To quote Charles Darwin; “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” So, the time has come for me to say with mixed feelings that I am leaving my position with Thornley Fallis.

I have learnt so much in the year I have been a part of this office and organization, about my career but also about myself. I want to keep this short and sweet, so here are just a few of the lessons I’ll take away.

• Be honest, with others and with yourself. Even when it’s hard to stand up and take accountability, it goes far in this world and will be recognized by the people who count.
• Never be afraid to admit when you are wrong or that you need help. None of us has the answer to everything, and being part of a team means sharing and exchanging strengths.
• Laugh. Life is about making connections and enjoying yourself. Take the time to get to know your coworkers, and share a smile once in a while. Even if it means someone completely covers your office with candies when you are away as a joke.

You can follow my exploits at www.BoardroomBlogette.ca, or JennOuellette on Twitter.

I suppose there is nothing left to say, so, play me out Shirley!

Jennifer

Note: Things have been really hectic, and PR Girlz has been a bit neglected. (Okay, a lot neglected!) We have some great new additions to the team who will be contributing to the blog soon, but until then I thought I would cross-post an entry from my blog – boardroomblogette.ca. It’s a lot more of a “Casual Friday” post.

I wrote the post pulling together lessons learnt from many PR Girls alumni including Jennifer Nebesky, Kerri Birtch, Marissa Lukaitis, Sarah Laister and Karen Nussbaum as well as ladies I am still learning from – Jennifer Gordon and many others.
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When I first started in PR, I knew this was not your average 9-5 job (do those even exist anymore?). And as all ambitious career girls do, I want it all.

We can try to find that ideal work-life balance but eventually need to accept that it just won’t be perfect. Sometimes, I have to change plans with friends or cancel going out of town because there is a big project that just came up or work has piled up (again). That’s just life. But what has helped is the advice of some incredible mentors and PR women who have given me tips on how they balance it all. This post is for them.

Stationary

A few months into my career I really started missing my friends and family and was feeling a bit disconnected from them. Facebook and email just aren’t the same and can lack a certain personal feel. A colleague told me that it helps to pick up the phone once in a while or send a card when you can’t manage face time. It lets people know they are never far from your mind. I went over to The Paper Place on Queen and stocked up on cards – I now have a stack of pre-stamped envelopes on standby. Everyone loves getting mail when it’s not bills, and it’s a trend I’m loving.

Get organized

One of the best things I bought recently is the “Wonder Hanger”. Yes, that thing from the TV infomercials – don’t laugh! They collapse and drastically reduce closet space, but what I then did is hang complete outfits together – accessories and all. It makes running late in the morning or changing after work that much easier. Especially if you are like me and have a packed closet yet amazingly – “nothing to wear!”

Don’t skip meals

It’s so easy to miss lunch or breakfast, and not to sound like my mother but it’s really not good for you. I now keep a granola bar or meal replacement at all times in my purse and desk – you never know when you’ll need it. I’m also a new convert to Kashi bars. Apparently, they’re healthy and stuff!

Take time for yourself

Life will always be hectic; we all end up fitting in as much as we can to our days and weeks to try to get the most out of it. But for the sake of sanity, find a few things you absolutely love doing and take some “personal time” once in a while. For me, this involves a glass of red wine and a bath with LUSH goodies – my weekly indulgence. Taking time out to catch up with friends over drinks and dinner  is also a great for easing any stressful, hair pulling days you may have.

What are some of your tips?

I want to explore a bit of a “hot topic” right before the long weekend.

Adam Giambrone was once a promising Toronto mayoral candidate, but now has been caught in a career altering predicament. The “indiscretion” of Adam Giambrone is now front page news, and while I’m not going to go into the morals of his situation the fact is that this is just one in a string of other such high profile “indiscretions”. Tiger Woods, David Letterman, John Edwards, Bill Clinton – the names have changed but the predicament was largely the same across the board. I should start by saying that this is not meant to focus solely on men/gender and for the sake of balance I’ll mention Iris Robinson, a member of the Irish parliament and wife of Ireland’s first minister – who was caught having an affair with a 19 year old male. (Her last name being “Robinson” was a coincidence not overlooked by the headlines.)

I’m not really interested in the sensationalism or the “fall of the mighty”, but what I am really interested in are the questions situations like these raise. How far should the personal lives of public figures affect their careers? And more than that, what lessons can all of us take away from those who have been through public backlash and scrutiny?

The one line from the media release that I couldn’t get out of my head after Tiger Woods’ own dirty laundry was aired publicly was; “personal sins should not require press releases and problems within a family shouldn’t have to mean public confessions”.  This struck me as a very powerful and loaded statement.

