Text Appeal

I just finished a great new book - Chaos Monkeys, by Antonio Garcia Martinez. The book tells his story of how he quit one startup to create another, navigated through Y Combinator and ultimately was acquired by Twitter before taking a job at Facebook.

While at Facebook, Martinez worked as an advertising product manager, developing much of the targeting technology used by Facebook advertisers today.

Among the interesting learnings in the book are:

The role of accelerators in the startup ecosystem, and the strength and loyalty of the network cultivated by Y Combinator.

How acquisitions really work in Silicon Valley - usually on the phone vs. through email, and usually only as a means to hire talented engineering resources.

How Facebook began to successfully monetize its business and became the powerhouse of social media advertising it is now.

Read a review of Chaos Monkeys here. 

We asked our newest Account Coordinator, Samantha Dry, a few questions to get to know her better.

1. When did you know you wanted to work in PR?

I went to school for PR, so I had a hunch that’s what I wanted to do before graduating high school. When I started my coursework, it confirmed that this was what I wanted to do. I always knew I wanted to be in some sector of communications and I loved that PR is an integral part of successful brands and companies and has so many different layers and components. I was also attracted to the way it is found in almost any industry, making it easy to merge with personal interests. I also had an awesome professor/mentor throughout college that kept me motivated to get into the business.

2. What is your favorite part of working at Text100?

Everyone has been super nice and helpful, and I am really enjoying the culture here. I also feel like I’m surrounded by extremely smart colleagues all around the world who genuinely care about their jobs and Text100.

3. If you didn’t work in PR, what would your dream career be?

A movie star!

4. Which 3 items would you bring with you if you were going to be stranded on an island?

An iPhone, a stack of magazines and a photo album.

5. What’s your “vantage point” at Text100?

I am angled towards the windows that have a great view of downtown Rochester. This is a welcome change from my constant view of brick walls and windows in NYC.

This week I had the opportunity to sit down with our newest addition to the Text100 family, Laquanda Fields. I decided the best way to get to know Laquanda would be to ask her 15 random questions.

Before we dive in I’ll give you a little bit of background on our newest intern.

Laquanda is a true Rochestarian and has lived in Rochester all her life. She comes from a big family with three sisters and three brothers.

Laquanda has two, talented daughters Jaela and Samariyah with her best friend and partner, Bishop. Jaela, 10 is a ballet dancer, singer and a leader in training at their church. She is nurturing always makes friends with the outcast to help them feel accepted. Samariyah, 8 is her wild child, who loves gymnastics and just about anything else. She has huge personality with a knack for sarcasm and never misses an opportunity to make you laugh.

So know that you have a little background, without further ado here are 15 questions to help you get to know Laquanda a little better.

1. Would you rather win the lottery or work at the perfect job - and why?

Work at the perfect job. I think if I won the lottery I would get bored with spending money after a short period of time. I think it’s more important to have a passion in life and to do what you love.

2. What motivates you to work hard?

My daughters are my number one motivation for success. I’m also very goal oriented - there is one step after the next. 

3. Have you ever had a nickname? What is it?

My adult nickname is Quanda - just a shortened version of my first name. 

When I was a baby, it was Buddha - which was a reference to me being a chunky baby.

4. What are your hobbies?

#1 is exploring neighborhoods and looking at houses. I do that often with my daughters, and they’ve developed a likeness for it as well.

I also love organizing and planning things. I’m really a Rochester advocate. I love local events that are hosted by local businesses. There is a lot going on here, and it’s something that has strongly developed in the last 3-5 years. 

5. List two of your pet peeves.

I’m working to minimize the list...

Miscommunication, misspelled words and bad grammar. I’m also easily annoyed when things are not in the right place. 

6. What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever done?

I’m not a daredevil at all. I’m very cautious, and always look before I leap. When I was younger, though, I used to be very into piercings.

I also went to London for school and I think that was the most adventurous thing I’ve done. I learn by doing, so I would often travel the city and explore by using the subway system. 

7. What’s your favorite family recipe?

My favorite thing to make is baked spaghetti. The recipe is from Trisha Yearwood. I also make an iceberg bacon cheddar salad, with homemade ranch dressing.

8. What was your favorite subject in school?

English. I loved reading and writing at a very young age, going to the library and I even had a little library in my bedroom. I would devour a book each day.

Now, my girls like to read too!

