Recently, Bravo debuted a Dallas spinoff of its infamous Real Housewives franchise. I am excited to announce, that I, Joey Conicella, have been casted for Season 2 and will be relocating to Dallas, Texas at the end of the month.
That’s a lie.
Well, most of it is a lie.
My new home.
I am, in fact, moving to Dallas, Texas, but not to be a Bravolebrity. My husband has been transferred for work, and although I adore the City of Brotherly Love, I love my husband more and will be moving with him at the end of the month.
Sadly, this means my time at ChatterBlast must come to an end. While I’m disappointed my stint here is ending sooner than I thought it would, I can’t help but feel like I’ve learned so many valuable lessons during my brief time as Client Services Manager.
When they asked me to write “one last blog” I thought it would be the perfect time to reflect and share what I’ve learned over the last year and a half. If you’ve wanted an inside look into ChatterBlast culture, consider this your front row seat.
Knowledge is Power
Knowledge is never the sexiest of values, but it is always the most powerful. In the world of social media, the status quo is always changing. There is always a new platform, tool, technique or influencer emerging and changing the game.
Being the best means being on top of your social media game and that means you constantly have to be learning and developing yourself and those around you.
ChatterBlast regularly invests in its staff with education, training and presentations from industry experts. As a team, we’re encouraged to share articles and collaborate in real time. I’ve discovered that learning from your colleagues can help you gain a different perspective and improve the quality of your work.
If ChatterBlast was a university, it would be Ivy League all the way.
Partnerships are Priceless
ChatterBlast is unapologetically (and rightfully so) masters of its domain. We do social and we do it well. Some may argue that we’re the best (I’m inclined to agree). That being said, there are plenty of things we don’t do well — and don’t want to do well.
SEO? No thank you. Web development? Pass. Video production? Oy gevalt.
Having a trusted (and tested) network of partner firms to do the work we don’t do is invaluable. It also provides the best solution for our clients, which, at the end of the day, is what we’re all about.
I learned to treat these partnerships with great tender loving care and just lake any relationship, they demand respect, reciprocity and a little fun every now and then. (ChowderBlast anyone?)
We Work Ourselves Out of Jobs
When I first heard our CEO Evan Urbania say, “We may end up working ourselves out of this job”, I thought, “Why on Earth would we want to work ourselves out of a job?”
I soon realized that it’s not about wanting to work ourselves out of a job — it’s about doing what’s best for our clients, and sometimes that means enabling and empowering them.
Our website says our #1 core value is Clients First, and I’m happy to report that it’s very much the law of the land at ChatterBlast Media.
Stop What You’re Doing, and Give Back
From day one at ChatterBlast, it was clear that community matters to these guys. Sure, we take pride in helping our clients, but it’s the work we do outside of the office that really motivates us.
Within a few short weeks of joining the team, I was baking cookies at a crisis day care center, cleaning dog crates at an animal refuge and feeding those less fortunate than myself at a soup kitchen. Eventually I was fundraising for the MS Society, training for a MS City to Shore bike ride, and running through a graveyard for MANNA. I bonded with my teammates and learned to appreciate life outside of likes, shares and retweets.
ChatterBlast’s dedication and commitment to creating and contributing to the community left an impression on me that I won’t forget.
Ice Cream Cake is King.
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, I’ve learned that ChatterBlast takes its snacks very seriously. We celebrate just about anything and everything with food. Birthdays, holidays, first days, last days, Wednesdays…you get the picture.
A photo posted by ChatterBlast Media (@chatterblast) on
We celebrated my birthday with two cookie cakes.
We have celebrated with chocolate fountains, giant cannolis and King Cakes. I’m pretty sure we’re Nuts to You’s number one customer. But, it’s the revered Ice Cream Cake that really gets us going around here. (You’ve never seen a group of millennials move quicker then when that ice cream cake arrives.)
And while all this snacking is fun and delicious, it plays a much deeper role at ChatterBlast. It’s when we laugh and when we share stories. It’s when we grow closer as a team. Snack time is family time, and I’ll miss it very much.
It’s hard to sum up everything I learned, but I hope you have an understanding of the very special place I got to work at for the last year and a half. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go social stalk my future best friends, the Real Housewives of Dallas.
