Meet Miranda Barnard: A coal miner’s daughter and our new VP of Marketing

We’re excited to introduce Miranda Barnard, our new vice president of marketing.

We recently sat down with Miranda to learn more about her past, her motivations, and why she decided to join Vivint Solar. Among other things, we learned that Miranda’s family has a long history in the coal mining industry, and the experiences she had growing up in a small mining town have had a profound impact on where she is today. Read on to see why we are so excited to have Miranda on our team.

Q: You worked for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals for more than six years. Can you share an experience from your time there that shaped who you are today?

CMN Hospitals raises funds and awareness for 170 children’s hospitals in North America -- so you can imagine I got to spend time with some incredible and inspiring kids over the years! Getting to know so many children who had overwhelming and constant health issues but still had positive attitudes and enjoyed things most of us take for granted has had a huge impact on my life. Kids have an interesting way of dealing with adversity that’s different than adults, they don’t dwell on what they’re facing and are better at living in the moment. It’s a lesson I think about every day and a trait I’m always working toward improving. One of the many kids I was fortunate to work with was Isaiah, a teenager who is constantly helping others in his community and mentoring kids who are facing medical challenges. He loves hip hop, is a talented songwriter and released a rap that has inspired millions. He did all of this despite the fact he was born without a jaw and can’t speak, yet is using his voice to help others.

Q: What do you love most about marketing? How about least?

I love marketing because it focuses on one of my favorite things -- storytelling. I love how telling stories to one another helps us all connect. When it’s done well, marketing is really just connecting with an audience and telling them a story that inspires them to take action. The challenge is deciding how to make it as interesting and engaging as possible so they’ll hear our message and take the action we believe they should take. My least favorite thing about this is there are so many exciting things we could do to tell our story, it’s difficult to not be able to do them all.

Q: What would you say are the most important lessons about marketing and communications gleaned during your career?

The most important thing I’ve found for any kind of marketing and communications work is to start with the audience in mind first, and then decide on how to reach them. Sometimes marketers give in to the temptation to start thinking about the channels first -- “What should we put on Facebook? This would be a cool video! Let’s post it to YouTube. What magazine ads should we buy? Let’s sponsor that event!” When channels are approached as the first step in the process, they can end up being distractions to the overall goal and fragment the efforts.

Starting with the audience(s) first and then determining the channels and assets you need to reach them helps keep everything focused and as impactful as possible. It seems obvious but it’s easy to forget.

Q: Why did you decide to join the solar industry? And why Vivint Solar specifically?

You’d probably be surprised to learn I have four generations of coal miners in my family. Growing up, I was inspired by the work ethic and constant problem solving I saw demonstrated by my dad, who worked underground for 30 years, and from my grandfather and others in our small mining town. I got to see up close what hard work looks like and that has inspired the work ethic and passion for the energy business that I have today. I’m excited to get to play a part in this next phase of how we generate and use power.

As a marketer, I was thrilled to see Vivint Solar is packed with storytelling opportunities. We have a tremendous amount of talent and passion among our staff, and our customers are helping change the energy landscape -- and the world -- for the better. These were exciting things to me. I love that we have a chance to tell those stories in an effort to help people see that sustainable energy is a better, more affordable and cleaner option for powering lives and Vivint Solar, in particular, is the company to do it with. As a mom, I love that I get to help the planet our kids are inheriting. My husband and two boys are passionate about nature and also want to breathe clean air -- it’s a great feeling knowing Vivint Solar’s work is helping to preserve and improve these things.

Q: You’re new to the solar industry. Any surprises thus far?

The main surprise is how simple it is for homeowners to go solar. I’ve had the opportunity to visit with some of our customers in their homes. Hearing how Vivint Solar has improved their daily lives in terms of making power more affordable for them and also giving them a sense of pride in making a smarter, cleaner energy decision has been really incredible. I’ve also been inspired by going out in neighborhoods with our sales team members and seeing how much they personally care about the customers they work with. It makes me proud to work for Vivint Solar.

Q: What do you hope to accomplish during your time at Vivint Solar?

I hope I can help more Americans understand how simple it is to go solar and to help people connect with the Vivint Solar story. We have the knowledge to help customers easily make the transition to solar and we genuinely love helping people navigate that process. Clean energy is crucial for the long-term future of our planet; combining that with the fact it’s a smarter and typically cheaper option for homeowners, it’s critical we help as many people as possible embrace it.

Career and Educational Background

Miranda has over 15 years of experience specializing in content marketing and communications, having worked extensively with agencies and in-house marketing teams. Most recently, Miranda led corporate communications and media relations at Sorenson Media — an innovative smart TV technology company.

Prior to that, Miranda served as the vice president of communications and content at Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals where she helped create campaigns that brought in $400 million annually to support a network of 170 hospitals across the U.S. and Canada. Miranda was also recognized as a 40 Under 40 Business Leader by Utah Business magazine in 2015.

Miranda earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from Southern Utah University and an MBA from Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Management.