9. Is there anything you wished would come back into fashion?

One of my guilty pleasures is old sitcoms - like Mary Tyler Moore, Lavern and Shirley and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I also love 70′s and 50′s fashion, like women in full skirts and things like that. 

10. Do you consider yourself an introvert or an extrovert?

Introvert. I enjoy talking to people, but I’m drained very easily by too much interaction. By the end of the day, I’m physically exhausted. I prefer staying in and spending quality time with my family. 

11. What was your first job?

I was an after-school care assistant at St. Monica’s Catholic School. I was so anxious to get a job, but you have to be 14 years old to get a working permit in New York State. So, as soon as I turned 13, I started working and I haven’t been without a job since.

12. If you had to describe yourself as an animal, which one would it be?

Cat - I’m an introvert! I like to interact when I want to, so I have a lot of similarities with cats. 

13. Would you rather visit Europe or Mexico?

Europe - I want to take my girls back-packing across Europe. 

14. Beer or wine?

Wine! White - I’m a Riesling fan.

15. If money was no object, what would you do all day?

Spring has sprung here in Rochester and last week, to celebrate, we all enjoyed delicious fruit smoothies made by Loryn!

Each week our office looks forward to bagel breakfasts on Friday morning, but this past Friday Loryn decided to mix it up a bit and make smoothies. It was a great way to squeeze in a few extra servings of fruit and start the day on a healthy note. She simply grabbed a few bags of frozen fruit, yogurt and orange juice from Wegmans and whipped up each smoothie a la carte with our trusty kitchen blender. It was the perfect, refreshing treat to usher in the beautiful warmer weather that is hopefully here to stay.

Want to try this yummy smoothie for yourself? The super simple recipe is below!

4 strawberries

¼ mango

5 pieces of pineapple

3 slices of peach

½ cup yogurt

1 cup orange juice

We’re totally digging the idea behind this new UPitch app, which allows PR pros to add brief, 400 character pitches with up to five images. When a reporter sees a pitch they like, connecting with the PR pro is as simple as swiping right.

While we’re skeptical that reporters will flock to this app, it just may be a step in the right direction in this ever-changing industry.

Last week the Rochester office took a few moments each day to celebrate all the wonderful employees that make Text100 such a great place to work!

2016 Rochester Employee Appreciation Week

Monday: flowers & thank you notes from our managers

Tuesday: lottery tickets

Wednesday: drinks from Starbucks

Thursday: breakfast from a local favorite, Village Gate

Friday: manicures

Below are some photos highlighting the week. Huge thank you to all the Rochester Texties for your hard work!

February is here and teams across the office are heads down on a number of projects and upcoming tradeshows. We’ll be back next week with more fun and exciting updates from our perch above the falls.

Sometimes (ok – all the time) you’re in need of a little mid-week pick-me-up. So what’s better than a chocolate one? On Wednesday, Emily satisfied our chocolate cravings with homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter Buckeyes. Need we say more? Follow the recipe below and make them for yourself – because ours are almost gone!

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups peanut butter

½ cup melted butter

2 ½ cups powdered sugar

1 bag of melted chocolate chips

Excellent writing skills are important for every job, but it’s especially critical for PR professionals. We’re constantly writing everything from traditional press releases and bylined articles to posts for social media and emails to clients.

Winter is officially here in Rochester, and we’ve been keeping warm with a lot of hot chocolate and oatmeal. While the temperatures are colder than we’d like, we can’t deny that the winter view of High Falls from our office isn’t beautiful!

In December we welcomed our newest intern, Loryn Roberson, to the Rochester office. Loryn comes to us from Colorado where she has been working for the past year at the Beaver Creek Ski Resort. Along with doing Guest Services at Beaver Creek for the past two years, Loryn has been traveling the world to compete on the International Downhill Federation circuit as a professional downhill skateboarder. While she wouldn’t brag about this, she is actually third in the world for women’s downhill skateboarding. Yes, you read that correctly, third in the WORLD. Pretty cool right? To get to know Loryn a bit better, we asked her a few of our best ice breaker questions. Continue reading to get to know a bit more about Loryn!

One of Loryn’s many talents is balancing things on her head, thus the photo you see below.

1.       If you were an animal, what animal would you be? “It’s between a beaver, a unicorn and a squirrel. A beaver because I’m from Beaverton, Michigan and worked at Beaver Creek Ski Resort in Colorado. A unicorn because I like to think of myself as pretty unique… I’m a rare bread haha. And a squirrel because I’m energetic and I really like to be moving around!”

