Farewell Friday

Today’s blog post is a bit of sad one—it’s my final post as an HMA account coordinator, as today marks my last day in the office. I am moving on to a new opportunity working for my sorority at the national level, which also includes a move to Indiana! It’s very bittersweet.
As many of our readers have probably noticed, I have a deep passion for social media—how it changes, how brands use it, how we use it for personal use, the Instagram vs. Snapchat debate. My new role with my sorority will be entirely focused on social media, so I’m very excited for it.
With that being said though, I’m sad to leave Phoenix and the team at HMA. I have learned a TON over the last year, so I thought I’d share some of it:

• The difference between a pitch, a byline and a feature story. Thanks to Alison for sharing that info on my first day here.
• Be fearless when it comes to calling people, whether it’s an editor you’re pitching, or a reporter you want to invite to play in a community basketball tournament. The worst they can say is no. And 70 percent of the time you’ll get their voicemail anyway.
• I learned how to think on my feet when I locked myself out of our office building and had somewhere to be.
• “The best wine is the wine I like best.” Wise words from Abbie.
• And probably most importantly, I learned how to pronounce Michelob (as in Michelob Ultra). Contrary to my belief that it was pronounced “mish-uh-lob,” I found out it was pronounced “mick-uh-lobe.” Who knew? Apparently everyone except me.

There’s plenty more I learned, but I doubt you readers want to know the ins and outs of what goes into a news release or a social media content calendar. I’m grateful that my first real job out of college was with HMA—I don’t think I would have learned as much, as fast anywhere else.