While Augusta has no skyscrapers or big city traffic, don’t be fooled because it does have its own first class public relations firm, Lightning Bug Public Relations, LLC. Principal Tia Troy, a born and raised Augusta girl has brought her vast experience in public relations and advertising to downtown (is there an uptown?!) Augusta.
Born in Great Falls in 1982, schooled in Augusta, then onto Idaho, this enthusiastic and dynamic local studied communications and advertising in college at BYU Idaho. It was there that her professor, as Troy describes, “made me be on the school newspaper because he thought I was a good writer and that’s how I got into writing.” Ultimately this lead to her position as editor in chief of the school paper. The professor obviously was onto something.
In 2005, Troy joined The Wendt Agency, an advertising company, in Great Falls. While there, she also did freelance writing for The Great Falls Tribune and had an important article in Montana Magazine regarding Erec Lindberg remodeling the train depot on the way to Willow Creek.
The next step for Troy was a move to bigger pastures in Missoula where she worked at another ad agency, In 2009, Troy took a job at Glacier Country Regional Tourism Commission. This esteemed commission covers 8 counties and it gave Troy a chance to direct art, do public relations, for the newsletter, write ad copy, work on crisis communication, get the bed tax funded and support business to business endeavors.
One of her most influential roles was hosting other states in the first social media summit to include “influencers” such as Expedia, freelance writers and bloggers. She also worked with the local chapter of the Bachelor, the television show, in finding a first “away date” in Montana.
In 2017, Troy made another move to become the public relations manager for The Wyoming Office of Tourism. This stint covered the whole state of Wyoming. While here, Troy re-launched their whole public relations program and headed up a solar eclipse event with the governor’s office. She liked Wyoming because of its similarity to Montana. It felt “familiar.”
Augusta welcomed back Troy in 2018 in her new Lightning Bug adventure. While what she does was not new, being in back in Augusta and heading up her own company was a shift. Her broad experience allows her to help big and small companies alike, while also serving out-of-area clients.
Read More: Augusta PR Firm Enjoys Widespread Success | State