For the MMC team, it’s the last (official) work day of 2009! The office is buzzing and the piles of cookies are finally disappearing as everyone is gearing up for a much needed holiday break. Personally, I have a lot to reflect on this year. One year ago today I sat in my home office, too pregnant to put on my own boots, wondering if the uncomfortable stomach pain I had been feeling since I woke up were actually contractions. Despite my best efforts to evacuate her sooner, a year ago tomorrow my unbelievably amazing daughter, Teagan was born.
Like everything in life, we live and we learn. I never dreamed I would have so many “key learnings” after just one year as a mom to the little lady we describe most as persistent and tenacious. My husband and I came up with some thoughts on our experiences, most of which we never could have imagined just one year ago.
For example, a top line:
- We spent a lot of time before Teagan was born dreading early mornings but we actually look forward to the extra time we get to spend with her before we both leave for work. In fact, we look forward to every extra minute we get to spend with her. – Vacations are no longer “vacations.” They are a change of scenery. I still need a lot of them. – I never thought I would find so much support and strength in some of my fellow co-workers. I had no idea how much I would need it! – Seeing those little legs run furiously across the apartment each time I walk through the door make every other thought in my head go away. This beautiful little girl is as obsessed with me as I am with her. I love that. I know it won’t always be that way. For now, it’s amazing. – In general, we knew our life would “never be the same again” but we didn’t realize how much we would love our new life.
We can’t wait to see what 2010 has in store for our family, but if it’s even half as wonderful as 2009, we are in for another unbelievable year! Wishing the same for my extended family – our amazing team, colleagues and friends at MMC! xoxo
Happy Birthday Teagan!
I was having a hard time getting into the holiday spirit this year. Not in a Scrooge or Grinch-like way, but I just wasn’t feeling it. I put up a Christmas tree in my apartment two weeks ago (if it qualifies, it’s three ft tall and lives on our kitchen table), enjoyed MMC’s fabulous holiday party last week and was listening to holiday music on repeat, but something was missing. I had hardly started my holiday shopping list, took no joy in trying to figure out what to buy my father or his girlfriend for Christmas and was at a loss when asked what I wanted. I knew Christmas (and MMC’s Gift Week) was right around the corner, but it didn’t quite feel like the season to me yet.
Saturday, I was at Bryant Park, finally making a dent in my Christmas list when the first flakes of the season’s first snowstorm began to fall. Suddenly the park, and New York City, was magical. Despite the cold, I chose to walk home so I could pass by Macy’s and through Herald Square in the snow. Although it doesn’t stick in the city like it does in my hometown in Massachusetts, there’s something inherently beautiful about the first snowfall that covers Manhattan. That day, I returned home to enjoy hot chocolate with my roommates by the soft glow of our baby Christmas tree and it finally felt like the holidays. The snow had kicked my holiday spirit into high gear.
Though, I will admit I found myself cursing the snow as I tried to (gracefully) leap inches deep puddles of slush when I ventured out to finish my holiday shopping on Sunday. My holiday spirit also began to wane when I was caught in the flurry right before Macy’s evacuated due to a fire. Nevertheless, I find myself truly looking forward to heading to Massachusetts to celebrate the holidays with family and old friends.
How did you get into the holiday spirit this year?
I love the month of December. And it’s not just because of all the holiday cheer (and parties), and the coveted MMC Gift Week. Or the festive decorations wrapped throughout the city. Or even the 8 special nights of Chanukah and the time spent with family. I look forward to this time of year for all its traditions.
Everyone has their own unique traditions, and while my family has a few here and there, there’s one that’s always constant. Picture this: It’s a cold, snowy afternoon on December 25th and most stores, restaurants and shopping malls are closed. I’m home in Westchester sitting at the breakfast table with my siblings and parents. “What is there to do today?” my sister asks. The answer is crystal clear – GO TO THE MOVIES.