In certain situations I can see where decisions that reflect the moral character of a person should come to bear on the public’s “right to know”. But should this or any similar situation negate all of the work and reputation of a person? It’s not an easy question.

The reality is that all of us need to be aware that we are our own “brand”. Tiger Woods was a brand for being the PGA’s squeaky-clean golden boy. While his affairs do not affect his sports performance, they do affect his “marketability”. But then do politicians – elected to represent the interests of voters, fail the same credibility test?

For me the one thing that matters in all of this is accountability. When mistakes are made, I think the best decision public figures can make is to accept responsibility with tact, sensitivity and humility. Because when the truth does come out, as it always does, I am much more apt to feel sympathy and respect for a humble figure.

What do you think? Do the personal lives of public figures deserve to impact their careers? What is the best way you feel they should handle any resulting scrutiny?

On behalf of PR Girlz I’d like to apologize for our month-long absence. Things have been quite busy around the TFC office and busy unfortunately turned into no time for PR Girlz posts.  But PR Girlz is important and we’re going to make an effort to post even when we are busy. And busy is ultimately good since we have more experiences we can share with you!!

I decided for today’s post, as it is Friday, that I would go ahead and bring back “Casual Friday’s“. They used to be a more frequent occurrence on PR Girlz  as way to ease into the weekend on a more lighthearted and not necessarily PR related way.  On that note I bring you, Casual Friday!

I’m going to play devil’s advocate and talk about the potential downsides to social networking sites. So, I saw the e-card above a little while back and besides making me chuckle, it actually got me thinking. Now I love Facebook and Twitter as much as the next 20-something who lives at their computer. I love the fact that I can keep in touch with my friends and family through pictures, wall posts, and 140 character messages. It’s awesome. But, after seeing this e-card, I asked myself ”Could Facebook and Twitter actually be doing friendships and relationships more harm than good ?”

Facebook and Twitter give you the ability to see basically everything about what is going on in your friends lives without ever talking to them. Sometimes it’s easier to look at someone’s Facebook profile every now and then instead of actually keeping in touch. Sometimes it’s just easier to write your friend a quick wall-post instead of giving them a call.

Have you ever felt awkward seeing someone after a while and asking what they’ve been up to even though you already knew full well what they’d been up to because you have them on facebook and have obviously seen every single one of their status updates and photos? I have! Even with my closest friends, we are so connected online that when I actually see them in person I sometimes feel like we have nothing to talk about because we’ve already said it all!

Is it just me, or have we somewhat lost the ability to communicate in more traditional ways? Sometimes I find myself just looking at my own brothers facebook profiles or sending them a quick wall-post and convincing myself that I’m “keeping in touch” with them. And that sort of makes me sad. Communicating solely through a computer can only get you so far. It erases the human factor of communication. There are no expressions, emotions… no human voice.

At this point I think it’s important that I reiterate that I love Facebook and I love Twitter. I think they are excellent communication tools, especially if you are unable to see people face-to-face and I can’t really remember life before them. But I think it’s important, especially for us folks who spend 99% of our time “connected” to realize that communication through social networks is only one part of communication. It shouldn’t replace the face-to-face communication in our lives, it should be an addition to it. It’s easy to get excited and constantly post everything we’re doing or thinking while at the same time forgetting to actually step away for a little bit and live!

Do you think we’ve lost the ability to communicate in traditional ways? Do you feel like you spend too much time on social networking sites? Or am I way off base?

If you’re not up to speed on the whole ‘Whopper Sacrifice’ dealio, here’s a brief synopsis:

Last week Burger King launched a Facebook application called the Whopper Sacrifice. Basically, if you downloaded the app, you would be asked to delete 10 Facebook friends and in return receive a free Whopper. (It was apparently only valid in the US though).

I first saw mention of this on Twitter. I thought this pretty creative, so I re-tweeted it (for non-Twitter users, this is the term used when you repeat what someone else wrote, and give them credit). When my colleague Dave Fleet saw it, he re-tweeted me and in return, I provided the link to a National Post story about it.

Fast forward to today. I again, noticed a Tweet about the Whopper Sacrifice, but this time saying that Facebook had pulled the application. According to this AdAge story, over 23, 400 people followed through with deleting 10 friends each. In addition, the application actually sent notifications to all of the dumped friends’ networks, telling everyone they had been deleted for a burger. Apparently that’s not really in the spirit of Facebook.

So again, I re-tweeted the information, with a link to the story. An hour later, I received notice that BK Lounge is following me on Twitter. Awesome.

As much as I actually hate Whoppers, I love that companies are effectively using social media to engage with the public – and in a timely manner. I’ve got to say, they do it well. This is another one of their campaigns I came across last summer, and I still think it’s hilarious.

