When a reporter from The Wall Street Journal called Marvin, they weren’t chasing a product launch or financial headline. They wanted to talk about people. Specifically, how a window manufacturer in the far north of Minnesota had quietly solved one of the most daunting challenges facing U.S. businesses: finding and keeping skilled talent.
The person who got that call was Emily Chaney, Marvin’s Director of Enterprise Public Relations and Reputation. Dedicated coverage from a top-tier media outlet like WSJ is every PR professional’s dream. But she didn’t get their attention by promoting product specs or showroom gloss. Instead, she dug deep into the real-world impact of Marvin’s people-first manufacturing philosophy. Then, she transformed it into a bold, authentic company story that earned the attention of one of the world’s most discerning newsrooms.
The story that grabbed them was of how Marvin, to staff its rural manufacturing facilities, reimagined what work could look like in a tight labor market, where flexibility, craftsmanship, and dignity became their own kind of currency. The WSJ spotlight was the ideal type of earned media that validated Marvin’s ability to lead on issues that matter nationally. It was also a lesson for all manufacturers about how investing in core values and cultivating them into an authentic brand identity is the key to leadership status and success.
For Emily, a lifelong Minnesotan with a background steeped in both curiosity and craft, it was a full-circle moment. She didn’t set out to work in manufacturing, let alone become one of its most passionate storytellers. But what started as a love for design and PR evolved into a deeper mission: to move what’s hidden into the spotlight, especially the hands, minds, and hearts behind every product.
A foundation built on curiosity
Emily Chaney grew up in a household where “try everything once” wasn’t a suggestion. Curiosity and investment in learning new things were expectations. Her parents raised her and her sister to prioritize exploration over specialization, which led to a philosophy that now guides her career. She found that the tenacity to show up, try, and learn about whatever came her way was much more interesting – and useful – than mastery of one skill would ever be.
“I learned that I’m not naturally good at anything—except trying,” she says. And that generalist mindset became her professional superpower.
But the real blueprint for a winning approach came from her dad, a commercial HVAC veteran who was part engineer, part craftsman, and full-time fixer. “He didn’t know how to fix everything. He figured out how to fix everything.” Whether it was a broken refrigerator, a brake job, or rewiring a light fixture, Emily found an example in her dad for approaching life as a problem solver. That spirit of “just try it, see what happens” became her own, instilling a resilience that eliminated the fear most others find in the unfamiliar.
The combination of curiosity and a willingness to just get started and “figure it out” became the inner engine that drove her career from PR agencies to Marvin. She now leverages it as a strategy: start nudging, ask the next question, explore the adjacent idea. “You don’t have to research your way into an answer. You can use curiosity to work your way into one.” In an industry that values polished certainty, Emily built her edge on relentless exploration of what she didn’t know, leading her to uncover stories that no one else was telling.
When manufacturing & marketing merged
Today, Emily’s role as a manufacturing marketer and discoverer of stories that depict the beauty and human impact of manufacturing is central to how she defines her professional self. But she didn’t set out to build a career around manufacturing stories. Emily’s path into public relations was motivated by the practicalities of college and the need to follow it with a good job. Her parents suggested PR, and she discovered that she loved connecting people and ideas, telling stories, and building trust.
She began in the agency world, supporting clients across healthcare and related sectors—some of whom were also making physical products. At the same time, a personal interest in interior decor and architecture instilled an appreciation for good design. Manufacturing was always there, but it was hidden in plain sight. The revelation that she was, in fact, a manufacturing marketer reframed everything.
“It wasn’t just about the what, it was about the why.” Manufacturing, she realized, isn’t a background detail. It’s the beating heart of innovation, progress, and problem-solving at scale. It’s about making something tangible, lasting, and deeply personal. That hit home once she joined Marvin, where every window is crafted to solve a specific human need. “When you see something go from an idea to an object that improves someone’s daily life, it’s incredibly moving,” she says.
Recognizing her role in manufacturing was a career milestone and a moment of alignment. She had found a purpose for her curiosity and the perfect niche for her talent, connecting people, ideas, and impact. Suddenly, the world’s most underappreciated industry had a voice it desperately needed.
