Hartford ― In a twist, Connecticut has put a native of the state in charge of promoting it.

That hasn’t happened in at least a generation, Gov. Ned Lamont noted late last month in announcing Rachel Lenda’s appointment as director of the Office of Tourism, a division of the state Department of Economic and Community Development.

Born and raised in Griswold, the 37-year-old Lenda has deep roots in the region, having most recently managed the Eastern Regional Tourism District’s operations as the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut’s liaison to the district.

She has more than a decade of experience in restaurant management and marketing, including stints at Hard Rock Cafe at Foxwoods Resort Casino, S&P Oyster in Mystic and Ballo at Mohegan Sun. She’s also worked as a legal assistant and is believed to be the first Connecticut tourism czar to front a party rock band.

Lead female vocalist for the band Red Light since 2020, Lenda said she plans to retire from the band after its May 4 show.

She’s sung the national anthem at Norwich Sea Unicorns and Connecticut Sun games and at military, police and veterans’ events.

Lenda lives in Colchester with her husband Joel, an officer with the Town of Groton Police Department, and their 2-year-old daughter, Vivian.

As director of tourism, she succeeded Noelle Stevenson, who held the job for two years after replacing Randy Fiveash, who retired in 2021 after holding it for more than 12 years. Stevenson previously held tourism and marketing positions in Florida, while Fiveash, a Georgian, came to Connecticut from Kentucky’s tourism office.

Lenda, in an interview at her state office, said she was working as the assistant general manager of Ballo, an Italian restaurant at Mohegan Sun, when the COVID-19 outbreak shut down the casino in March 2020.

“That gave me an opportunity to make a change,” she said. “My life turned around in the best way.”

She went back to school to finish up a degree she’d begun pursuing at Three Rivers Community College, and graduated from the University of Southern New Hampshire in May 2021 with a bachelor’s in business administration.

At that point, she returned to the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut, where she had previously worked, to serve as administrative partnerships manager. Her clients included the Eastern Regional Tourism District.

One of Connecticut’s three regional tourism districts, the 41-town eastern district receives $400,000 annually from the state, 80% of which must be spent on marketing. Lenda helped the district funnel funds to entities that developed promotional campaigns and managed a rebranding aimed at shedding some light on the northeastern corner.

The state’s tourism website, CTvisit.com, now touts the “Scenic Northeast” in addition to “Mystic Country.”

In 2023, Lenda’s performance drew the notice of Anthony Anthony, whom Lamont had recently named to the newly created Department of Economic and Community Development position of chief marketing officer. Lenda said Anthony approached her about the then-vacant tourism director’s post and she applied in October.

A winnowing process narrowed the list of candidates to two before Lenda secured the job.

“To be blunt, it was the hardest recommendation letter I’ve ever written,” Tony Sheridan, president and chief executive officer of the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut, said of the missive he knew might help Lenda move on from the chamber.

“It was a loss for us, but a great gain for the state,” he said of Lenda’s new post. “She’s cut out for it. She has all the ingredients to understand what makes people happy.”

In Sheridan’s view, Connecticut’s tourism office was “adrift” prior to Anthony’s appointment as chief marketing officer.

“It was out of tune with the districts,” Sheridan said. “With Anthony there, and now Rachel, I’m confident they’ll get everybody to sing off the same sheet of music.”

Lenda, who described herself as “the quintessential people person, ” said she considers herself to be in the “memory-making business,” and insisted Connecticut is full of places where visitors can make memories. In some cases, she said, those places are in state residents’ own backyards.

In something of a shift in focus, the tourism office is targeting in-state visitors as well as the 27 million out-of-state visitors who live within a two-hour drive of the state’s borders.

“If we can get somebody from the Quiet Corner (northeastern Connecticut) to go to New Haven, that’s a win,” Anthony said. “We’re buying a lot more media here than in Boston and getting more bang for the buck. ... Also, it’s not just dollars and cents. It’s about state pride. People can forget about going elsewhere.”

Anthony, 38, hinted that a new Connecticut tourism slogan will reflect the emphasis on what’s under people’s noses.

The slogan will be officially revealed Wednesday during the state’s annual tourism conference, a gathering derailed for a time in the wake of the pandemic. Formerly known as the Governor’s Conference on Tourism, this year’s daylong event has been dubbed ConnCon ’24 and will be held at the Bushnell in Hartford.

When announced, the new slogan will join a collection that includes the ultimately unpopular “Connecticut ... Still Revolutionary,” which was introduced in 2012 and officially retired in 2019, and, since then, such interim candidates as “Say Yes to Connecticut,” “Find Your Vibe” and “Make It Here.”

Anthony noted that recent census data show people have been moving to the state, its population growing by an average of 0.1% a year between 2010 and 2022. Part of the reason, he said, is the quality of life in Connecticut. Another is its well-educated workforce.

“It used to be that luring businesses with (tax) incentives was considered a cost of doing business,” Anthony said. “Now, it’s attracting them through the workforce and quality of life.”

The tourism office needs to keep spreading the word.

Lenda acknowledged that she’s coming on board with some tailwinds at her back.

Connecticut tourism enjoyed a second consecutive banner year in 2023, with the state welcoming nearly 68 million travelers, according to the governor’s office, and CTvisit.com attracting a record 9.4 million visitors, a 32% increase over the previous year. Hoping to capitalize on the momentum, Lamont will propose increasing funding for statewide marketing from $4.5 million to $5.5 million in next year’s state budget, according to Anthony.

He said the state will spend another $750,000 in federal pandemic funds to refurbish six highway Welcome Centers, including one on Interstate 95 in North Stoningon. Makeovers of centers in Danbury and Darien have been completed, with those in Greenwich, North Stonington, Westbrook and Willington scheduled to get similar treatments in the months ahead.

The renovations include the installation of touchscreen kiosks, TVs that air tourism promotions and supplies of brochures. At least some of the centers will be staffed on a seasonal basis.

Such touches will help make Connecticut “a drive-to state rather than a drive-through state,” Lenda said.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com