This week’s Up-and-Comer is Justine Murtha, UX strategy director at Click Rain.

Name: Justine Murtha

Age: 30

Hometown: Hartford

What brought you to Sioux Falls?

I was born in Sioux Falls and grew up nearby. But I officially moved to Sioux Falls to attend college at Augustana — and I haven’t left since.

What keeps you in Sioux Falls?

When I was younger, I always thought I would move somewhere. I never did. I have traveled to other places, including big cities like New York, and there’s nothing like the feeling of home when I return to Sioux Falls. On a practical level, there are a number of great things going for our community — especially for business and tech — but I think I really stay because of the sense of place.

What’s your favorite thing about your job?

Empowering people to tell their story better. This takes many forms, but there is so much potential in the time between “We have this information, but we don’t know how to get it out there” to reporting on the success of key metrics. Every business exists for a reason — I love that I can help them communicate that reason.

How did you get connected to your industry?

Curiosity. Content strategy is a rather recent discipline. It’s still not taught in a lot of schools, so a lot of people are self-taught or self-identified. This unfortunately also means it’s not well-known. Nonetheless, there is so much opportunity for aspiring communicators since content strategy builds on traditional practices like communications, publishing and journalism. How do we bring these into the digital space as it evolves? I had some background in programming and design, so in my first marketing job I had an easier time translating communications into online formats. I kept learning and growing from there.

Describe working at Click Rain in three words.

Fast-paced, collaborative, cheerful.

What’s one business you’d like to see in Sioux Falls that isn’t here now?

A Korean restaurant. I travel to Vermillion to get bibimbap — a traditional rice dish served in a hot stone bowl.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

I really like the work I’m doing, so I hope to still being doing this. But I would like to see our team grow in the next five years to support new clients and incorporate new media tactics as they come to the forefront.