Paula Schaper
FOUNDER & CEO, SOCIAL SCIENTIST, & PUBLICIST
Paula helps communities of all kinds recognize and use their authentic character as a basis for collaborative, sustainable communication, decision-making and action. Her Genis Factor® method focuses on building business, brands and relationships by leveraging the untapped assets of human collectives−their intelligence, personality and energy.
Paula Schaper, founder of WestWordVision
After receiving a Bachelor of Music degree in Harp Performance from the University of Michigan, Paula booked and promoted concerts at Eclipse Jazz in Ann Arbor for Art Blakey, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, and Spyro Gyra. At several Detroit-area marketing firms, she managed accounts for Gelman Sciences, Borders Books and Crain Communications. In Michigan and California, she branded and built fan communities for musical artists Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Aerosmith, and Paula Abdul. She and her business partner at Entertainment Direct built the largest paid fan club in history for New Kids on the Block.
Paula moved to Tucson, Arizona, and joined her brother Ned Schaper to establish the Mat Bevel Institute as a popular avant-garde theatre venue. A few years later in 1997, she founded WestWordVision.
Paula is a founding member and former president of the Santa Cruz Valley Heritage Alliance, a bi-county southern Arizona organization that promotes local, heritage, and eco tourism. She has served as marketing advisor for the southern Arizona’s Santa Cruz Valley tourism initiative As the Birds Fly South, a program that united the county’s six communities, built membership in three county business organizations and promoted the region through a national advertising and public relations campaign. She is a partner and marketing consultant to TRE Networks, a national organization working to accelerate U.S. competitiveness by helping regions innovate and develop place-based advantage. Paula participated in the 2012 Arizona Governor’s Conference on Tourism leading a session on how to develop community asset inventories and tourism products, and brand destinations entitled: “There’s No Place Like You. Be An Original.” She also recently presented a session entitled “Cash In On Your Heritage And The Future Is Yours” at the 2014 Arizona Historical Preservation Conference.
