Volunteer position finally filled after long search

By Lloyd Garrison

Norfolk Now’s new ad director Heidi Dunavant and her daughter, Greta.

The job of advertising director, so critical to the financial health of Norfolk Now, is now in the hands of Heidi Dunavant, who handles sales and marketing for Dayjams, a Litchfield firm that runs 21 day camps across the United States for young rock music enthusiasts.
When Dunavant first saw the notice in Norfolk Now that David Taylor, the paper’s first and only ad director was stepping down, she was interested in the job, but held back. “I thought someone else would snatch it up,” she recalls.
No one did, and the volunteer position was filled temporarily by Lindsey Rotolo, the paper’s business manager who is also an executive editor.
“When the notice appeared again,” Dunavant says, “I thought that this was something I could do.” After a meeting with Rotolo to go over spreadsheets and billing procedures, she signed on.
In many respects, her experience in business and public service should serve her well in her new assignment. A graduate of Southern Connecticut State University with a degree in business writing and a minor in political science, she interned in Hartford with the Senate Appropriations Committee, and later worked for a term on the staff of Senator John Kissel.
Dunavant and her husband, Seth, a guitarist and recording engineer, moved into their house on Laurel Way three years ago. They have a daughter, Greta, who is seven months old.
The Dunavants were drawn to Norfolk from Seymour, Connecticut, because they liked the country setting and access to good schools. “It is the perfect small town,” says Dunavant of Norfolk, which reminds her of her upbringing in Oxford, Connecticut. “There wasn’t a single stop light when I was growing up in Oxford, which has seen a lot of development since then.”