ESTEVAN — The Estevan Mercury has had some changes in its sales department, and the current tandem is eager to meet the needs of the community, especially with Christmas around the corner.
Christine Jones was promoted to the role of sales manager earlier this summer, while Kimberly Ball was hired as a sales representative in mid-October.
Jones said that when she was offered the position of assistant to the sales manager in August 2022, it was an instant "yes".
"This was going to be the new and challenging turn in my career for which I had been looking," said Jones. "Having been a legal assistant for most of my life, I was looking for a new and exciting career path that had chances for advancement."
The career advancement came much earlier than she originally had expected when she shifted to a sales representative last December, and she became the sales manager less than a year later.
"Being the sales manager has come with its struggles and more importantly, the successes. I have found the niche that I have always craved, where both my creative and analytical sides can merge."
Jones noted her father, grandfather and uncle all worked for the Brandon Sun in Brandon, Man., and when she started working there, she met Mark Jones, who would become her husband. She eventually left that paper to continue her post-secondary and become a legal assistant.
She and Mark moved to Estevan in 2010 when he started working at Estevan Web Printing.
The Joneses enjoy watching their son Carson play hockey and baseball and she is the Saskatchewan head of Challenger Baseball, which is an adaptive program creating opportunities for children with physical and/or cognitive disabilities.
"Being a mom is the best job I have, and I devote all my time and energy to my son's passions," she said.
Jones said she is proud to have the Estevan Mercury team to work with.
"The Estevan Mercury team works very hard week in and week out to bring you, our readers, the news from our community."
Ball, who is a child of the pre-internet age, recalls that they had just one way to get their local news, movie listings or employment opportunities. Everything was put in the newspaper, and she remembers her father reading it cover to cover, even the flyers.
"I think everyone in our household would read that week's issue at some point as they passed by the table it was on," she said.
Ball is a third-generation Estevanite, as she was born and raised here. She is the oldest of five children in her family, with two sisters and two brothers.
"My husband Shannon Ball and I have three amazing kids and two beautiful granddaughters."
He comes from Lampman, although his dad's family was from the Alida and Redvers area and his mom was from Lampman as well.
Ball's mother Regina (Bunny) Rooks hails from the Lampman area and was a Leptich. Her father was Gary Biette, who died in 1973 before she was born, and Ball's mother married Dave Rooks.
Ball has always worked in customer service or sales in some way and is excited to bring her experience to what she called an "amazing opportunity" and to be a part of a long-standing institution of the community.
"I am so happy to be able to use my knowledge of customer service and sales to help Estevan's business community keep their advertising updated and make sure they stay noticed as trends change," Ball said.
To book an ad, you can call either Jones or Ball at 306-634-2654. You can email Jones at cjones@estevanmercury.ca, and you can email Ball at kball@estevanmercury.ca.
