Hey, everyone! I’m PR Working Girl.

My first love was actually Advertising. On a whim, and more truthfully, out of desperation, I enrolled in an Intro to Advertising course when I was a sophomore in college because my broadcast journalism dreams were kind of headed on a path to nowhere. At the time, I was DJ-ing once a week for the campus radio station in hopes of someday getting good enough to be on TV, when a listener called the request line and told me to please stop talking because my high-pitched “on air” voice (hey, I was nervous!) sounded like I was speaking to 5 year- olds and/or baby animals. Yeah.

So anyway, looking back, taking that Intro to Advertising course was probably the smartest thing I ever did in college. I thrived in that class, everything to me was amazing and interesting, from cost of billboards to logo designs. I was on a high. As a junior, I got my very first internship at an advertising agency in LA working with twowell known brands (think cat food and instant rice) where my duties included taking notes behind a two-way mirrorduring focus groups, building giant display boards for client brainstorms and doing tons of competitive research. This was my first taste of “the real world,” and I felt totally star-struck—don’t know how else to put it—for the whole three months.

Toward the end of my junior year, I noticed a lot of my other Communication major friends trying out public relations. They said it was similar to advertising, but different. I thought, what the heck, I might as well try it out.So my second internship was with this little boutique entertainment PR agency run by a stay-at-home-mom, from out of her spare bedroom! She was incredible! Her clients included these super snazzy LA producers, screenwritersand composers. A lot of these guys did work for TV ads, so it was like I still had a foot in advertising while I learnedall about PR “straight from the horse’s mouth.” But the best thing I learned about PR was all the writing involved,which I loved.

My final semester of college, I was feeling pretty torn. What direction should I go? Advertising (get to be creative)or PR (get to write)? Both sounded so promising. I lucked out with my third internship which was working at an ad agency on their internal PR team—score! As I’m writing this, I’m realizing how incredibly lucky I was to find such great work experience before I even graduated. Now-a-days, even though it wasn’t really that long ago, I’m class of 2005, I understand the economy is in a MUCH different place. My hat goes off to those of you job or internship hunting right now, I admire your determination and strength to endure the increased competitiveness out there.Don’t give up.

After college, I continued to work in agency settings over the next three years. The first year was at the same agency of my final internship (they hired me upon graduation) and then at a PR agency in Chicago for two years (LOVE CHICAGO). I’m now in Orange County, Calif. where I’ve gone back to working on an internal PR team, but this time not at an agency, but in a corporate setting for a cell phone company. I’ve been here for about a year and a half now. So not only am I a writing nerd and a horrible radio DJ, I guess this also makes me a techhie. Is there anything worse?? Haha.

Some of you may wonder, what is PR anyway? Basically, my job is to build and maintain the reputation and public perception of our company. We work hand in hand with the Marketing folks to ensure the message they’re sending out to consumers is actually true. So if a company’s ads portray them as innovative, our job would be to spread the word about the kinds of innovative things the company is doing. To do that, I build relationships with influential reporters and bloggers and work with them on stories and feed them information about what’s going on with our company, how we’re impacting the industry, when we have new products, etc. in hopes that they write glowing articles about us. This is the “media relations” part. I also do a lot of crisis communications, which is when we prepare for disasters like when a competitor lowers their prices to match ours, when news is accidently leaked, orwhen people are offended by our ads. Our job is to handle the situation so it doesn’t spin out of control and cause any loss of confidence in the company. I also work to educate and build relationships with analysts who are “experts” and who often offer third-party perspective to the media, so they’re always wanting to know what’s going on within the industry. In a nutshell, anytime you see, hear or read anything positive about a company in the newspapers, online, on a blog, on the morning/evening news, etc. it’s very, very likely that a PR person helped put it there.

Ok, so ENOUGH about me. I want to hear about you. Any other PR working girls out there? Let’s hear it! And feel free to drop me a line! I can be reached at prworkinggirl@gmail.com.

I’ve recently been really into attempting to find beauty products that I just adore and can’t live without. And it’s a lot harder than you think! So I thought I would share some of my findings below, because if a Working Girl needs anything – it’s a little beauty to brighten her day.

It’s another Thursday morning in the office and I’m sitting at my desk clicking the heels of my boots, eyes closed and whispering methodically, “I can make it to Friday! I can make it to Friday. I can make it to Friday?”

I’m officially post-holiday and feeling the sting.

It seems that things at work are getting more and more unpredictable as the company enacts sweeping changes. I’ve been around longer than most, more than five years, and I’ve never seen it quite like this. Restructuring, administrative musical chairs, cryptic company-wide memos, nixed holiday bonuses; its leaving me slightly on edge.

