I will prepare and some day my chance will come…

“I will prepare and some day my chance will come.” – Abraham Lincoln

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I know it’s been awhile since my last career/PR post but fear not – I’ve still been working my tail off meeting like-minded professionals, communicating on behalf of my organization and always looking forward for bigger and greater opportunities. I’ve been working for the City of Vancouver, but more specifically the Vancouver Park Board, for about 16 months now at varying capacities from internal communications, media relations, event planning, strategic organizational planning, social media engagement, and of course, relationship building just to name a few. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with seasoned professionals under stringent and strategic direction, and also been given the opportunity to literally jump in and been given the freedom (errr freedom sounds better than no choice?) to sink or swim. It’s been challenging – not only from a work basis, but on a personal basis to take the situations I’ve encountered and turned them from negatives to opportunities.

I’ve messed up, saved my butt and have professionally grown from my experiences. I’ve also seen great successes and been able to develop meaningful relationships with coworkers, partners and external professional partners all while learning a lot; about myself, about the great potential of individuals within the City of Vancouver and the capacity of greatness that is possible from the building of community. On top of all this paid work (hey, we all need to make money to live right?) I’ve been doing a lot of personal relationship building in the community. Through my use of twitter, I’ve been able to connect with so many amazing individuals who live and breathe their passions and have been able to make huge strides in creating opportunity. These leaders have seen success not because of who they know and financial backers – but because they have been successful in developing relationships and becoming experts that others look to for direction. Whichever way you look at it, there are opportunities all around us and it’s up to professionals like us to make those connections and tell their stories.

Even though I’ve been very fortunate to move to a new city and land a great opportunity, I cannot say it was easy. It took a lot of work and a lot of putting myself out there to create the connections which have gotten me to where I am currently (I’m talking literally, emotionally and professionally) – but throughout all the coffee dates, emails, twitter conversation, blog comments and walking up to random strangers and sticking my right hand out with a big warm smile and saying “Hi, I’m Amanda.” It’s funny how a little confidence and an open and inviting demeanor can make a world of a difference. It’s not about how much you know, or who you know – it’s about applying what you do know and being present. Listen and be mindful of what’s happening in front of you and that will take you far.

** I don’t want the point of this post to get washed over with positive sentiments inspiring you to “follow your dreams, set big goals and go after what you want,” as all of those I truly believe and promote regularly – but not to encourage dreamers to keep dreaming but I hope that with my experiences others will see that big things are possible when you take action and create direction for your own life.

Lastly, I’d like to give a shout out to my family, growing up in the east coast and my education to credit them for my unfailing genuine and  authentic nature. With all that I do, I do it with passion, openness and authenticity. the person you see through this blog, on twitter and in person are the same identical Amanda. I feel that as our mediums of communication change from a more formal written, one-directional conversation to a continuous two-way engaging model searing at our finger tips and ear drums in no more than 5 mediums at a time… you don’t have time to look for ways to come up with false stories. I barely have time to drink enough water a day – when would a person find the time or energy to be anything but genuine? These aspects are a huge part of my character and when it comes down to it, I believe they are a huge part of why I make a good (working on great!) communicator, story teller and soon to be thought leader (give me some time for this one, ok?).

And without further ado, I am happy and excited to announce that I’ve accepted an offer from Peak Communicators to be a new Senior Account Executive to their growing team!

Who/what is Peak? Peak Communicators is the largest independent full-service PR agency in Western Canada with a specialty in media relations, communication strategy, media training and digital media.

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Coming to Vancouver I told myself time and time again that I was not going to settle for a job, but I was going to seek out a job that I felt I could be passionate about. I don’t just want a job, I want the job and  I want to grow a career. I researched, met with and connected with countless professionals across varying PR positions/focuses and cut it down to a few specific organizations in which I truly felt I would be able to do good great work for – because I felt the organization’s values and mandates where similar to my personal ones. To me, that is what a career is about – so after one didn’t work out – I kept on trucking and chose to take a great opportunity that has allowed me to grow professionally more in 16 months than most do in years.

But, in the back of my mind I always thought that while this is teaching me a lot about myself – I still feel like there’s a better, bigger place for me. Through my unfailing connecting and connection making to build personal relationships within the communication industry in Vancouver, I was approached by Peak to find out if there might be an opportunity for me to expand my experiences and be apart of an exciting time of growth with Peak – and I’ve graciously accepted!

In a few short weeks I will be starting with Peak Communicators and although excited, I’m also nervous (what great opportunity doesn’t cause any person to be slightly nervous?) – I’m ready to work hard and do what I do best – get results!

Peak: here I come!

Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible. -Saint Francis of Assisi

I. am. SPARTA.

I know I said that this year was going to be my year of fitness… but I never imagined that it would include a Super Spartan race!

I only agreed to do the race two weeks before the actual race and figured hey, I’m already in decent shape and if there are obstacles I can’t do, I’ll just do what I can. Originally my friend Alex told me it was the Spartan Sprint (3 miles and 15+ obstacles) Race… until I went to look up some more information on it and realized it was the Super Spartan (8+ miles and 20+ obstacles) Race! That’s a HUGE difference when it comes to endurance and fitness level. Not to mention that there is also a Spartan Beast (12+ miles and 25+ obstacles) Race AND a Death Race… don’t even bother looking at that one apparently according to their site only 15% of the participants actually finish that one and it can take someone anywhere from 24-48 hours… I think I’ll stick with something only half-crazy vs. completely insane :)

The great thing about the Spartan Race was that it was truly all about what you wanted to get out of it. We were part of the “elite” race heat for people who were actually interested in doing it at the best of their ability. The race was also fit for people to do in teams or as a fun group event – however you look at it, it was going to be a challenge. We started off pretty strong, jumping over fire and starting out on the 8+ mile trail run through the Squamish mountains. I had no idea what I was in for which was probably better than knowing to be honest. While we tore up and down hills over loose dirt, rocks, trees and roots – we also had to do obstacles like climbing walls, rope pulling, running sand bags up hills, climbing embankments, scaling walls, crawling through mud under barbed wire, javelin, tire flip, an ice cold swim and more. All while running.

Results? Alex and I came in 16/17 top females and 70/71 to cross the finish line with a time of 1:53:54 in our heat. Not bad for our first Spartan Race :)

Next goal: Beat our time, the next time!

(Tiny secret – please don’t tell the Spartan organizers – a friend couldn’t go so I took his place in the race, thus why you can’t actually see my name in the results section haha. For race purposes only, I shall be known as Francis Daluro!)

What’s next might you ask? Probably the Beast… why not right?

Have you ever tackled the Super Spartan Race or Beast Race – if so what did you think?