Oh, hey there. It's been a minute, hasn't it?
I'm in my third week of a new adventure at a new company in a brand new role. And I gotta tell 'ya, it's both thrilling and scary. You see, for the past six years I was leading an international social media and community team work on some large, amazing, well-known accounts. But the thing was - which I hear happens as you progress in a career - the bigger the team got, the more removed from the work I became. Now don't get we wrong. I learned. A. LOT. Especially about running a P&L and basically a stand-alone agency. And I'll always be grateful for that.
BUT I missed the work. The creative work, to be specific. When I look back on my career, I think about all the creative challenges I faced and how it stretched me to think bigger and bolder. So, after many months of consideration, I took a leap.
First off, I went in-house. In (cough, cough) years of my career working exclusively in agencies and having dozens of customers at the same time, I wanted to spend my time and effort thinking about ONE brand. Secondly, I wanted to work for a company that's literally out to change the world. And third, as you read above, I wanted to get back to my creative roots. (For those of you playing along at home, I started out as a copywriter.)
And then Udemy came along and all the boxes were checked. The power of learning, my friends. It's a new-to-the-company role, heading up Storytelling & Engagement. I kinda can't believe that's how I get to spend my time now: thinking about and creating things with a story-first lens. And there are so many stories to tell.
The other thing I need to get back to is writing. So in this space I'm going to start sharing my thoughts on stories, storytelling and deep, rich content that engages. Sometimes it'll just be a quick thought, and other times it'll be more in-depth. You're welcome to check-in from time-to-time if you wish.
Resets can be good things. And it's never too late for this old dog to remember his old tricks.