This blog post is long overdue and our apologizes to Vera Dordick, the ATA’s newest board member since this past summer, 2012.
Dordick is the Principle at Tangible-Development, a public relations and business development firm serving the needs of the Capital Region. “Your success is our success” is the company’s investment mantra.
Most people wouldn’t likely consider television a formative tool in their basic education – but Vera Dordick does. In fact, that’s where she learned to speak English. Perhaps not surprisingly, Vera has turned her early years of struggling to speak English into a 25-year career as a prolific communicator.
Growing up the daughter of WWII immigrants who spoke Latvian and Russian at home, Vera’s first real exposure to a fully English-speaking environment was kindergarten. Being an immigrant family in a small Indiana farming community was also socially difficult. Living as a child with one foot in each world led her to develop an interest in languages and international affairs, speaking Latvian, Russian, and French.
Although neither of her parents attended college, Vera earned a degree in journalism and Russian. She then launched her career working for the U.S. Government. After a stint in London and the Middle East, she moved to the Midwest and decided to broaden her communications experience. She transitioned into higher education, serving as assistant director of University Relations at the University of Iowa. In New York, she worked as director of communications at Albany Law School before focusing on freelance assignments and other creative pursuits.
Throughout her career, Vera found time to pursue a variety of creative passions and in a career reinvention, she earned a culinary degree and opened her own small business. The Queen of Tarts custom cake bakery in Guilderland allowed Vera to let her creativity go wild, fashioning unique 3-D and wedding cakes for clients throughout the Hudson Valley and desserts to New York City businesses, including FAO Schwartz. She also taught baking and pastry at Schenectady County Community College.
With the launch of Tangible Development, Vera hung up her toque (and rested her feet), returning to her passion for writing, telling business stories, and creatively communicating for clients. She specializes in crisis management, public relations, and media but has a particular interest in global communication. Vera blogs on the Albany Times Union website on marketing and creativity and is a columnist for UpMarket Magazine on upmarketzine.com.
Vera’s formal education includes a BA in Journalism with a Russian minor from Indiana University and an Associate degree in Culinary Arts from Schenectady County Community College. She garnered numerous awards from Women in Communications and the Association of American Medical Colleges for her work at the University of Iowa, and a Unit Citation from the U.S. Government. She is also trained in specialty pastry work, particularly sugar flowers.