Ingles Event Manager Ruby Downes Turns Being a People-Person into a Career
By meg hale brunton
Born in Ashtabula, Ohio, Ingles Event Manager Ruby Downes always hoped that one day she would get to plan events. As a kid, she dreamed of becoming a wedding planner. After having children, she was an avid ‘band mom’ and ‘football mom,’ always volunteering at her kids’ events.
Shortly after giving birth to her third child, Ruby went in for a medical examination and was mistakenly presented with mammogram results for another woman. At only 37, Ruby had never had a mammogram. To clear up matters, she got her own mammogram done, and her results came back, showing Stage 4 breast cancer. “It just turned into a whirlwind after that,” Ruby recalls, referring to the series of biopsies and ultrasounds that followed. After a definitive diagnosis, she underwent radiation, followed by chemotherapy, followed by more radiation.
December 2013 marked Ruby’s final cancer treatment. Today she is – gratefully – cancer-free. During the final stages of her treatment, her former husband took a job for the radio station Kiss Country, and the family moved to Asheville, North Carolina. There, Ruby got a job as a checkout clerk at her local Ingles Market. “I’m a people person,” she explains, sharing how much she enjoyed talking with customers as she rang them up. “I liked that job because I got to interact with people.”
She was eventually moved to the produce section, which she did not take to as easily. “It was too cold. I froze,” she says. In 2019, Ruby got a job as a mail carrier for the post office. The job seemed like a good fit until she was involved in a bad car accident in her delivery vehicle.
While still on leave due to the injuries she suffered in the wreck, she assisted her ex-husband who was trying to get a new career started as a photographer. He had landed a food photo shoot for Ingles, and Ruby (on crutches) joined him to help. Ingles Director of Advertising, Melissa Leavell, was overseeing the shoot and took an instant liking to Ruby. She offered her a job on the spot as an assistant to their event coordinator. Two years after she started, the lead event coordinator announced he was leaving his position. So, Ruby was promoted to his role. “My stomach hit the floor,” she says, recalling her sudden professional success.
Ruby found that she thrived in her new role. “I can honestly say that I love going to work; I enjoy my job,” she says. “I just love what I do and I think if you love what you do, it doesn’t feel like work.” She says one of the best aspects of her job is her work family, particularly the ladies on the advertising team: Melissa Leavell, Julie Gibson and Jenny Smith.
Ruby says Ingles Markets has been incredibly understanding about her keeping her children as her top priority. “They understand that I’m a mom and they understand that my kids come first,” she says of the management at Ingles. “That is really nice. That makes it easy on moms.” She also says that she wouldn’t have made it this far without the help of her parents.
As event Coordinator, Ruby’s job ranges from working exciting events to more tedious tasks like invoicing. She is responsible for coordinating with all event contributors, as well as printing companies that create flyers, banners, signs, etc. She gets to hire talent for events and work directly with partners and sponsors to make sure the events go off without a hitch. She also ensures that there are always fun activities for kids at her events, like cornhole, hula hoops, and bouncy houses. “I bring the party,” Ruby explains, with the help of the Ingles I Team.
Photos by Brooke Parker Photography | Hair & Makeup by Fab Flawless Makeup Artistry | Location is The Crest Center and Pavilion
While often enjoyable, Ruby admits that her job takes a lot of hard work and organization. “Making sure you have everything in line can be tricky. The job is quite fun, but you’ve got to do the hard stuff before you can do the fun stuff,” she explains of coordinating the events. She describes how one person missing a step can throw off the entire process, either by not communicating, not listening, missing an email, or just not doing their job. To prevent these missteps from happening, Ruby always prioritizes being authentically honest in everything she does. “I believe in honesty being the best policy, but sprinkled in a kind of delivery.”
Ingles Markets coordinates events for everything from SoCon and the Cherry Blossom Festival, to the St. Patty’s Day Parade in Georgia. They also do events to support local charities like the Ingles Magical Toy Drive, Eblen Charities Tools for Schools, and the Manna Food Bank Giving Tree. They sponsor concerts at local colleges and sports events like soccer and Family Fun Day at the Asheville Tourists’ stadium.
“I really like where I’m at,” says Ruby of her professional life. She shares that one day, she would like to move up, yet she would never want to do a job where she didn’t work directly with people. “I still want to be able to be with the public and in the community. I just don’t want to be locked up in an office; I want to be out and about.”
Ever a people-person, Ruby feels so blessed to have had the love and support of her work family as well as her actual family to help her through life’s ups and downs. All she has been through has given her a kind of fearlessness and strength in the knowledge of what she can withstand. “I’m a mother of three who beat stage four breast cancer and lived to tell the tale,” she exclaims. “I’m just happy to be alive, to be honest. I’m happy that God gave me another chance to take a crack at it. I’m happy; I’m living the dream!”
Photos by Brooke Parker Photography | Hair & Makeup by Fab Flawless Makeup Artistry | Location is The Crest Center and Pavilion
Ruby Downes
Ingles Markets
(828)-669-3685