Samantha Lovelace – From the Front Desk
Posted by sammy on May 16th, 2008
Welcome to the first instalment of Thursday’s From the Front Desk.
Please note! Due to the unpredictable nature of the PR world From the Front desk may occasionally be posted on a Friday, after-hours, from my father’s computer. Like today, for instance.
From the Front Desk is Samantha Lovelace’s spin on the PR world from a entry-level perspective.
As an entry-level PR-erson and, indeed, office worker, Samantha sits at the front desk of TFC.
During an average day she doesn’t just answer phones and fix printers; Samantha’s front desk experiences are just short of a full degree’s worth of education in PR, computers and people. This, along with general office antics keep her, and she hopes will keep you, entertained all workday long (and sometimes longer).
Now that being said, and with out further ado, Here’s Sammy!
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Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls – Welcome to the first ever post From the Front Desk!
I thought I’d take this opportunity to introduce myself:
My name is Samantha Lovelace and I work at the front desk at Thornley Fallis Communications.
I was lucky to have been introduced to the job, Alex Milroy, Sandra Cruickshanks and Michael O’Connor Clarke by my most fabulous friend, Ms. Lauren Saliba.
Lauren was “the front desk” at TFC in Ottawa and knew they were looking for “Lauren” in Toronto. After great consideration, she declined the offer to transfer herself and passed on the opportunity to me; a quickly tiring, server/bartender/manager of 8 odd years.
Lauren and I have been faithful friends for close to 14 years. We met, one fine evening, in the yard behind Muchmore public school in Ottawa’s “the Glebe”. I believe it was a Friday.
With a fresh squeezed BBA and a desire for something new I was eager to take on the new challenge and marched in to the Ottawa office for my first “career” interview.
I got the job!
With in the month I left the famed Royal Oak in the Glebe of Ottawa, trained a couple of days in Ottawa and packed up my things, my loving partner-in-crime and our cat. Off to Toronto we went.
It was three days before I experienced my first printer malfunction, learned how to do a mail merge, met my first client and worked past five in a 9-5 job. Lets just say I didn’t find my admin skills they were violently thrust upon me with the fury of one incredibly angry volcano.
I like to think, though I’ve hit many a nasty pot hole along the way, I’ve fared relatively well. Not only have I learned how to take care of normally adminy duties, but I took on some new roles too. Media monitoring, event support, ideation, podcast production and some fundamental accounting tasks are just a few of my weekly activities.
And now I can ad one more notch to my PR agency belt:
Almost a year later, well versed in computer malfunction, telephone manner, morning scans, excel spreadsheets, and with a couple of events under my belt, I am writing my first official post on PR Girlz. I can say, as I sit faithfully at the front desk of Thornley Fallis Communications, I finally feel like I am an official PR Grrril.
Thanks for stopping by. I look forward to sharing some front desk antics with you next week.
Until then, take care.
Samantha Lovelace
May 17th, 2008 » 12:58 am
Hey Sammy, great to see you blogging! I knew it was only a matter of time : ) I think you’re doing an incredible job with the IPR podcasts. Will I see you at TTT next week?
May 17th, 2008 » 8:12 am
And you can write, too! And thankfully, we seem to have completely eliminated printer malfunctions at TFC/76. Yours must have been the last.
May 18th, 2008 » 7:11 pm
Hi Samantha,
As a faithful TFC blog reader and an aspiring PR practitioner, I look forward to your posts!
-Kerri
May 19th, 2008 » 10:08 am
Hey, Samantha, nice to see you writing here. I’ve admired your grace under pressure at Third Tuesday Toronto meetups, where you get all the audio gear working in synch. I am sure there’s lots more that you do behind the scenes.
I look forward to reading more of your writings here. I like your style.
May 19th, 2008 » 5:00 pm
Thanks for the comments, everyone!
Donna, Rayanne: I will be seeing you this Tuesday, the 20th of May. It looks like it will be crowded so come on down early. I’m ecstatic that you’re reading PRgirlz!
Bob: Just you wait mister! Now that you’ve said that, those printers of your will be on the fritz first thing when you really need them!
Kerri: Fantastic! I can not wait to amuse you with little know facts about working at a front desk!
Have a great day, everyone, and thanks for reading.
May 19th, 2008 » 8:25 pm
Hey Sam – looking forward to reading more. One of these days I’ll figure out mail merge too.
Brad
May 21st, 2008 » 7:44 am
hey there babycakes,
wonderful first post! happy to see you’re officially out-lauren-ing lauren, you techno-savvy lady, you.
and: the printer and computer malfunctions will never end, and they will eat your brain and be the bane of your existence until they drive you naked, confused, and screaming into downtown toronto traffic.
can’t wait til next week. or, tomorrow, i guess.
congrats! you’ve cyber-arrived.
May 21st, 2008 » 12:44 pm
Sammy – although surely an enriching experience, I doubt that working the front desk is “just short of a full degree’s worth of education in PR,” as evidenced by the many typos and poor proofing of your entry. These are skills taught in first-year PR writing classes, yet after nearly a year of working at the front desk you have yet to develop these basic aptitudes. But don’t fret – keep trying and I am sure you will someday blossom from a mere “PR Girl” into a strong, independent PR Woman.
May 21st, 2008 » 6:49 pm
[...] This week’s episode was produced by Samantha Lovelace. [...]
May 22nd, 2008 » 6:46 pm
PR Woman,
I have earned my PR Certificate and still make mistakes AND write blog entries with typos. As a former “front desker” here at TFC I can say with some authority that while running the office might not teach you what how to write a news release or make media lists on medianetcentral, it does teach you how to deal with clients, how to manage a crisis, time management, expectation management, just to name a few. I don’t think Sammy exaggerates at all when she says it’s “just short of a full degree’s worth of education in PR.” I learned the basics in my PR Program but I learned how to be good at it at the front desk.
This is a blog. Relax. And when dismounting from your high horse, please do so with care.
May 29th, 2008 » 4:07 pm
Pardon my jumping in here, but…
Re: the anonymous comment from “PR Woman”, I feel obliged to point out a few things:
i. It’s somewhat unclear to what the plural pronoun that opens your second sentence refers. “These” – in the context of your paragraph – seems to belong to “many typos” and “poor proofing,” yet you state that these are “skills taught in first-year PR writing classes”. I’m not aware of any school that teaches those failings as skills.
ii. Your use of “aptitudes” strikes me as puzzling here. “Aptitude” is not a synonym for “skill” – it means something entirely different. Whilst “aptitude” can be used to refer to an acquired ability, I would venture to suggest that this usage is uncommon and unusual enough to be worthy of comment. The more usual, accepted meaning is of an innate ability or talent – hence, an “aptitude” is not something one generally thinks of as being “developed”. (See definition, here: http://snurl.com/2bfvl)
iii. You’ve chosen to open your third sentence with a conjunction. Where I went to school, such casual flouting of Strunk & White would be considered anathema. I understand that it is not uncommon in informal usage, but in a comment that sets out to be critical of someone else’s writing, one would think a more formal observance of exemplary style would be prudent.
In other words, people who live in glass houses…
May 29th, 2008 » 5:26 pm
[...] This week’s episode was produced by Samantha Lovelace. [...]
June 4th, 2008 » 6:06 pm
[...] This week’s episode was produced by Samantha Lovelace. [...]
June 11th, 2008 » 12:14 am
[...] This week’s episode was produced by Samantha Lovelace. [...]
June 19th, 2008 » 5:34 pm
[...] This week’s episode was produced by Samantha Lovelace. [...]