tables.

But my first grown-up job right out of college was as a research analyst at King World Television. I would pull the Nielsen overnight ratings in the morning and then call all of the salespeople to read them the numbers.

My career over the last two years has been focused in media research – but I’ve worn a lot of hats. I worked at a global media agency, a big data start-up, and even at a big Wall Street Consulting firm. Working at Geopath has been my first role in the out of home advertising industry. I started here almost four years ago and it has been an amazing experience.

What is your morning routine?

During the week, I get up pretty early. My office is in Manhattan, but I live in NJ, so I have a very long commute.  Depending upon when I leave the house, it takes about two hours in each direction on the bus.  That gives me a LOT of time to read the news.

On the weekends, I have a bit more freedom to enjoy my mornings.  I typically ask my children what kind of breakfast theme they want and let them pick.  I fry up a bunch of bacon and then make fancy pancakes.

What does an average week-day look like for you?

Work is always busy and exciting. We have nearly doubled our membership since I joined the organization, so I spend a lot of time speaking with and helping our members.  I also like to make sure to spend time with the Geopath team.  They are seriously the greatest, smartest, funniest people.

geopath
Our office is a couple of blocks south of Times Square.  It’s a fantastic location if you’re in the OOH industry.

When we moved into the office, we didn’t have a budget for furniture, so most of the office was decorated by our team – and we put all of the furniture together ourselves.

I’m completely biased, but I just love my office.

geopath

And it has a pretty stellar view of some billboards out on 7th Avenue.

geopath

 

What does your busiest/most active day look like?

The busiest times for me are typically when I’m traveling for speaking opportunities.

No time is as busy as when we host our annual OOH Conference & Expo with our sister association the OAAA.  This year, that conference is in Las Vegas at the end of May.  It’s very much an “all hands on deck” period every year.  It’s also one of my favorite things that we do as an organization.  It’s a fantastic opportunity for us to bring the whole industry together to learn, network, and celebrate OOH.

 

How do you stay energized throughout the week?

I laugh. A lot. Whether it’s at home with my children, on a podcast, in the office, out with clients, or even with the comedy group I’m in – I’m surrounded by people who are amazingly funny.

 

If you were a fly on the wall at your personal workspace (office, desk, home, etc.), what would you see/hear?

I listen to a lot of music while I work.  For some reason, I’ve been listening to the Pogues lately. Other standard fare include Edith Piaf and Tom Waits.  I’m pretty sure the people who sit near my office hate me with a fiery passion.

 

What did a day in the life look like when you were just starting as a young professional compared to now?

Well – when I started working, there weren’t cell phones.  Once you left the office – which at the time was typically 5:30PM – you were done for the day.  I think that’s one of the biggest things that has changed throughout my career.  We are now constantly “on” even when we are off.  It’s hard to detach.

Having the evenings free back then gave me a lot of time to pursue outside interests. I used to do a lot of theater, both acting and directing.  I also loved to design costumes.  Finding the time to do those things, especially now with two children, is quite a challenge. I look forward to getting back into it when the kids get a little older – and maybe encouraging them to do it as well.

This is from a production of Sweeney Todd that I directed.
This was from a production of Accomplice.
How do you spend your time outside of work?

As I mentioned, I still do comedy, which keeps my feet in the theater scene.

I am a bit of a console gamer.  So after the kids go to bed on the weekends, I take a bit of time to play.  I’m currently playing Red Dead Redemption 2.  I’m quite terrible.

I have a big passion for the outdoors. A couple of years ago, I bought the family an RV.  We use it every time we can when it’s warm enough. It gives us a great place where we can disconnect from our devices, make a campfire, and spend time as a family.

It also allows us to bring our two hound mutts with us on vacations. Meet Gozer and Zuul.

Our next big trip in “Miles” the RV will be to Myrtle Beach next month. I can’t wait.

What is your strategy for balancing work and life?

It’s really hard to find balance during the week, so I try to make sure my weekends are purely focused on my family.  I also try to squeeze a lot into the time we have together. For example, last weekend we went roller skating, we baked cookies together, we cuddled and watched a movie.

We also built this heinous roller coaster:

It took my daughter and me about four hours to build. The video was taken approximately 3 seconds before my son accidentally knocked it onto the floor.

If anyone ever buys your kid something that looks like this, it’s probably because they hate you.

What is a mantra (phrase, words, motto) you live by?

It’s challenging to pick just one mantra that I live by.  The one that I have embraced most recently is something that Dolly Parton said.  “Find out who you are and do it on purpose.”

Geopathhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/kymfrank/

https://twitter.com/KymFrank

https://geopath.org/

 

 

 


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2 thoughts on “A Day in the Life of Kym Frank, President at Geopath

  1. Kids, Thespian, RV, roller coasters, mutts, Red Dead Redemption, the Pogues and more in A Day in the Life on Kym Frank. Click on this link? A Day in the Life of Kym Frank .  A personal interview by Maura Quinn for TIERPM.

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