Sandy Royce Martin: Satisfaction is in service

Sandy Royce Martin doesn't hesitate to tell you her age. She'll be 72 on Jan. 29.

Then she tells you a sliver, a small portion, of what she does in her adopted hometown of Eureka Springs. She's chairwoman of the Eureka Springs Mayor's Task Force on Economic Development & Recovery, president of the Eureka Springs Arts Council, co-founder and president of the Northwest Arkansas Film & Entertainment Commission, treasurer of the Northwest Arkansas Tourism Association, and she serves on the Board of Directors of Equity Bank in Eureka Springs and Mercy Hospital in Berryville -- and you're exhausted just listening! "I'm still just a kid in my mind," she says, laughing.

Martin says her most visible project in Eureka Springs has probably been the Arts Council, "with a major public art project -- including the Rainbow Steps -- every year for the past five years." And that makes sense, because the arts are, in a way, her first love.

"As a kid, I was very busy, curious, athletic, highly playful and a little bit of a rule-breaker," says Martin, who grew up in St. Louis. "My parents were both creative: My father was a musician who traveled with several big bands before I was born and Mom said 'You gotta get a real job.' My mother was an artist, singer, business entrepreneur and semi-pro tennis player. Our home was filled with music, art, projects, a very diverse collection of friends and characters with constant 'salon' type gatherings and discussions about every subject under the sun. They were very active in the community and social justice advocates.

"Without a doubt, my parents were the biggest influencers in my life," Martin goes on. "They weren't afraid to expose me to the world and were always ready to talk about it. They taught me how to tap into my left brain and my right brain. Multi-tasking was a way of life.

"What I appreciate now more than ever," she adds thoughtfully, "are the values they instilled in me: life-long learning, curiosity, compassion, responsibility -- for myself, others and community -- advocacy, community involvement, self-reliance and pushing the limits. Two of my mom's favorite sayings were, 'Everything's simple; people complicate it. Stay focused' and 'You'll never know where the middle of the road is until you explore and try to understand the right and the left lanes.' Both have stuck with me and, in today's strange and challenging environment, they are really ringing true and guiding my thinking."

On-The-Job Training

Martin's idyllic-sounding youth changed abruptly when she was 17 and her mother died.

"I was on my way to college at the University of Missouri with the hope of pursuing a journalism career," she remembers. "I was lucky enough to have a part-time job out of high school with the CBS radio station. I lasted a semester, struggling with staying close and taking care of Dad and keeping a job. Then the station offered me a full-time position -- a gopher, but a job. I took it and have never looked back."

So that's another surprise about Martin: She didn't learn what she knows in any traditional university setting.

"I did pursue my education with classes at community colleges, but I found my real-life learning and experiences much more valuable," she says. "I continue to this day taking courses, pursuing applicable certifications and learning. A couple of years ago, I became certified through a three-year course at the University of Central Arkansas in community and economic development."

Martin says radio at the time she started in it was "really fun."

"It was the perfect path for me because under FCC law at that time, the station had to be heavily involved in the community, public affairs and public service," she explains. "I went from station gopher to assistant music librarian, to programming, then to assistant news director and became a total news junkie. In preparation for news director, CBS sent me to New York for training where I lived and learned for about a year and a half. The exposure to culture, diversity and incredible energy was formative.

"That's [also] where I learned to write. We were taught to write for communication and clarity -- a principle I use to this day. Learning how words hit the ear and influence thoughts without visuals is a powerful thing."

She went on to become general manager of a group of radio stations, which led to a move to Kansas City.

"After a couple of years managing those stations, I was approached by a local ad agency to become a partner," she continues the chronicle. "Pasternak-Higbee-Martin was a rag-tag group of creatives that somehow landed accounts like Macy's, Dairy Queen and General Electric -- plus several radio stations. It was a ton of fun, and we won a lot of awards for our creative and marketing strategy. We also made a commitment that 10% of revenues would go toward civic and community direct support, which entrenched us in the community and was a fresh concept."

When the business was acquired by Bernstein Rein Advertising, the biggest ad agency in Kansas City, Martin became vice president and senior account manager on the McDonald's, film and amusement park accounts -- Lamar Hunt's Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun. But it was television that summoned her to her next job.

"Broadcasting was changing quite a bit then, and Scripps-Howard was about to enter a new era and asked me to join them to lead the development of an emerging programming concept they were investing in," she says. "That concept was Fox Broadcasting. The Scripps independent stations were the first major group to join in developing that network.

"It was a very different Fox then than it is now," she says adamantly. "It was run by Barry Diller, who left Paramount and brought with him a stable of young, unknown talent like Johnny Depp, Tracey Ullman and -- of course -- 'The Simpsons.' Our mission was to create the next generation network for the 18- to 34-year-old demographic. We also created the Fox Kids Club and brought back the 15-minute, high-energy newscast during that time. During my 12 years in group management and development with Scripps, I had the best, most creative time of my life."

Her Own Direction

When Rupert Murdoch took control of Fox and started "converting the network into his tabloid and reality TV concept," Martin was ready to try something different. "Being a news junkie and being trained by the gold standards of CBS, the new direction didn't appeal to me," she says. So in 1996, she started her current company, Procomm Unlimited.

