What a difference one open door makes.

Alana Odegard was an expatriate Canadian in Iceland with a husband and a young daughter when she found her vocational calling.

“I had arrived in Iceland as a University of Manitoba student planning to do a couple of credits and instead of a couple of months, I’d ended up staying seven years,” said Odegard, Director of Chamber Relations with Winnipeg-based insurer Johnston Group.

“I was teaching English. And I came to realize I really wanted to help people find their message and communicate it. A friend – also an expat – said to me ‘that’s a thing.’.”

That was in 2010.

Odegard looked up RRC Polytech’s 2-year Creative Communications (CreComm) program. It sounded too good to be true.

She moved back to Canada in June 2011. Though intake was closed for the upcoming academic year, she went down to the College’s Exchange District Campus on her dad’s recommendation.

“I really wanted to start my path. The person at reception said ‘okay, go up to the (Creative Arts) Chair’s office, you never know.’ I went up there – locked door. I turn to leave, and the door opens. Out comes (then Chair) Larry Partap. I gave him my pitch,” she said.

“I was so excited at the prospect of starting the program that I had already looked up and finished the entrance requirements — like the photo essay —even though I knew it would be another year before I could submit them.”

Partap listened and asked for Odegard’s submissions, which she was ready to hand in the next day.

Two months later – and one year earlier than she anticipated – Odegard was starting CreComm.

She went into the program with her eye on the journalism stream.

“In Iceland, I wrote more than 150 weekly columns for an online magazine about daily life from an expat’s point of view. I thought I might become a journalist.”

She got a taste of journalism in CreComm, serving as an editor for RRC Polytech’s news publication, The Projector, and also having the opportunity to write for the Winnipeg Free Press.

But now a single mom with a young child, the prospect of dashing off to report breaking news held little appeal.

Instead, she found her values and interests aligned with CreComm’s Public Relations specialization. Odegard credits (then) instructor Melanie Lee Lockhart for the insight. (Lockhart is now chair of the Creative Communications and Communication Management programs at RRC Polytech).

“I have a strong sense of social justice, and [Melanie’s] teaching helped me re-orient it toward public relations. She instilled the ethics of the practice.”

Another door opened when Odegard went to the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce on a second-year work placement. The organization serves to lead, connect, and grow Winnipeg’s business community – through public-policy advocacy, business supports, and community building.

“Melanie fit me there. She knew what I was looking for. It was a non-profit with a connection to community and to small business. It was impactful work and it felt immediate.”

The Chamber hired Odegard before her placement was over. She’d stay for seven years, taking on roles that provided her with experience in communications, policy, strategy, and executive leadership.

“CreComm absolutely prepared me for it. For the pace. For the ability to sit in different types of meetings with different types of stakeholders, to take a holistic view of a situation, and then develop an actionable plan.”

In 2020, Odegard took her Winnipeg Chamber experience to Johnston Group, where she now helps the business members of some 700+ chambers of commerce across Canada with their group-insurance needs.

A big goal for Johnston Group in working with the chambers has been to make business less transactional with a greater focus on trust, mutual respect, and long-term relationships.

In developing an online platform to empower the chambers as group-insurance plan members, a communications lens was essential, Odegard said.

“The emphasis was on UX (user experience), which brings it back to the heart of public relations: you need to wear the hat of whoever you’re serving. We built a platform that I would’ve wanted when I worked at the Winnipeg Chamber.”

It’s the kind of big project Odegard likes.

“I love big problems, the more complicated the better. I like to look for patterns to help untangle some of the complexity.”

Leading a seven-member team (including two fellow CreComm grads), she values a well-crafted message that resonates for its audience.

“It’s gratifying to hear, ‘I can tell someone who knows chambers delivered this.’.”

A 2013 graduate, Odegard looks back fondly on her CreComm days. She also appreciates belonging to the extensive community of CreComm grads in the workforce.

And as chair of CreComm’s program advisory council, she helps ensure the current curriculum continues preparing graduates to meet the needs of industry.

“I believe so highly in the program. The instructors really want to see their students succeed. The standards are high, so you’re ready for industry. You can really lean into it. And if you do, you’re set.”

Last June, Odegard delivered the alumni address at RRC Polytech’s Spring Convocation. In the audience was her daughter, no longer a toddler at age 14.

“It was kind of a full circle. I used to bring her along to my school projects in my CreComm days. She starred in my video projects. She’s seen what happens when you find something you love.”

Back to that fateful “open door” moment at Chair Larry Partap’s office in 2011.

“There was an advertising campaign underway at the time featuring (1984 CreComm grad and broadcast journalist) Dawna Friesen. I told Larry ‘I’m going to work hard and do so well, I’m going to end up on a billboard.’.”

“Funny thing is, I’ve now been on billboards twice.”

Odegard was one of 41 outstanding graduates featured in the College’s Polytechnic Proud campaign. She was nominated by Melodie Richard, her one-time CreComm advertising instructor and now colleague at Johnston Group, where Richard serves as Marketing Director.

Profile by Randy Matthes (Creative Communications, 1993).

Update: As of May 20, 2025, Odegard has accepted a new role as Director of Customer Experience at Johnston Group.