So...What's Next?!?

Simply in a great mood

Tonight I had a semi-final meeting with my interns for their 8 week project.  We have two more weeks to go and we went over what was expected over the next couple of weeks as well as reviewed the past 6 weeks.

I think we all agreed that we have made some significant progress in 6 short weeks. They all felt they had learned a lot! That is a really good feeling! We agreed to meet on the last day of the internship for a final party.

After the meeting I met my husband at the gym. We were able to catch up with each other and the happenings within the family.

Although admittedly  13 is a very difficult age - I think my 13 year old and I are strengthening our relationship the past couple of weeks. We have always had a strong bond and I am really happy that he is allowing me to stay part of his journey enough that I have been able to guide him along some of the rougher waters.

As far as the company, I am launching a few new initiatives and they seem to be making some progress already. Although I know it is going to be a lot of work and long hours keeping everything in order, I really feel grounded and ready for the challenge now more than ever.

I am working on a few creative briefs - which is very exciting, because I am finally to the point that I am working on more than research and training, but actual campaigns and creative processes. The bigger vision is finally coming to life.

The Enterprise 2.0 society has solidified the next few speakers and everything is moving really well there.

Overall things are going really well. Admittedly there were a few times today when I felt drained or overwhelmed, but I knew it was just the moment and that it was because everything I have been asking for was now on my plate (be careful what you ask for.)

Tonight as I listen to my iTunes, a few songs that used to bring down came on. But instead of feeling down, I listened to them with a "peaceful, easy feelin." I actually enjoyed the memories of the ups and downs that I have been on. It's all good!

Finally, song lyrics - just because -

A FINE FRENZY LYRICS

"You Picked Me"

One, two, three
Counting out the signs we see
The tall buildings
Fading in the distance
Only dots on a map
Four, five, six
The two of us a perfect fit
You're all mine, all mine

And all I can say
Is you blow me away

Like an apple on a tree
Hiding out behind the leaves
I was difficult to reach
But you picked me
Like a shell upon a beach
Just another pretty piece
I was difficult to see
But you picked me
Yeah you picked me

So softly
Rain against the windows
And the strong coffee
Warming up my fingers
In this fisherman's house
You got me
Searched the sand
And climbed the tree
And brought me back down

And all I can say
Is you blow me away

Like an apple on a tree
Hiding out behind the leaves
I was difficult to reach
But you picked me
Like a shell upon a beach
Just another pretty piece
I was difficult to see
But you picked me
Yeah you picked me

My Team Likes to Party All the Time

I still have not gotten my voice back from last night.

Last night we extended our online street team project for Atlanta.net (which I will discuss in more detail on the corp blog this weekend) to the physical world. In partnership with USDM and NetParty, we hosted over 700 people at the Tongue & Groove at Lindberg.

Grayson Daughters and Amani Channel were both wonderful enough to help me guide my incredibly talented and social interns in the world of citizen journalism. They also shot some great video of the crowd.

We also hired Mark Fienberg to produce some high def video and a professional photographer.

Grayson and Amani were twittering throughout the night and Grayson, apparently more able to bounce back after such a night than me, has already written a blog post.

A few highlights;

• Meeting Jeff Strank, Founder/President of Net Party - someone who has an incredibly fun job, and definitely deserves it.
• Stumbled into a gentleman who wants a million friends on Myspace - apparently he called me for advice and I did not return his call, and he remembered that! sorry...
• When my client asked how I found my interns, I got to answer...Twitter.
• Working with some of my favorite creative friends...
• Watching my most shy intern come out of her shell.
• All of us looking at each other saying - wow! this is cool.

Why I Love Working With Interns

Last night we had our kick off meeting for a campaign that we are launching for one of our clients. I have 4 interns on the project with me. 2 are majoring in PR 1 in Advertising and 1 in English.

The greatest thing about working with Interns is the academic, idealistic knowledge is fresh. They have not been in a corporate world that tells them certain things are not possible or that is not the way we do it.

I have the opportunity to be reminded of what that is like. As I explained to them, I find myself going through old textbooks to fill in the knowledge gaps that were created because I did not get the opportunity to apply what I learned in school. As I go through these books I am reminded of the "vision" and excitement I had about the career I was going to embark on. On top of that I get to work and guide students who are currently in that state of mind.

My hope is that I can be a long term good example of two things.

1. Your career path does not always go on the track you thought it would go, but that can be a good thing. As I have said before, the jobs that I took for financial reasons as opposed to creative reasons (recruiting, sales...) gave me the tools and knowledge that have enabled me to be in this very creative job I have today.

2. Always believe you can, always know you are good enough.  I really try to encourage them to take a leadership role and act independently in the projects with guidelines and coaching from us. Not only do I want to see what they can do, I want them to see what they can do.

I have a great job! They are embarking on a great internship. Their mission - to hang out on social networking sites and attend a cool party in April.

This is going to be fun.