I’ve taken to sorting my afternoon Chex Mix snack into neat categories to calm my nerves. And, despite all the weirdness, it’s insanely busy.

Taking a week and a half of PTO at the end of the year has caught up with me in a tremendous way. I’ve made the decisions eat lunch at my desk more than once since coming back. I’m seriously wondering if time off is work the hassle once its over? The flooded inbox, the mountain of sticky-note tagged items in my chair, the multitude of voicemails that must be returned though I know that half of them probably don’t remember calling in the first place. (*sigh*) But alas, I have work, which is more than can be said for 10.2% of Georgians, so really I shouldn’t complain. Somehow, holiday gifts are still trickling in Mid-January and there’s nothing like an unexpected jar of individually-wrapped Rice Krispie Treats to brighten up a day!

And the weather has been miserably cold. Yes, I know its January but us southerners are accustomed to mild winters with the occasional two or three day “wintry mix” thrown in just to remind us why we choose not live in colder climates. But this frigid weather descended upon the Southeast over a week ago with temps dipping into the teens. At one point, Atlanta was colder than Alaska. . . Alaska, people! No one has time to be courteous now. Southern hospitality fades at 17 degrees. It even snowed, once, and only a few inches fell but since we were below-freezing, it hung around for days. Ice slick roadways made driving, even walking, hazardous. I actually made it across the frozen parking lot at work only to step in the door and slip. The fall was legendary. Think Home Alone. I was on the ground before I realized I was falling.

No, there is not a lawsuit pending but it did get me to thinking about a very real disorder, post-holiday blues, as I lay there wondering if anyone had witness the fall. PHD is a living, breathing, palpable funk that usually hits hard this time of year after the intense excitement of the end of the year holidays, especially if there’s craziness at work. The lack of energy and motivation, sticker shock from overextending on must-have Black Friday deals, the fact that the next paid holiday may not be until May and just overall bad mood can strike even the most focused Working Girls so I googled these tips for getting back into the groove:

• Exercise! Okay, you’ve probably heard this a million times but exercising does make you feel good! Start working some form of exercise into your daily routine—you don’t have to buy a gym membership; going on walks or a 20 minute run three or four times a week is good enough, as long as it gets the heart pumping. Exercising will make you feel more alert and awake, which will help you perform well at work, even if you don’t want to be there. It will also help you get to bed at a reasonable hour, which will help your sleeping schedule get back in order. And of course, it will make you look good as well as feel good!

• Clean up. Get organized and put away all holiday decorations. This will help you mentally move on and get into a better mindset to get back to work. It will also take some stress off, knowing that you get to come home to a clean environment will give you some peace of mind.

• Take time to reflect on the wonderful things you did during your vacation. You may realize that, although the holiday is sadly over, you made the most of your time off and had a lot of fun. This will make it easier to accept that it’s time to get back to normalcy.

• Don’t forget about the little ones! Adults are not the only ones that don’t like going back to the old routine—your kids feel it too! Help establish the old routines by getting them to bed early and limiting how much TV they watch. Encourage them by reminding them that school is fun and how all their friends are excited to see them again. Have a positive attitude about going back, so that your children will mirror this positivity.

• Start thinking about the next fun thing you want to do, or the next vacation you want to take, so that you have something else look forward to.
  

Meeting Notes is a weekly feature. Here we will dish on tidbits, news, and important things we thinking Working Girls should know. So scroll down to hear what we think you should glean from this work week.

Or so my new company may think. I’m learning quite quickly just how restricting corporate Internet policy can be. When I had down time at my last job (which happened quite frequently), I could surf the Internet as I pleased. Facebook, Gchat, Hulu, Perez, YouTube—the world wide web was mine for the taking.

When I moved on to the corporate world a few weeks ago, I knew that my carefree Internet surfing days were over. I promised myself I wouldn’t be as obsessed with the Internet as I was in my last job. And if I did feel the need to look something up that wasn’t job-related, I’d keep it very work-friendly. As in, only CNN and Weather Channel. A girl has to keep herself informed, right?

Well, unfortunately, because I started over the holidays, when projects and people were scarce, I found myself with a lot of extra time on my hands. I tried to restrain myself, but pretty soon my fingers were itching to type in my old favorite web addresses.

