DAYTON-Audrey Bensel joined the Dayton Chamber of Commerce staff last month as assistant manager. She will share duties running the office in Downtown Dayton with newly hired director Melissa Bryan.

Bensel was circulations manager at the Dayton Chronicle for about a year, before accepting the Chamber position.

"This is right up my alley," she said. "I like to host parties."

Bensel grew up in Dayton and graduated from Dayton High. She went on to WSU and graduated with a BA in Theater Arts in 2006.

Since then she has lived in a number of places, and has worked in a variety of jobs, she said.

"I've worked as a driver's ed teacher, as a janitor at the WSU Veterinary Hospital, as a nanny and at a Halloween store," said Bensel. "Anything to keep from starving," she laughed.

Bensel recently played the role of Edwina Dunbar in the Liberty Theater production of Murder on the Rerun, and she would like to devote more time to theater, as time allows, she said.

"I feel like I'm adapting, so far," Bensel said about her job at the chamber. "We have a good team. There are a lot of good things happening this year."

Bensel shares her home with three dogs: Mona, Boris and Katie. Her parents are Tom and Lorrie Bensel, of Dayton.