Featured business person: Jon Pic

Jon Pic, Marketing director, Botanica Gardens

Pic sounds like a good fit for his new job at Botanica, which he called a “one-man show in terms of marketing.”

For the last year and a half, he’s been running his own creative agency, doing graphic design, copywriting, photography – “really what anybody wanted to throw at me.”

Pic, 33, was born in Gulfport, Miss., moving to Kansas when he was 14. He graduated from high school in El Dorado, attended Butler Community College and then earned a theater degree from Emporia State University.

He worked in retail after graduation, spent five years in Butler Community College’s marketing department, and then worked for a community college in Nebraska before returning home to start his own agency. He started at Botanica two weeks ago.

Pic said he’s in charge of the popular attraction’s quarterly magazine, website, social media, digital and print marketing campaigns. As one of his first moves, he said, “I'm going to really try to focus on getting some new photographs. That happens to be one of my strengths.”

Pic had attended a couple events at Botanica prior to going to work there, but has much to learn about the 18-acre facility. “I've just seen a fraction of it.”

Pic has three children: a son, Gage, 10, and daughters Gwyn, 6, and Harper, 2.

Outside work, he said, “I am a geek at heart. I went and saw ‘The Avengers’ this weekend. I've got a group of ‘Dr. Who’ fans I hang out with.”

And he recently got back into theater, being accepted as apprentice director for an upcoming Wichita Community Theatre production of “The Foreigner.”

Joe Stumpe

This story was originally published May 6, 2015 at 9:28 AM with the headline "Featured business person: Jon Pic."