I started by looking up things I wanted for Christmas. My fingers flew furiously over the keyboard as I typed in the familiar store name. I couldn’t wait to feed in to my online addiction of looking random stuff up. After a quick second of loading, I was met with a blindingly bright white page. It practically screamed, in blazing RED letters, “Site restricted due to SEX.” Under that, in fine print, it plainly stated, “Attempt to access site has been logged.”

Crud. First week on the job and they already caught me trying to look at porn. Because you know me (oh wait, no you don’t), that’s totally my thing. Only, it’s not. At all. I was absolutely mortified. My new employers probably thought I was a pervert! And the offending site was Anthropologie.com. Who knew?!

Not long after, I decided to peruse the entire CNN website. (Yes, I had time on my hands.) I clicked on the Technology tab and immediately got the RESTRICTED website again, blaring at me in amazing technicolor. The reason? Games. On CNN. Really?

So in light of my recent restriction revelations, I now present to you my safe-for-work (thus far) Internet favorites:

CNN (except Technology)—My go-to site. But don’t be fooled. My most clicked-on tab is Entertainment. Oh and Travel, too. I like to plan my escape.

Entertainment Weekly—Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure Perez Hilton’s hand-crafted photo drawings and captions won’t cut it in the corporate world. That’s why I turn to EW.com for my entertainment fix. It’s a great place for watered-down celeb gossip and great TV/movie buzz.

Weather Channel—I’m kind of a weather nut, so I love to check out the forecast in my new city, old city, hometown, places I’ve visited, placed I’d like to visit, places I’ll never visit, etc. Checking the weather in Bora, Bora is kind of fun. Emphasis on kind of. Caution: This practice can cause daydreaming…and climate jealousy.

Real Simple—A superb site for finding simple recipes, amazing advice and helpful hints, tips and tricks for everyday life. I learn something new every time I log on.

Now it’s your turn. Do you have any safe-for-work favorites? If so, I’d love to hear them. The more the merrier!

And I don’t want to talk about it. My first week of work was quite overwhelming, the special needs pre-schoolers I am working with require a lot of assistance and a LOT of patience. I have been trying to keep my cool all week (although I have cried everyday at 2PM when they leave), but the stress has started to get to me, and it’s too early in 2010 to get burned out! With that said, I thought I’d write about stress. The word itself even gives me chills (and as I am typing this, the children who live above me are screaming crying and THAT is even stressing me out).

Being a Working Girl in any field can feel like a lot of pressure at times. There are things you are required to do in order to keep your job, as well as things you want to do to prove to your boss that you’re right for the job. Presentations, reports, events, meetings, lesson plans, conferences, report cards…it’s hard to keep track of everything (especially when you have to keep track of it for 16 three-year-olds and their parents as well), and it can get very stressful very fast. However the key is to manage your stress (along with managing your work, your boss’s calendar, social events, and errands, right?) because if not stress will get the best of you and it can damage your performance, your mind, and your health. Here are some tips I found on about.com about why managing is important.

1. Get Organized: I live for making lists! “Food store”, “calls to make”, “stuff to pack for business trip” and to be extra organized I recommend numbering your lists according to importance.

2. Work It Of: Sometimes you just don’t feel like going to the gym, and I can’t blame you. After a tiring day at work it’s hard to get motivated to go back out (especially if the weather is crummy) so lay on the floor and stretch. Take deep breaths as you reach above your head and to your toes. It will help relax your muscles.

3. Develop Strategies: It’s impossible to avoid stress. It happens. Have some back up plans to keep you on track such as an easy meal you can defrost if you don’t have time to make dinner or a “go to” outfit that makes you feel more important for that intense meeting next week.

4. Take 5: When you feel yourself getting tense get up from your desk (or ask a teacher to cover your class) and take a few minutes to get your head clear. Get some fresh air or splash some water on your face and take lots of deep breaths.

5. Set Realistic Goals: Lose 40 pounds by March is only going to stress you out more when Feb 28th rolls around and you’ve only lost 10.

6. Take A Nap: Studies show that a 15-20 minute nap can improve your mood and stress-handling abilities. As for myself, when I come home from school if I took a nap, I wouldn’t wake up until the next morning. But there’s nothing wrong with crashing on the couch for a bit after a long day.

7. Stay Involved: Join sports teams in your area, go to weekly dinners with friends, or take up a new hobby.

8. Eat Well: Try to stick to a balanced diet during the week to keep your immune system strong and help you sleep well. Vitamin C is magic to a teacher.

So remember girls, it is okay to be stressed out, but managing it is key. Stay organized and take some time for yourself. You deserve to have some fun! And if you ever need to vent, email me and we can share war stories!