On the other hand, BK Lounge also just tweeted “I am the King of Burgers and the King of Social Media” – now that’s a bit extreme.

I can’t see out my office window.

Usually, I have a wonderful view of downtown. I can see the skyscrapers, the CN tower and normally, a pretty snazzy sunset. Today however, I see white. Lots of white. We all knew it was coming.

The weatherman all told us to stay home today, Environment Canada issued their Winter storm watch, and somewhere along the way this storm started being referred to as ’snowmaggeddon’…which has now also shifted to ’snowmafriggenggeddon’. In fact, Air Canada even offered travellers the option to switch their flights before the storm hit.

Twitter is a blur with talk of the storm (#snowmageddon) The National Post is live blogging it and there’s sure to be an awesome collection of YouTube videos cropping up. (Here’s a few so far)

All of this craziness makes me wonder if we’re really as Canadian as we think. It’s just snow people. Okay…a lot of snow. But in reality, I think we’ve just been spoiled the past few winters. I still know that at the end of the day, I’m going to zip up my parker, put my scarf and mitts on, then I’m going to go home like any other day. On second thought, I may feel differently if I get stuck on the TTC for 3 hours, I’ll keep you posted though.

The end of the world is not here – just the end of grass and cement until Spring…might be a nice change.

Let’s just hope Miller doesn’t call in the troops.

Like a lot of folks concerned with social media, I got my mini-geek on at the Mesh Conference held at Toronto’s MaRS Discovery District. I’m not going to go into a play-by-play account of Mesh — if you wanted that, you’d have followed the meshing on Twitter. Mesh (re) tweaked my interest some important issues that I believe need to be constantly challenged in the PR world. Those are privacy, anonymity and reputaton.

Many folks have an online self which can often have a different personality than their offline self. This is one of the privileges of the Net and social media. We have infinite potential to be who we want, when we want to our chosen audience. I’m sure that many poignant 10-minute unions of the heart and hand have been made this way. I am also confident that there are an equal number of folks who have been cyber-bullied because of this set of circumstances.

As some background … I started blogging in 2001 when I found out that I was pregnant with my daughter. My partner’s family lives in B.C. so we thought that a blog would be an excellent way to communicate the changes of our lives and the pregnancy progress to our family and friends as well as to document the experience of becoming a mother.

Being a “gung-ho” type of chyk, I really dove into the online world. I joined Mamatron.org, a BB for, “mamas of color, bi/lesbian/poly mamas, very young mamas, mamas on public assistance, sex worker mamas, single mamas, artist mamas, socialist mamas, green mamas, anarchist mamas, and pro-choice mamas.” There was a discussion group for women who were due at the same time. I loved that group of women. They supported me through sleep deprivation, money concerns, hormonal flux, and I know that I was able to share with them as well.

That was until a cyber-bully named “Big Fat Breeder” decided that because I had used the dreaded “b” word (hint – rhymes with itch) in a conversation of support with another woman. Essentially, in spite of a mea culpa, I was drummed out of a supportive community because of the actions of a person who lived behind her online identity.

I’m over it, don’t worry. The experience has flavoured my approach to social media, however.

Everyone needs privacy – no doubt. However, if someone wants to participate in a conversation, isn’t it just good manners to say who you are? Otherwise, it is akin to walking into a person’s home, not telling her who you are, provoking an incendiary political discussion and leaving.

Students are being expelled for cyber-bullying: curiously, this practice remains de rigueur, for many adults. It’s too bad. I have to wonder how many conversations are limited due to the power of an anonymous comment.

I was planning to write this on Friday, but I took the day off instead. So, here is my rant. Valentine’s Day. I HATE it. I don’t do it. Now before you go thinking I’m some bitter single gal who got her heart broken on February 14th, let me set the record straight: I’ve been with my boyfriend for 4 years (eek!). We have never celebrated Valentine’s Day. I hated it when I was single and I never saw the point when I was in a relationship. The way I see it, why do you need a day to tell the people you love how you feel? Why can’t you say it on March 18th? Or September 27th? You can, and you do. So why do women (yes, it’s generally my gender who is the guilty party) think if they don’t hear it on Valentine’s Day it’s not for real? If anything, I think it means less on Valentine’s Day. That day, the guy is saying it because he feels like he has to say it or else his wife/girlfriend will go hormonal on him and accuse him of not being able to express his feelings. Chill, ladies!

