If you’ve noticed the Town’s social media looks more lively lately, that’s because the Town has hired a communications professional.
Suzanne Esposito, a South Berwick resident who formerly worked in communications in Kittery, has been hired for up to 36 hours a month. Her job, Esposito wrote in an email, is “to get the Town started with a dedicated communications person.”
Esposito and town officials will discuss longer term needs during the budget process later this winter, she said, but in the meantime they have contracted at $2,400 a month for the 36-hour package.
“I’m beyond thrilled to be working with the Town of South Berwick!” she said in the email, noting she was hired in November through her one-woman business, Consult the Hotline.
“My goal is to help strengthen how the Town communicates with residents and help our community feel more connected,” Esposito said.
Her work will focus on communication strategy, website content and social media “to make sure important information is reaching our residents clearly and in a way that’s accessible,” she said.
In addition to the posts added to Facebook in the past month, the Town has had an Instagram profile since November, when Esposito started.
Town officials earlier this year contracted Barbara McLeod of CrossCurrent Communications to audit the Town’s communications strategy and make recommendations for improvement. She reported that the Town needed a dedicated communications professional to “improve engagement and foster continued relationships with residents, local businesses and community members.”
“There’s a lot of information that residents need to know, and it shouldn’t feel confusing or intimidating to find it,” Eposito wrote. “That’s why my goal is always to provide thoughtful communication, systems that support our town staff and messaging that meets residents where they are.”
Esposito worked for the Town of Kittery for several years before becoming communications director there in 2022, an experience she says gave her “a deep understanding of how municipal government works and the realities of Town staff wearing many hats.”
In Kittery, she said, she jump started new events and programs, including Taste of Kittery and the Books and Big Ideas Program. She also introduced the Town’s first land-acknowledgement with the Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook Abenaki People and contributed to the town’s Climate Action Plan and Bicycle & Pedestrian Plan, she said.
Esposito left Kittery in the summer of 2024 “to pour my time and efforts into the community I live in.”
She started Consult the Hotline and works with local businesses and municipalities, as well as authors and other professionals in publishing.
She began volunteering with Friends of the South Berwick Library, which she said “has been endlessly rewarding and has helped me build so many meaningful connections in town.”
Calling South Berwick “a town with a lot of heart, history and momentum,” Esposito said she looks forward to “strengthening trust, clarity and connection between Town Hall and the people it serves.”
“You might find me at a computer tapping away, taking photos at the Senior Center or riding shotgun in a town plow truck, but wherever you see me spreading some South Berwick magic, I hope you’ll stop and say hi.”
Esposito has lived in South Berwick since 2019 with her husband Russ and two cats, Hugo and Artemisia. You can find her “searching for the best things to eat around town, watching horror movies, reading or gabbing about books and seeking adventure wherever I can.”
