Between maintaining her blog, managing her marketing firm and teaching at three colleges, it’s a wonder that adjunct professor of business Deborah Mourey has time to join the 8 million viewers watching her daughter’s weekly YouTube videos.
Currently pursuing her fourth career, Geneseo alumna Mourey said she thrives on transition. While she is accustomed to change, Mourey’s role as mother to YouTube sensation Jenna “Marbles” Mourey is permanent.
Jenna Marbles’ 2010 video “How to Trick People into Thinking You’re Good Looking” won her a viral reputation and a following millions of viewers strong. Jenna Marbles’ account now has 110 uploaded videos, all featuring humorous rants or satirical tutorials, including “How Diets Work” and “Apps are Ruining my Life.”
A cursory glance over Mourey’s resume lends truth to the old saying, “like mother like daughter.”
The Boston native originally aspired to be a foreign language teacher, receiving bachelor’s degrees in French and German from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Before establishing herself as a teacher, Mourey decided that education wasn’t the only path she wanted to pursue.
“I couldn’t decide what I was going to be when I grew up,” she said.
Inspired by her job at a University of Massachusetts library, Mourey received her master’s degree in library and information science from Geneseo and began a career spanning 17 years as a librarian within the Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, N.Y.
Mourey reinvented her title at Kodak by conducting primary market and competitive intelligence research in addition to the secondary research on which librarians traditionally focus. Mourey said her newfound analyses brought her passion for marketing to the forefront.
Mourey said she liked the creative aspect of marketing, adding that it is “analytical and has a bottom-line impact.”
After leaving Kodak in 1998, Mourey worked multiple jobs focused on marketing communication in health care establishments. She later started Mourey Consulting, an independent marketing consultancy.
Much like her daughter, Mourey has a presence on the Internet. In 2008, she created a blog focused on change and opportunity called “Hell in the Hallway.”
She described the blog in one concise sentence: “When one door closes, another door opens, but it’s hell in the hallway!”
The purpose of Mourey’s blog is to help people going through career transitions to sharpen their images and skills in a fun, upbeat manner. She updates it regularly.
Mourey teaches marketing classes for master’s students at Roberts Wesleyan College, an online class at Nazareth College and MGMT 331: Marketing at Geneseo.
Although this is her first semester teaching at Geneseo, she said, “I have found the students wonderful, cooperative and interested, [with] great ideas and a lot of insight.” Mourey said her goal as a professor is to create a “transformative learning experience” and she plans to encourage her students to blog and live tweet during class time.