New Faces in the Village
New Faces in the Village
Ellicottville Chamber of Commerce welcomes two new members to its team
Photos / Jessica Schultz, ellicottvilleNOW
The Ellicottville Chamber of Commerce is pleased to welcome two new members to their team: Assistant Executive Director Laney Hill and Administrative & Social Media Coordinator Kalia Lippencott. Both Hill and Lippencott bring many years of experience to their new roles, and both are fueled by a genuine passion for the Ellicottville community and are eager to share what makes this place so special. From creating engaging online content to organizing annual events and developing new ones, Hill and Lippencott are pushing full steam ahead and ready for an exciting year!
Hill began her professional career as a writer and became interested in the nonprofit sector. She joined the marketing team at the Veterans One-stop Center, a large organization which serves 12 counties and is headquartered in Buffalo. “It was a big change, but I realized right away that I really love marketing,” said Hill. “I loved promotion and advertising and learning how to tell a story in a different way than what I was used to.” Hill served as marketing manager at the veterans center and recently accepted the position of assistant executive director at the Chamber. “This role is very heavily involved in the marketing and promotion of Ellicottville as a whole and, of course, its businesses,” she explained. “That is what I’m really enjoying very much: getting to know the local business here in town and getting to know all the people.”
Hill has been enjoying the advertising and marketing side of her role especially because of Ellicottville’s unique energy. “The vibe here in Ellicottville is just so fun, exciting and interesting,” she remarked. "There’s always something going on, something happening… The fact that ideas are welcome here is awesome.”
Another aspect of Hill’s role that she appreciates is the collaboration with her colleagues. “We as a team - Barb [Pump, Executive Director] and Kalia - we click so well together and we work really well together.” Pump, who became the Chamber’s Executive Director at the end of 2024, and Lippencott, who began her position earlier this month, are moving through the transition process right alongside Hill, who sees a bright future. “I think we’re going to do some amazing things through this Chamber, for sure,” she said.
There’s no question that social media has transformed marketing, something that Lippencott understands well. A graduate of Syracuse University, Lippencott holds a master’s degree in communications with a focus on social media. Her past positions include digital marketing and management work at a distillery in Michigan; prior to that position, her work involved student engagement at Hampshire College and Lake Superior State University.
Lippencott has been enjoying transferring her skills engaging college students to a wider community, including businesses and visitors. Getting to know local business owners and helping them leverage the Chamber’s social media reach have been important goals of hers during her first month in the position. “It’s been nice to have conversations and find out how long people have been here and what Ellicottville really means to them,” she said. Lippencott is currently compiling video content so that the Chamber can showcase their members and provide more insight into who they are and their role in the community, “...on a deeper level, versus visitors just walking in and maybe having a two-second interaction with them.”
Reflecting on how technology and social media have changed in recent years, Lippencott said it’s all about “catching people’s eyes.” She explained, “It’s the attention span: five seconds can really be something that’s challenging, especially with demographics and age.” She noted that younger audiences most likely want to see a short video - 10 seconds max - and get all they need within that short amount of time. “Then there are other people who will want to sit and read a whole story, because if the content is too fast, they won’t catch what’s going on,” Lippencott explained. “So it’s about finding that happy medium and also knowing that there are so many interests, so many ways to really promote everybody.”
To learn more about the Ellicottville Chamber of Commerce, visit www.ellicottvilleny.com. Hill said, “Joining the Chamber is a great way to just really cement yourself within the community. It’s a great opportunity to be able to network with other businesses - especially when it comes to our website and our social media. Those [viewership] numbers are continually going up year after year.”
Don’t forget to register online for the Chamber’s first golf outing event for the year: Par for a Purpose at Holiday Valley’s Double Black Diamond golf course on May 19th. All proceeds benefit the 11 Day Power Play’s fight against cancer. To sponsor this year’s event, call the Chamber at 716-699-5046 or email Pump at barb@ellicottvilleny.com.