Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexa Canipe.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Alexa. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Originally from the Houston area, I moved to DFW in 2012 to attend Texas Christian University. After switching majors a few times, I finally settled on studying History, which is what first brought me to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. I spent eight months interning in the Museum’s Development Department and fell in love with working in a museum. After college graduation in 2015, I took a job as a Marketing Coordinator for a boutique marketing agency in Fort Worth. There, I found a new love: marketing. My desire to work in a museum never faded, though. I soon found myself back at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History serving as their Marketing Coordinator. My first day on the job felt like coming home. I’d found my perfect fit as a museum marketer, and it showed. I excelled in the Marketing Department becoming the head of the department in 2019 at only 25 years old as the Director of Marketing. During my time at the Museum, I’ve also been pursuing an MBA with a concentration in marketing with an expected graduation date of December 2020.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I’ve been lucky to have a relatively smooth road, but there certainly have been struggles along the way. Immediately after graduating from TCU, I really was not sure what exactly I wanted to do. I knew I loved studying History and working in museums, but related jobs were few and far between. I felt very lost and quite honestly like a failure. I ended up applying for a wide range of jobs and took the first offer I got. At the time, I had no idea that the job I accepted would lead me down the path to an extremely fulfilling career.
Fort Worth Museum of Science and History – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History is nestled within the Fort Worth Cultural District in a 166,000 square foot building designed by world-renowned architects Legorreta + Legorreta. The Museum’s creative, vibrant permanent exhibitions engage our diverse community with innovative and immersive experiences. Permanent exhibits include DinoLabs & DinoDig®, Energy Blast, the Fort Worth Children’s Museum, the Noble Planetarium Gallery and the Cattle Raisers Museum. The Museum also has several special exhibition spaces to accommodate a variety of traveling and temporary exhibits. Recent special exhibitions include GUITAR: The Instrument That Rocked the World, Race to the End of the World, Grossology, Pop-Up Curiosity Shoppe and Dora & Diego: Let’s Explore.
The Museum also provides opportunities for meaningful learning experiences outside of our exhibitions. Guests’ imagination, curiosity and creativity are encouraged and nurtured in the Museum’s hands-on Innovation Studios— a five glass-walled studio that houses Inventor, Doodler, Designer, Imaginer and Explorer. Young students can take an exciting journey of investigation and discovery in Museum School with interactive science and history lessons. The Museum is also home to two theaters, the Omni Theater, an IMAX® dome and the Noble Planetarium. For over 75 years, the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History has served as a place of wonder and discovery for our community, now touching the lives of over 600,000 guests each year.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The proudest moment of my career so far was seeing the final marketing numbers from our most recent Mad Scientist Ball. The Mad Scientist Ball serves as our annual fundraiser, and the one held in November of 2019 was the first since I had become the Director of Marketing. My goal was to increase the number and value of media mentions from the previous year. The results were better than I could have ever imagined. Compared to the previous year, the Mad Scientist Ball in 2019 received 11 times more media mentions. The resulting value of the 2019 media mentions were roughly 168 times more valuable than 2018.
Pricing:
- Exhibit Admission | Adult: $16, Junior (ages 2-18): $13
- Omni Theater IMAX Tickets | Adult: $8, Juniors (ages 2-18): $7
- Premium Noble Planetarium Shows | Adult: $5, Juniors (ages 2-18): $4
Contact Info:
- Address: 1600 Gendy Street
Fort Worth, TX 76107 - Website: https://www.fwmuseum.org/
- Phone: 817-255-9300
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fwmsh/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FWMSH/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/fwmsh
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