This article was written for Databird Business Journal. Read the full article here.

Genna Franconi is a co-founder and managing director at Trade School, an integrated content shop and full-service production studio in Atlanta. Trade School helps clients like The Home Depot, FedEx, SharkNinja, and Sweetwater Brewing Company scale their approach to content creation.

Their name is taken from the idea that trade schools are where you go to hone your craft, and content happens to be their craft.

Genna, a wife and mom to three small children (aged 6, 5 and 3), has over 15 years of social and digital marketing experience, having overseen earned and emerging media offerings for clients across retail, QSR, CPG, auto, and travel industries. She helps her clients navigate the changing landscape of social, providing strategic counsel across platforms, audience insights, content strategy, and influencer marketing campaigns that maximize investment.

Q: Tell us about your background, and what you are working on?

I’m kind of an advertising mutt because I don’t have the traditional pedigree. I started out in PR and event marketing and then lucked out by arriving very early to the social media party. I spent several years at agencies in New York that specialized in social and influencer marketing when that world was still very much the Wild West. I went from being the copywriter for Barbie’s Facebook page to running the Mattel global social team at my agency in just a few short years.

After that sprint—and getting my butt kicked consistently by NYC—I was ready to see some trees and start a family, so I moved home to Atlanta, where I joined 22squared, an integrated advertising agency. Seven years (and three children) later, I started our content shop Trade School last February.