Cathy B. Smith Shannon
Vice President Marketing, E&S Gallery, Inc.
http://www.eandsgallery.com
Cathy Smith Shannon oversees marketing and promotions for E&G Gallery, one of the country’s largest African American owned and operated art and custom framing galleries. A native of Louisville, KY, Shannon is a graduate of the University of Louisville and holds a BA in Advertising & Public Relations, as well as a certificate in Corporate Community Relations from Boston College, Boston, MA. After graduating from college in 1984, she went to work for Louisville Gas & Electric Co. (LG&E). Over the course of 12 years, Shannon was promoted from Customer Interviewer, to Advertising Rep, and finally to Community Liaison. In her positions with LG&E, Shannon helped craft advertising campaigns, and developed community outreach strategies and initiatives designed to improve relations with the companies many constituents. She served on more than a dozen boards and helped identify areas and organizations with which to align the company’s employee activities.
One activity Shannon connected LG&E employees to was the annual conference of the National Council of Negro Women, of which Shannon was a member. It was during this conference in the early 1990’s that she first met Walter Shannon who was exhibiting with his company, E&S Gallery. They later began dating, and Shannon began traveling with Walter to various art shows on weekends or during vacation time away from LG&E. They married in 1997, and she left her position with LG&S to join Walter full time at E&S Gallery to oversee the company’s advertising and marketing strategy. Shannon put her expertise to work at E&S securing national coverage of the gallery’s 1998 opening of their new 5,000 square foot gallery in downtown Louisville, and again in 2004 with the opening of their current 11,000 s/f gallery, which has been named one of the country’s top 25 gallery’s in the country and the top gallery in Kentucky for 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. The gallery has been featured in local media and national publications including, Décor Magazine, Black Enterprise, Southern Living magazine, and Art Business News to name a few.
Shannon oversees the gallery’s advertising and PR strategy and manages E&S’s online presence via various social media platforms and their EandSGallery.com website. Shannon also works closely with Walter to identify and represent artists, produce and promote fine art show across the country, and helping client start, grow, maintain, and liquidate their art collections. Since 1989, E&S has supported numerous charities and organizations via art donations, speaking engagements and educational outreach.
Shannon serves on the board of Louisville’s Waterfront Development Corporation, Louisville’s Commission on Public Art and in 2018 was appointed by Louisville mayor Greg Fischer to serve on the Public Art & Monuments Advisory Committee. Shannon is a graduate of Focus Louisville and Leadership Louisville programs. Shannon also helped establish the West Broadway Business Association and served as its first president. Shannon is a member of The Girl Friends, Inc. Louisville Chapter and The Louisville Chapter of the Links, Incorporated, and St. Stephen Church. She is a life-long resident of Louisville, KY where she and Walter live and run their gallery.
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