I attended a national high school journalism conference in Washington, DC about halfway through my senior year. One of the first assignments we received was a huge interviewing project where we had to pick a buddy, interview each other and write a nice little intro piece for the conference booklet. I came across said booklet a few weeks ago and was completely taken aback to see that my ten year plan included, among other things, working for CNN, buying a house and birthing ten children. Yes, ten! Now, its approaching eleven years after that bizarre interview and since I’m not introducing myself as Media Working Girl you’ve probably guessed by now that at least part of that plan fell through.

Instead of hosting my own prime time news-talk hour and giving Anderson Cooper “the eye” during commercial breaks, I’m managing the professional lives and schedules of two wonderful—albeit high maintenance—senior vice presidents at an Atlanta-based healthcare consulting company, one of whom actually compared himself to Diana Ross during my first weeks as his assistant. While I’ve seen many a professional, degreed career woman scoff at the lowly assistant role, I happen to enjoy life in the trenches. Think of one of those popular TV dramas wherein the main characters are sprinting across the world following clues, torturing suspects, taking out WMDs, etc. There is rarely an episode where said characters do not find themselves in a jam and in immediate need of the recipe for a do-it-yourself dirty bomb or the floor plans of the Bagdad airport and out pops the cell phone. You see, that’s me, on the other end of that cell phone, tucked away in a darkened office, crouched in front of multiple computer screens with fingers flying over the keys, hacking into top secret files and supplying the intel.

Well, that’s kinda me. While my job is not nearly that glamorous nor does it involve national security, I do get quite a rush tracking down a client for a pop-up conference call or locating an alternate route to a meeting venue at the crack of dawn or figuring out the fastest and most cost effective way to get one of my guys to appointments in Chicago, San Diego, Las Vegas and back over a two day period. Its challenging and rarely boring. I did say rarely boring, not never boring, because there are times when 100+ page documents need proofing and PowerPoint presentations require formatting but at the end of the day, its fulfilling work.

After the daily grind, I leave my office and head over to what I consider my SECOND job: Two Little Girls, Inc.! My seven and four year old daughters are far more high maintenance but definitely more rewarding than any paying job I’ve ever had and being a single mother means that I can’t tag my partner into the ring when I need a break after 5 rounds of Uno Attack or just to create a diversion while I attempt to prepare a nutritious yet kid-delicious meal. So, after a day of tackling piles of expense reports, cold calling prospects and clearing paper jams in the copier, my evenings generally involve squeezing as much parenting as possible into the two hours we have together before bedtime. At that point, I take off all my hats and attempt, yes I do mean attempt, to focus on me: my health, my writing. Not in that order and rarely every day. I have a list of “me things” all lined up for the year 2024. That’s when the youngest will (hopefully) set out into the world, leaving me the time and energy to finally get some things done. And yes, I’m kidding . . . I hope.

As for the rest of my ten year plan, I didn’t get very far and I’m OK with that. I’ve come to terms with living in the aftermath of a failed marriage and several other not so great decisions that leave me feeling, at 29, way older and perhaps a little wiser. The fact that we’ve just entered a new decade has me all excited about renewal and endless possibilities while I’m simultaneously taking stock of my entire existence as I prepare to exit my twenties next month. It’s a strange yet electrifying place to be as I join the WG Staff as Healthcare Working Girl!

Hi, I’m Advertising Working Girl and I’m a catchphrase-concocting Copywriter. I reside on the creative side of the advertising world and boy, do I love it. And now that I get to whip up compelling (and hopefully entertaining) posts as a Working Girl Contributor, I’m absolutely giddy with glee. (Yay Glee!)

I always knew I wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember (except that one month when I was 8 in which I had to be a Disney cartoonist…until I realized I couldn’t draw). As soon as I got to college and discovered the joys of copywriting, I knew that’s what I wanted to do. Though, as I’m sure pretty much any copywriter would agree, I would love to write books one day. Preferably chick lit. There’s nothing I love more than getting lost in a good, and somewhat mindless, book.

And while I love what I do, I haven’t been able to focus much on it lately. Why’s that? Well, in the last six weeks, my life has been swept up in a crazy whirlwind of change.

I took a huge leap of faith (and love), packed up my little life and moved to a new city, a new apartment and a heck of a new job . I’ve moved on from a tiny ad agency where everyone knew my name, shoe size, favorite ice cream toppings—everything—to the gigantic corporate world where I’m literally just a number.

