Elisa Milbourn

Elisa Milbourn, Public Relations, Marketing and Communications Coordinator at the Oklahoma City Convention and Visitors Bureau


By: Jenna Taylor



Photo taken from http://www.okccvb.org.

The Oklahoma City Convention and Visitors Bureau (OKC CVB), which is located in downtown Oklahoma City, is a division of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber. According to the website, the purpose of OKC CVB is to promote Oklahoma City to visitors and enhance the city’s name and image. The Bureau also is in charge of planning and servicing conventions and other group related occasions. Elisa Milbourn has been working for the Oklahoma City Convention and Visitors Bureau for over two years.


Milbourn graduated with a major in public relations from Oklahoma State University. Before pursuing her job OKC CVB, Elisa worked as a student assistant in the Athletic Media Relations Department at Oklahoma State University during her senior year of college. She then moved back to Oklahoma City after she graduated from OSU in May of 2007. After moving back, she started to search for jobs in order to begin her career. She found that it was very difficult to find a job.

Unable to find anything that was a good fit, Milbourn took a secretarial position at Hefner Middle School while she continued to research and interview for jobs. She left Hefner Middle School in 2008 and accepted her current position at the Bureau. Milbourn stated that most of her job opportunities were brought to her because of connections she had through friends and family. For example, she got hired for her current job with the help of her friend that was the PR director for the Oklahoma City Chamber at the time. She also got hired for the Hefner Middle School secretarial position because her mother worked as a teacher there.


Milbourn plays an important part of every aspect of the company. As the marketing and communications coordinator for the OKC CVB, her main job requirements include fulfilling media requests and setting up visits for the media. She also helps the Bureau’s advertising agency, Ackerman McQueen, with placing advertisements in various publications. Mostly all marketing or print materials that come out of the Bureau usually go through her before they are sent out to the public. She is in charge of the “Welcome to Oklahoma City” banners and buttons for various events that are happening around the city. She has also taken over all of the CVB promotional items such as bags, t-shirts and coffee mugs that are handed out around the city. Milbourn is currently working on updating the annual “Visitors Guide to Oklahoma City”, which is a big task toward the end of each calendar year.

When asked about what advice she would give to future PR professionals, Milbourn said, “People that want to come out of college and become a PR professional need to first network as much as possible, and second, have a passion for what they are doing.” Elisa said she loves working for the Bureau because of the people she works with and the great hours that she gets to work.