Growing through change, failure, and action
For Emily, growth has always been rooted in curiosity, and curiosity is not a passive pursuit. “The more I try, the more I see, the more I learn, the more curious I become,” she says. That ethos carried Emily into the start of her career, where she found herself navigating complex clients and unfamiliar industries at a full-service agency. “There wasn’t time to be intimidated,” she recalls. She had to walk into situations with an open mind and a willingness to follow the solution as it unfolded and, as her father showed her, just “figure it out.” This taught her to ask smart questions, trust her instincts, and start moving, even when the path ahead wasn’t perfect.
At Marvin, that action-first mentality became a differentiating skill that she was given room to experiment with. When she pitched an influencer collaboration in the early days of Marvin’s digital marketing evolution, there was no precedent, just a gut instinct and a well-aligned partner. The collaboration looked promising (the right architect, the right story, the right values), and it gave Marvin the potential to earn credibility and exposure they hadn’t yet experienced with other strategies. But when the editorial launched, Marvin’s name was nowhere to be found.
“I started packing a box,” Emily admits with lingering pain in her voice. “I thought that was it. I had taken a risk and failed.” But instead of reprimand, her manager offered perspective. “We learned something valuable here, right? Good. Get back to work.”
That moment reshaped how Emily thought about risk. Instead of being a reckless gamble, it might just be a necessary cost of growth. It also clarified a core belief that sometimes, you just need to “do.” Waiting for a perfect plan often means never starting. But action produces a result 100% of the time. As long as you remain curious and adjust as you go, action will either lead to success or lessons learned. No matter the outcome, you have gained something you didn’t have before you started.
That project, though painful, helped pave the way for a more structured and confident influencer strategy at Marvin. For Emily, it solidified a belief that discomfort is often the prelude to growth, and that the best learning happens when you’re already in motion. “Nothing will make you feel better than doing the work,” she says, a mantra that captures the transformative power of just getting started.
Leading with care: turning values into impact
As Emily’s career progressed, so did her emphasis on caring as a personal and professional virtue. Her evolution into a leadership role at Marvin was marked by the steady, intentional practice of listening, connecting, and advocating for her values. “I’ve always thought about public relations as a kind of goodwill bank account,” she says. “You build trust by acting in a way that is true to your values and when it’s time to ask something big of your organization, that trust is what gives you lift.” While it might look like she is just telling stories, internally Emily is building the coalitions that make bold stories possible, earning credibility across departments, bridging silos, and embedding PR strategy into the organization’s foundation.
That strategy aligns well with Marvin’s ethos: people-first, purpose-driven, and relentlessly thoughtful. The company’s commitment to those values and Emily’s bank of internal goodwill culminated in a moment of national visibility when Emily pitched a story to The Wall Street Journal about a workforce relocation initiative the company had undertaken with remarkable success.
Before implementing the initiative, Warroad, Minnesota-based Marvin faced an all-too-common challenge for manufacturers: the need for skilled workers in a tight small-town labor market. Instead of settling, Marvin looked outward, recruiting skilled workers from places as far away as Florida and Puerto Rico.
Emily is quick to point out that the initiative was about more than filling open jobs. The company recognized that these new employees and their families had the potential to grow and positively impact the local community, but they would also face hurdles like a considerably different climate, the unfamiliarity of local grocery stores, and the challenge of enrolling children in schools when English might not be their first language. So, Marvin responded with a level of care that went far beyond onboarding paperwork and welcome emails. Marvin worked with local schools to ensure language support, coordinated with law enforcement to address cultural sensitivity, and made sure families had the resources they needed to thrive.
The story was about the company’s bold decision to not just recruit skilled workers from across the country, but to build a deep support system from scratch that honored their humanity. But the company’s flexibility and willingness to learn in motion were key. As fresh needs emerged, so did new solutions.
When The Wall Street Journal flew a reporter to Warroad to see it firsthand, it validated what Emily already knew: a manufacturing story, when told through the lens of human impact, can move national conversations. For Emily – and for Marvin – it was never about getting press. It was about doing right by people to solve pressing challenges and sharing a story that might inspire other manufacturers to do the same.