Every Christmas Day, my family and I go to the movies, followed by Chinese food for dinner (a typical Jewish Christmas). While other families may have similar traditions, my family makes ours one of a kind. We’re all very passionate, sometimes stubborn people not a great combination when it comes to making democratic decisions. Every year it’s the same routine
We spend hours arguing and disagreeing over what movie to see. We laugh at my mom who makes us leave for the theatre 3 hours before the movie begins. And we almost always wind up seeing a bad movie and then complain about what we could have seen instead. And I wouldn’t pass that up for anything.
This year, I’m most excited to see Avatar (10 years in the making!), Nine (musical!), and Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey, Jr!). I wouldn’t consider myself a movie buff or even a movie fanatic, but during these cold winter months, especially on Christmas Day, it’s all about honoring our tradition and experiencing the magic of the movies with my family.
Two weeks ago, I traveled to Washington D.C. with fellow MMCer Jackie Widrow to accept an award from PR News. It’s an incredible honor to be recognized as one of 2009′s “15 to Watch” and the experience is one I’ll carry with me for the rest of my career.
In my time at MMC, I’ve been incredibly lucky to have brilliant, creative and inspiring managers that have taught me valuable lessons and helped me grow as a professional. We have a culture of empowerment here, so it’s my job as a manager to pay those lessons forward to my team members.
Here are just a few suggestions to help new PR professionals stand out:
- 1. Observe your colleague’s habits – good and bad! Every person you’ll work with has something to offer as a learning experience, so take note of the positive attributes you want to mimic in your career and those you’d like to avoid.
- 2. Dive into the projects you dread, head first. There will always be projects you can’t wait to get your hands on and those you wish never came your way. Tackle them both with the same level of detail and drive. Find a way to conquer the painful projects so much so that you blow your supervisors away and you’ll eventually come to look forward to those too.
- 3. Find the challenge in the small things. Even if it’s a project you’ve done before, there are always new ways to take it to the next level. They may be small changes, but it will give you a new perspective on how to impress your supervisors.
To be honest, this is not the perspective from which I thought I would be writing this blog entry just four days ago, but it is likely a more valuable lesson. This past Friday, I, along with my fellow MMC Gators Danae Danta and Marissa Berlin, were discussing our alma mater’s pre-game strategy, captivated as always by the media coverage surrounding our beloved quarterback, and finalizing plans to watch our biggest game of the year at one of NYC’s six University of Florida alumni viewing bars. The SEC Championship match-up against the University of Alabama brought together the two best teams in college football, and we with two football championships already under our belts in just the past three years were confidently supporting our team’s run for a third, knowing it would be the hardest test of our very capable team’s skills this season.
I awoke Saturday morning to Gator pride updates splashed across 95% of my Facebook news feed. I too posted my support, donned my favorite game day gear and joined hundreds of Gotham Gators, and the hundreds of thousands in the Gator Nation, to watch what we hoped would be the game that took us to Pasadena. Every emotion I imagine the players were experiencing, we were too but as the game wore on, anxiety and nerves overtook our excitement as the points were piling up in the wrong direction. By the end of the fourth quarter, we looked on as the opposition celebrated and our Tim Tebow cried on the sideline.
In that moment, my heart went out to him, but I was also so frustrated with the subpar performance of my team. It would have been so easy to retreat to Bama-bashing or playing the blame game but Tebow took to his post-game interview like the leader and class-act he is. With tears in his eyes, he gave credit where credit is due to Alabama, recalled the memories he’ll take away from his college football career and ended, as always, with “God Bless.” My fellow Gators may put Tebow on a pedestal for many reasons, and those in the SEC may hate him for many others, but Saturday night he displayed the type of grace, humility and character I will personally always look up to and respect. On and off the field, Tebow is an example of how to be a true leader. Though we are alike in that we both wear our emotions on our sleeves, I only hope I can become as inspiring of a leader as I find him to be.
