Following Opportunities to SUCCESS

TONYA DEMERSON follows a simple path to success: She takes the opportunities given her, excels and earns more opportunities.

Throughout her brilliant career this cycle has repeated itself, and it continues to pay off. At April’s IPMA conference, Demerson received the James M. Brahney scholarship, awarded annually to an IPMA member who is pursuing a degree in corporate publishing or management.

Demerson, Reprographics manager for the City of Denton, Texas, took a unique road to her career in printing. Born in Queens, N.Y., raised in Amarillo, Texas, Demerson originally arrived in Denton to attend the University of North Texas as a psychology major. But even then she kept her options open.

“I was undecided,” Demerson recalls. “I thought I would wind up teaching school.”

In 1989, though, she left the world of academia for a different one—the wonderful world of parenthood. She worked various jobs to support herself and her son Dantrell. All the while Demerson kept the idea of finishing school firmly in mind.

In 1995 she entered court-reporting school. After her daughter Myaa was born in 1996, she landed a job with the city’s Parks and Recreation department. Eight months later she moved on to Administrative Services, the department that would eventually become Reprographics.

At that time, Administrative Services did all desktop and computer work for the city, and provided some printing and graphic services. As computer use became more widespread in the city, the department began to focus on its reprographic side.

An In-plant Comes to Life

At first, the in-plant had only black-and-white Xerox equipment, desktop color printers, lamination and a bindery. Soon, however, color copier/printers arrived. Then the city data center merged with Reprographics, which added a Xerox 4850 and a wide-format printer. Now, the five-person Reprographics department produces roughly 35,000 color impressions and 87,000 black-and-white impressions per month and operates on a $600,000 budget.

Demerson’s manager, Mary Collins, learned to depend on her so much so that she promoted her from part-time employee to team lead. When Collins left Reprographics she named Demerson manager.

Since then, Demerson and her staff have brought a great many improvements to Reprographics, turning it into an award-winning in-plant.

“I reclassified the front desk position to be a clerical position and brought in a graphic designer that helped develop our Internet Web page system,” Demerson reports.

Demerson credits her staff for the successful transition. “I think they’ve adapted very well because I’ve kept them very well informed,” she says.

She seeks their input on all equipment purchases, which have included a Xerox 92C highlight color printer, software for statement and utility bill printing and Web content management software.

With all these improvements came the need to let the customers know what the in-plant can do. This sparked a new interest for Demerson—business marketing.

“I really like it,” she enthuses. “I try to schedule time for myself to get into the marketing end of things more. I really enjoy that.”

Demerson takes IPMA’s In-plant Awareness Week very seriously, and her staff’s promotional efforts landed them IPMA’s heralded Promotional Excellence Award in 2005. The shop also received a Gold In-Print award and two Silver awards for outstanding quality. The in-plant had its idea chosen for the 2006 In-plant Awareness Week official logo and theme.

The desire to learn more about marketing led Demerson to return to school. Now working on a degree in business marketing from the University of Phoenix, Demerson hopes to graduate by 2007. The IPMA scholarship helps her efforts greatly.

Outside of work, Demerson coaches her daughter’s cheerleading team, reads and bowls. She’s active in her community and encourages her children to do the same. All are active in the local chapter of the NAACP, and helped organize Denton’s Juneteenth celebration, a festival marking the freedom of Texas’ slaves. IPG