That same culture continues to fuel Emily’s leadership style and the way she motivates her team. She models transparency, encourages curiosity, and treats learning as an ongoing journey. Emily’s story itself is a case study in values-based leadership, where care isn’t just a virtue, but a strategic lever. And when wielded with courage and clarity, it can turn organization-wide collaboration into national recognition.
Beyond the widget: crafting distinctive human stories that resonate
For Emily, telling transformational manufacturing stories is not an exercise in collecting viral moments, nor is it shouting product specs through a megaphone. Instead, she focuses on crafting unique stories that build trust and pride in what companies stand for and what they create. While the product itself might be the reason your company exists, it is not what drives lasting success. When you focus on the stories only you can tell and put people at the center, you can move markets and win hearts.
Emily has a knack for spotting stories only Marvin can tell, and she’s fearless about taking them to the biggest stages. When Marvin was featured on CBS Sunday Morning in 2017, she called it her “PR Super Bowl.”
The segment was of course a business profile, but it was also a love letter to Marvin’s roots, people, and values. “The story was really a surprising and unexpected thing. It was about this growing organization that’s still firmly rooted in small-town Americana,” she reflects. “It was about a company that has successfully achieved growth, put its people first, and stayed true to what made it the unique place it is.” The broadcast resonated beyond Warroad, earning heartfelt letters from viewers who saw in Marvin a model for how American businesses could be run.
“Marvin’s is a manufacturing story, no question. We can tell that story all day long,” she says. “But if you can’t tell a people story too, it starts to fall flat really quickly. If you cannot highlight the people in your organization and how the things they do improve people’s lives, I don’t believe you, and your audience won’t either.”
The people in the story aren’t the only ones that matter. Far from it. When Emily talks about people-centric stories, she is also referring to the audience and industry surrounding Marvin’s work. Understanding her audience is a daily discipline and a defining trait of Emily’s leadership at Marvin, carving out an hour every day to immerse herself in industry news and trend reports. This ritual is a chance to absorb the subtle shifts and undercurrents that shape how people live, work, and make decisions, and it provides an intuitive sense of what will resonate when it’s time to craft a new campaign or pitch her next story.
Emily is also a champion of deeply understanding her customers, relying on customer journey maps and the insights they provide to inform her work. She recognizes that Marvin’s audiences—i.e., homeowners, builders, architects—each have their own unique paths, pain points, and priorities. She knows that a builder’s decision-making process looks nothing like a homeowner’s, and she’s meticulous about weighing those differences when storytelling, so Marvin can meet each audience where they are. To Emily, truly knowing her audience is an act of respect. Whether considering years of customer data, convening cross-functional teams, or asking about what’s being heard in the market, she is relentless in her pursuit of understanding. This commitment allows Marvin to deliver messages that land with purpose and credibility.
Manufacturing’s hidden heartbeat: the people powering industry
Emily Chaney wants to change the way people see manufacturing—not as a world of technical specs and assembly lines, but as an industry powered by human stories, ingenuity, and purpose. She believes manufacturing is the biggest industry no one is really talking about; a quiet giant whose impact touches every part of daily life yet rarely gets the credit, attention, or understanding it deserves.
She’s striving to rewrite that narrative, one story at a time.
At Marvin, Emily champions the stories only they can tell because showing how things are made and, more importantly, who makes them, builds credibility and inspires pride. “When you show me how you’re doing it, I believe in you. There’s credibility that’s created. There’s trust that begins to develop. That more manufacturers aren’t telling those stories is a miss,” she says, adding that the onus is on manufacturing marketers to push beyond products and spotlight the people, process, and innovation that makes their work meaningful.
Her advocacy extends to the next generation, too. Emily wants young people to see manufacturing as a place where they can make a difference, build a career, and find pride in their work. She’s passionate about telling stories that invite them in—stories of family legacy, community impact, and the creativity that goes into making products that last.
For Emily, manufacturing is about people. It’s about care, curiosity, and the courage to keep nudging forward, even when the world isn’t watching.