The best part? For the first time in a long time, I feel excited. I’ve only been at my new job a few short weeks (with some holiday chaos thrown in for fun), but I’m absolutely loving it. I got the dream job I’d been craving and though I’m still learning the ropes, I know it’s going to be everything I hoped it would be—and more. Though it certainly won’t be without its challenges, it’s a position that’s filled with seemingly endless opportunities to grow and succeed.

But let’s be honest—being the new kid is awkward. As someone who is shy around new people, I’ve really tried to step out of my shell. In an office chock full of inside jokes, it’s a bit difficult to fit in. I find myself constantly trying to find the balance between happily joining in on conversations with co-workers and being the creepy eavesdropping girl who butts in. It’s quite difficult!

That’s nothing compared to trying to navigate my way around the actual office building. I would love to carry a map with me (oh yes, there are maps) but I’d rather not look like a lost little freshman. Thank goodness I had a nice long orientation to get me situated. I couldn’t even find the bathrooms for at least a half a day.

I honestly had no idea what to expect when I stepped into the corporate world. Over the holidays, I had three different relatives congratulate me on my first real job. Huh? I felt a tiny bit offended. After all, I’ve been a Working Girl for a few years now.

But honestly, it kind of does feel like my first REAL job. I actually have to dress up every day (which meant I just had to buy a new wardrobe, of course). And now I couldn’t be more excited to dive right in and take my new company by storm…a happy, thriving, successful storm.

Over a year ago, WG1 and WG2 asked me to be a guest contributor and write about my not-as-typical Working Girl life after graduation, and I am honored to be asked to come back as a full-time contributor. For those of you who are too lazy to click and read (trust me – we all have our days), I’ll give you the brief summary.

I graduated in 2007 with my degree in Communication. After interning in the city for a media company I realized it just wasn’t for me. My days of playing school and teaching my dolls how to count Cheerios were still with me so I went to graduate school to become a teacher. After taking about 60 credits in one year and completing my student teaching I was a certified teacher. I thought I would complete my Masters in the next year but an unexpected job offer came up the last weekend of August.

The position turned out to be a teacher at a Head Start Preschool, which is a federally funded organization for underprivileged children. It was a challenging year (since I was one of the few teachers who was not bilingual), but the children were amazing. I took some more online courses and became officially certified in Early Childhood Education. It was heartbreaking to leave my ninos in June when I bought a condo with my sister and moved to Hoboken.

I spent most of my summer babysitting and job searching and when September rolled around and I was unemployed, I panicked. September passed, as did October and November. By this point I had been unemployed for 5 months. Speaking of, why isn’t there a contributor called Unemployed Girl? Because I could so be her mentor! As much fun as it was at first sleeping late and watching Soap Net all day, it got old. Fast.

I applied for unemployment and got denied since I left my previous job voluntarily because of the move. My money was gone and I was scared I’d have to move back home. Luckily, my sister offered to be my sugar mama and helped me out so I didn’t have to make that dreaded phone call to my parents.

December came and a friend of my fathers (who recently started a sales company) said he was looking for some help…in White Plains. For those of you who are geographically challenged like myself, this job required me to drive 2 hours both ways in traffic with angry New Yorkers. On top of that, the job entailed sitting at a desk in a small room with 5 other people making cold calls to appliance repairmen. My dream job? Notsomuch. Having no background in this I was shocked when I made my first sale..and then another..and another. It felt good, but not as satisfying as when I am with children and watching them grow and learn. Granted my preschool paycheck didn’t put a dent in my bills, but the important thing was that I still loved it.

Luckily, I got a call on my third day of working as a corporate girl and got offered a job at a preschool for children with disabilities. And on my fourth day of work I gave my two weeks notice.

I was surprisingly sad to leave my White Plains coworkers. They were a lot of fun and we had become fast friends sitting in that office everyday from 9-6 but they understood why I had to leave. My boss knew my passion was teaching and he said he would never ask me to give it up. His support made me feel good about this new position, even though I am taking an extreme pay cut. (And I mean extreme as in making minimum wage). But it’s not about the money because if it was I’d still be sitting in traffic on my way to White Plains at this exact moment (yes, the commute is torture). Plus, I have my sister aka my sugar mama to watch my back so I’m not too worried!

I’m really excited that I will be able to share my less typical Working Girl experiences with you. And just in case you wanted to know more about me, here are some fun facts. I am obsessed with this blog, The Office, Tom Hanks, and my dog Phoebe. I have a weird thing for Chris Daughtry and I love anything involving magic. I’m on the Junior Board of Directors for The Valerie Fund and I’d die if I didn’t have DVR or Rock Band.

Remember about a month ago when I said we were back to blogging. About that…