MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Three Middle Tennessee State University leaders will be part of a daylong online and in-person event set Tuesday, Aug. 10, to advise women on marketing their businesses, organizations, events and causes to the 108 million-plus American women who make up the “lipstick economy.”

“Red Letter Day,” presented by the Nashville-based Brand Wise Collective as an extension of its popular Lipstick Economy podcast, will feature seven online workshops beginning at 10 a.m. Aug. 10, including using TikTok, podcasting, generational marketing, event marketing, personal branding in a hybrid world, government contracting and social media law.

On Red Letter Day, MTSU professor and attorney Deborah Wagnon, who teaches in the Department of Recording Industry in the College of Media and Entertainment, will lead the social media law workshop for online participants.

After a 5 p.m. reception at the new National Museum of African American Music at 510 Broadway in Nashville, the Red Letter Day event will continue at 6 p.m. with keynote speakers that include MTSU media and entertainment dean Beverly Keel.

Keel, the college’s first female dean as well as an MTSU alumna and longtime recording industry department chair, plans to discuss her music industry advocacy, including her work with Change the Conversation and Nashville Music Equality. She's a co-founder of those coalitions, which aim to combat gender and racial inequality, respectively, in country music. 

MTSU media alumna Melinda Hudgins Noblitt, senior manager for diversity, equity and inclusion at Asurion, co-hosts the Lipstick Economy podcast with Brand Wise leader Jamie Dunham and is one of the Red Letter Day event organizers. Noblitt and Dunham also will host the evening events.

Marketing experts estimate that women influence at least 85 percent of all consumer purchases made in America every year, leading to the “lipstick economy” reference. Brand Wise Collective provides branding and marketing services for regional and national clients.

The Red Letter Day event, the only one of its kind in the South, is now in its fifth year. More information, including registration details and a complete list of the day’s workshop hosts and the evening speakers, is available at https://2021redletterday.eventbrite.com.

MTSU-affiliated participants can use the code “MTSU” for a $20 registration discount. Those who register for only the online workshops can attend free by using the discount code.

More information about Red Letter Day 2021 is available at https://2021redletterday.eventbrite.com. For more information about the Lipstick Economy podcast, visit http://www.lipstickeconomypodcast.com.