Now, my boyfriend isn’t big on the flowers. That’s ok. Because when I do get flowers, I know it’s because he really wanted to do something nice for me (or he did something really really wrong) and not because society has told him that on Valentine’s Day, he needs to buy me flowers. I don’t need a dozen overpriced red roses and a box of chocolates to be sure of how he feels. And I’m willing to bet that most of you women feel the same way. So why do you do it? Why demand affection for that one day? Why place so much emphasis and so much of your relationship on how he deals with Valentine’s Day? If he’s only nice to you that day, do you really want him around on the 13th or 15th? Want a reason to have a romantic dinner? A sexy bubblebath? Buy lingerie and chocolate? I can think of dozens that are just about my relationship, not how everyone else thinks my relationship should be.

I feel bad that when my boyfriend tells his female co-workers that I don’t like Valentine’s Day and that we don’t do it, they jump down his throat and tell him I really DO want Valentine’s Day and try to make him feel like the worst boyfriend in the world. Ladies? I really don’t want Valentine’s Day. He knows me well; we agree on this, let him be!

Valentine’s Day is a pure consumer “holiday.” I worked at Hallmark for several years and it’s big around there. And you should have seen the number of poor men coming in the evening of Feb 14th terrified to go home without a stuffed bear and a card. Are you kidding me!? Do me a favour- on your way home tonight, count the number of men carrying a bouquet of flowers. Do it again on Wednesday. It’s a fun little game. But odds are that the one guy you see carrying those flowers tonight put a lot more thought into it than all the lemmings buying flowers for three times as much two days later.

[/rant]

Yes, it’s very cool. Yes, it’s very pretty. Yes, it’s like nothing we’ve ever seen. But I couldn’t want one less. And I’m probably one of the only people in the world saying that today. If you haven’t guessed, I’m talking about Apple’s new iPhone. I don’t do Apple. And before you ask, yes, I’ve tried it. I’ve used a Mac desktop, I’ve tried out the laptop. I’ve played with the old iPod and I’ve listened to a Nano. And yes, they are all very pretty. But you’ll never see me buying them. And here’s why:

First, they are SO overhyped. One of my favorite games to play on my way home is to count the iPods. Yesterday I counted 10 in my section of the subway car. That’s a lot of people who bought the product for the name, if you ask me. Because there are a lot of other great players out there, ones that get better reviews and last longer. But they’re not called iPod’s. So they don’t sell as well. I’m one of those people who hate to have something that everyone has, just to be in on the fad. That’s one of my reason’s for not buying into the craze.

The next is their advertising campaign. I haven’t done any studies or research on this, but I’d venture a guess that word of mouth was the way Apple products got so big. They have the pictures of the people with the white headphones and the flashy commercials, but that’s about it. There wasn’t any major PR pushes involved. People talk, and they talked about Apple. Since we’re on the commercials, let’s discuss what is the reason that sealed the deal on my never buying Apple. The Mac/PC guy commercials. If you can’t sell your product on its own merit, without putting down your competitor, I ain’t buying it. I’ve talked about this before, so I won’t go into a rant, but Pepsi is the worst for doing this and Apple isn’t far behind on my list.

Apple products are expensive. Like ridiculously expensive. Especially since most people I know who have iPods have problems with them- from software, to mechanical etc. They aren’t the most durable things in the world. I have a Creative MuVo (which I can’t find a picture of because I’ve had it for too long) and I love it. It was around $100, it has a SD card slot for extra memory, a stopwatch, FM radio and it’s REALLY easy to use. It lives in the bottom of my gym bag. It gets tossed around, dropped, hit off stuff and stepped on and it just keeps ticking. I would break an iPod in about 2 days, I’m so hard on my players. I need something that I don’t have to handle with kid gloves out of fear I’ll hurt my precious player.

I could go on and on about how you have to buy special products for Apple, you have to use iTunes, etc. But I think you get the picture. So no, I won’t be investing in an iPhone. Who’s with me?? Anyone? Anyone?

Chris tagged me (my first tag! how exciting!) for a meme (my first meme! how exciting!) and I have to come up with 5 odd things (only 5?) about me you wouldn’t otherwise have known about . 

Here goes:

1) I’m really good at getting stains out of clothes. Seriously. I can get almost anything out. I once got bike grease out of white pants – it’s legendary in my parent’s house.
2) I love brocolli – when I was 1 and not yet talking, I picked up a broc from my seat in the shopping cart and put it in my mouth before my mother blinked. Needless to say she bought it, and I’ve loved it ever since.
3) I had 2 imaginary dogs as a child- One’s name was Sniffy. I’ll have to ask my mother about the other one.
4) I was born on the 100th birthday of my great-grandfather. He died exactly 10 years before that, on his 90th birthday.
5) I will only eat cottage cheese immediately after opening the package. If it’s been opened, even by me the day before, I won’t touch it.

 Ok, that’s all you get. In an effort to get more PRGirlz blogging, I tag Camille and Marissa, along with Paul, and Ed.