By KAILEY CARPINO

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — When it comes to the Ohio Valley’s retail future, Candi Noble-Greathouse believes she has the region’s pulse, as she has worked as marketing director at the Ohio Valley Mall for nearly 25 years.

“I started in 1999, two days after I graduated from Bethany College. I just had my 25th Christmas season here,” she said.

Noble-Greathouse said that the Christmas season is the busiest time at the mall.

Noble-Greathouse said that she would advise young women starting off in marketing to be active in the community.

“Be active in your chamber and networking programs. When I have the chance to go to them, I get to catch up with people I’ve collaborated with on many different things throughout the year,” she said.

She also said that community organizations can sponsor or help out with events, so building relationships with them is very important.

“It’s a great way to see what’s happening in our community. Obviously, being at the mall and with stores every day, it’s easy to kind of only think of what’s going on here, but one of my favorite parts of the job is to get to go and find out and tell people about them all and all the fun things that we have going on,” she said.

Noble-Greathouse said that one of the lessons she has learned throughout her career is the importance of working as a team.

“For many years, I’ve worked with a lot of the same people, and I’ve always said, we’re like a family here.

“We can have fun, and we work together to make a common goal. We make everything great,” she said.

She said that one event at the mall that required teamwork was the celebration unveiling the 2012 renovations.

“We had a huge celebration, and that was a big collaboration between our corporate office, as well as local, all the way from the management office to maintenance and housekeeping and security. We really worked together as a team, and that was everybody’s accomplishment,” Noble-Greathouse said.

She also said that in marketing, it’s also important to try to “make an event out of everything.”

Noble-Greathouse said that it’s important to get information out about sales, new merchandise, new stores and other events. She said that social media has changed the way that she markets information, and she said that it’s important to be able to adapt to new technology.

Noble-Greathouse said that she studied communications and public relations at Bethany College.

“I always thought I’d work for a nonprofit, and clearly, I do not. A family member showed me this position, and I applied. I thought that I would work maybe one holiday season, and I just did my 25th,” she said.

Noble-Greathouse said that she still gets to work with and promote many nonprofit organizations.

“We get calls from organizations all the time to see how we can help out, like at the holidays, we do the gingerbread house competition for nonprofits,” she said.

She also said that the mall collaborates events with the Belmont County Salvation Army and works with the United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley every Christmas for Operation Toylift.

“I really enjoy working with organizations,” she said.

Even though her plans have changed since she graduated college, Noble-Greathouse said that she enjoys her job.

“It’s exciting. One thing that I really like about my job, it’s not the same thing every day. It can get crazy. There is a routine, but we get phone calls from shoppers, tenants, anybody. Every day it’s just something different, so you have to learn to go with the flow, mark off your tasks and see what you can get done,” she said.

Noble-Greathouse also said that she enjoys event planning the most.

“We do a couple of events a month, and during the holiday season it’s nonstop, and you can work with the community,” she said.

“I really don’t know very many jobs where I would be able to work with as many different groups. What we try to do is promote us as the place that you come in the community to shop, be entertained and have fun,” Noble-Greathouse said.

Noble-Greathouse said that she works with “powerful women.”

“When I first started, there were a lot of men that I dealt with in stores and communities, and, certainly, there are still a lot of them, but I do work with quite a bit of women – powerful women in the community,” she said.

She said that she has noticed an increase in women in the field.