This “Faces of ECI” profile focuses on Director of Sales Kimberly (Kim) Williams, who leads our sales teams in experiential environment projects, such as award-winning trade show exhibits and museums to thematic immersive education spaces. Kim is opening up in our latest “Faces of ECI” profile.
INTRODUCE YOURSELF AND EXPLAIN YOUR ROLE.
My name is Kimberly Williams. I am the Sales Director at Exhibit Concepts and I started in the summer of 2023. As the Sales Director at Exhibit Concepts, my team consists of the Account Executives and the Client Success Managers that support the different lines of business that we have here, including trade shows, museum and permanent environments, and Exploration Zones, which supports early childhood learning environments.
YOUR MOST IMPACTFUL CLIENT MOMENT.
The time that has had the most impact on me was when I was able to present to Texas City’s School Board. They had just approved a project for theme-based learning environments and wanted us to present the different themes they’d chosen to the School Board. And so, I was able to explain what each theme consists of and the positivity and the impact that I know that will have on that community; it was just so great to see that positive feedback while we were there. It really made me feel like we were making a difference for that school district, long–term.
WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT EDUCATION PROJECTS?
What I like the most about the work that we do with Exploration Zones is taking the most innovative concepts that we’ve used in our museum line of business and carrying that over to early childhood environments. We really make it so we’re providing an experience for students at that pre-K age to experiment and learn in immersive learning environments where otherwise they might not have ever had that opportunity.
WHY DO YOU THINK EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING IS IMPORTANT?
Being an educator myself and spending over ten years in the education environment, I do really think children learn best by doing things hands-on and having the ability to work within that content and being immersed in that content. I think it keeps the engagement levels high, and therefore, it contributes to improving test scores and just an overall, better, well-rounded student in the end. And I’m hoping that what we do will really make the educators’ lives easier because it will cut down on classroom management issues if the students are more engaged, and therefore, they’ll also have better test results, better data to go from and learn from in the future with these students.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THEME, AND WHY?
I think my favorite theme has to be the space theme. The reason why is that in that particular themed environment, we include a rocket ship, and the rocket ship is actually where students will go and sit on their seats, and the seats will rumble as they’re taking off to simulate a takeoff. They can feel like they’re on a spaceship and can see the outdoors going by as they take off, and I just think that that has got to be so impactful for their experience at that young age.
ON A PERSONAL NOTE…
FAVORITE FOOD?
My favorite food is movie theater popcorn. Hands down.
FAVORITE TV SHOW OR MOVIE?
I think my favorite movie right now is a recent one that came out; it’s called The Holdovers, and the reason why I like that one is because it deals with an educator who was pretty hard on his students. Still, he learned to really connect with his students over time. I don’t want to give anything away, but and it really had a great impact in the end and showed how an educator can really make a difference in students’ lives.
FAVORITE BAND OR MUSICIAN?
Oh, 100%. Foo Fighters: Dave Grohl is my hero.
WHAT ARE YOUR SECRET TALENTS?
A secret talent many people probably don’t know about me is that I can drag race Corvettes; I used to do that with my dad growing up.
WHAT IS YOUR IDEAL PLACE TO LIVE?
If I had the money and the means, I would live in Southern California.
WHAT IS A SUPERPOWER YOU WISH YOU HAD?
Maybe I could build a time machine and get in at any time to see certain parts of history… or maybe play the lottery. 🙂
WHO IS SOMEONE YOU WOULD WANT TO HAVE DINNER WITH? PAST OR PRESENT.
Abraham Lincoln, for sure. I’m a big history buff; it’s what I taught for several years and I just think he has an amazing presence still in the history of our nation and how it’s been formed, so I would love to chat with him.
WHAT CHARITABLE CAUSE IS IMPORTANT TO YOU?
Having adopted two dogs, I think any animal rescue is important. Specifically in Northern Kentucky, there’s something called the Stray Animal Adoption program, and they take fosters of any kind. They never turn a dog or cat away, and I just love that because they do some really good work for families in the area.