"The goal was to get out of corporate life and get back to doing something creative and to pursue my passion for advocacy and giving back to the community," she explains. "The name is a reference to 'professional communications' and 'pro-community.'"

Procomm has a long list of successes, but Martin says she's proudest of four.

"We produced, and won several Emmys for, a network children's series called 'The What's Up Network'; co-founded a large community collaboration organization with funding from the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City bringing together 450 members from private, public and government sectors to work on community solutions and partnerships for economic development; worked with attorney David Couch on his successful medical marijuana law for Arkansas, doing the creative, community outreach and public relations campaign; and recently, worked with Mayor Butch Berry to develop the city's 'Eureka Springs Cares!' covid safety and health campaign."

There was a significant change of both sensibilities and scenery as the 1990s came to a close.

"In 1999, I had a major health crisis and was temporarily pronounced dead," Martin says. "Fooled 'em! However, that has a profound impact on how you view life, to say the least."

She and her "life-partner of going on 27 years," Kim Stryker, had been visiting Eureka Springs for several years for long weekends, and like so many people, had fallen in love with the "magical DNA" of the community.

"After a couple of years of recovery and getting back to work, we started talking about where we'd like to retire," Martin says. "Eureka Springs kept coming up. Over the next couple of years, we'd explore possible property every time we came to town. Then around 2005, we were offered some property with lots of acreage on top of a mountain with a killer view, right outside of town and very private."

The plan, she says, was to build a small get-away cabin. "Then we got into the nitty-gritty of what needs to be done to build in Eureka in the woods. Yikes! It didn't make sense to build a small cabin for the expense of running utilities, digging a well and all the other infrastructure issues. So, we wound up building our house -- which led to selling our house in Kansas City."

Their architect was Butch Berry, now the mayor of Eureka Springs.

"This set off the beginning of a relationship that has continued until today," Berry says. "It's always interesting to work with couples and see how they live to design their dream home. While they both had their own ideas of their future home, I could tell that Sandy was the creative one. She and I immediately related because of her creative and graphic background. It was a lot of fun working with her on their home. I had no idea at the time that we would become such close friends and would continue our working relationship.

"Sandy has been, in my opinion, a blessing to Eureka Springs," Berry goes on. "Since she moved here, she has placed Eureka Springs in the forefront of her life. As mayor, it has never mattered what task I ask Sandy to do, she jumps right in and gives it her whole attention and comes up with solutions immediately.

"She was instrumental in developing C3, an intercounty group of Carroll County cities," he adds by way of example. "This is the first time that I remember all three major cities of Carroll County working together to promote economic development.

"Sandy Martin is the epitome of altruism," Berry says. "I don't know what I'd do without her. Sandy has been a large part of my efforts to make Eureka Springs the best place to live and work."

Martin feels the same way about the community.

"This truism has been said so many times: There's absolutely no place in the world like Eureka Springs. After my recovery, I had a deep need to get immersed in nature and be in a creative and open space with interesting and stimulating people. So, where else but Eureka Springs?"

Martin says her life behind the scenes "is full, creative, never dull and blessed -- mostly because of Kim. Juggling schedules to carve out some personal time is a challenge, but when we do, we like to be on our boat on Beaver Lake, spoiling our 16-year-old sassy poodle, and tackling some home projects -- most recently building a greenhouse, which was like Ethel and Lucy do construction!

"My personal 'zone space' is music, video editing and researching/writing for a variety of documentaries and advocacy projects," she adds. "I find a great deal of pleasure in storytelling and uncovering hidden gems in history. And I'd love to get back to doing some stained-glass work and playing my guitar -- someday."

Asked about her five-year plan, Martin says, "I think we are all going to be faced with adjusting to a new way of life and reimagining our future. I believe there will be some very positive changes and new opportunities on the other side of this extremely difficult crisis, and I want to be fully present. My personal goals are to keep myself, family and friends as healthy as possible; to be flexible and open to new possibilities; to stay alert and highly engaged in civic, civil and social justice issues; and to advocate for the arts -- the greatest form of storytelling, innovation, preservation, economic development and healing."

As far as community goals, she says the big one is that "we never forget the lessons we've learned so far from the pandemic: We have an obligation to keep everyone as safe and healthy as possible, and we will always be a primary destination for visitors and new residents because we are authentic and unique in our arts, outdoors, historic and environmental preservation, culinary and retail." She also hopes the community can "continue to grow and diversify our creative economy through the arts, eco-tourism and product development and continue to attract new talent and engage them in community development."

Asked her about where she sees herself in 10 years, however, and Martin demurs.

"I don't want to set goals too far out, because I might overlook an opportunity. Takes all the fun out of life."

"We only come across a few people in our lives that can help change the world," says another longtime friend, veteran marketing professional Mike Maloney. "There's only so many that can work with their heart and never place themselves above anyone else. When I think of Sandy, I can always hear her wisdom, her deep understanding of the complex, yet she can take the simplest of concepts and make them grand. Sandy is a person you can truly love -- her wit, her enthusiasm and you will always find her trust as one of the most wonderful treasures. Sparkle in her eyes, smiles and all things good, that's the Sandy I know."