2.       If you could have one superpower, what would that superpower be? “Flying. Definitely. Because then I could get anywhere in the world.”

3.       If you could have dinner with any three people dead or alive, who would they be and why? “Bernie Sanders because I feel like I could learn a lot from him, Amelia Earhart and my grandmother who I never got to meet.”

4.       If someone were to make a movie about your life, who would you want to play you? “Jennifer Lawrence because she’s just incredible.”

It’s always hard returning to work after a long break, but nothing softens the blow of reality quite like a delicious treat to snack on. On Monday, Trevor was nice enough to surprise the office with some homemade Salted Brown Butter Rice Krispy treats (a spin on the classic Rice Krispy Treat). Taste them for yourself by following the recipe below. Try stopping after just one, I dare you.

Ingredients:

4 ounces (1/4 pound or 1 stick) unsalted butter, plus extra for the pan 1 10-ounce bag marshmallows Heaping 1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt 6 cups Rice Krispies cereal (about half a 12-ounce box)

In a large pot, melt butter over medium-low heat. It will melt, then foam, then turn clear golden and finally start to turn brown and smell nutty. Stir frequently, scraping up any bits from the bottom as you do. Don’t take your eyes off the pot as while you may be impatient for it to start browning, the period between the time the butter begins to take on color and the point where it burns is often less than a minute.

As soon as the butter takes on a nutty color, turn the heat off and stir in the marshmallows. The residual heat from the melted butter should be enough to melt them, but if it is not, turn it back on low until the marshmallows are smooth.

Remove the pot from the stove and stir in the salt and cereal together. Quickly spread into prepared pan. I liked to use a piece of waxed or parchment paper that I’ve sprayed with oil to press it firmly and evenly into the edges and corners, though a silicon spatula works almost as well.

Makes 16 2-inch squares or 32 1- x 2-inch small bars.

As we wind down for the year, we’ve been having a little bit of holiday fun! We decorated the office tree, of course, but also indulged in an “Elf” happy hour and binge watched Matt Bellassai’s holiday “Whine About It” videos.

Now we’re off to bask in this warm Rochester winter (really!), and we’ll be back in January, all bright-eyed and cheery!

Have a wonderful holiday season!

As PR professionals, we know the value of the relationship with journalists. Both parties have something to offer each other – but in some cases, the relationship isn’t always hugs, great jobs and high-fives.

It only takes one time for a PR pro to send a bad pitch that the reporter HATES. The result? A mean Twitter rant from the journalist that you won’t want to miss, trust us.

But don’t take our word for it, – a group of PR pros got together to read some of these mean tweets from journalists who received bad PR pitches.

Happy mean tweet watching!

The Rochester office gained a new member over the weekend! Beyoncé the beta fish was one of the many gifts included in our office’s White Elephant gift exchange during our holiday party. Beyoncé has found her new forever home with Kayla at Text100 and has quickly become the talk of the office. Welcome to Text100, Beyoncé!!

Name: Emily DePerrior

Position: Account Coordinator

Education: Bachelor’s Degree in English with a Concentration in Language, Media and Communications from the University of Rochester

When did you know you wanted to work in PR?

I went to college having no idea what I wanted to major in - much less what career path I could see myself taking. During my freshman year I took a mandatory writing seminar and to my surprise, I loved it. I ended up majoring in English and never looked back. I was actually told by my first college advisor NOT to major in English because there weren’t any jobs for graduates with a degree in English. That definitely haunted me throughout my four years at the U of R. I’m happy to report that I proved him wrong! Four years, many meetings with the career center and a lot of research later I had narrowed down my job search to PR. The industry caught my attention because of its focus on storytelling and persuasive/analytical writing, which I had identified through my English major coursework to be my two greatest passions.

What is your favorite part of working at Text100?

Everyone here is incredibly good at their job, which is a lot of pressure but it’s really good pressure. It makes me want to challenge myself to do the best work I can because I don’t want to let anyone on my team down. Also everyone is SO FUNNY, like comedian level funny. At the first happy hour I went to my face started to hurt from laughing so much.

If you didn’t work in PR, what would your dream career be?

In a totally unrealistic dream world I would own a bakery. In a more realistic world I would probably be a teacher. When I was a kid I had a varsity level school room in my basement that I loved more than life itself.

Which three items would you bring with you if you were going to be stranded on an island?

I would be all about trying to get the heck out of there, so I would definitely bring some sort of flare gun to alert people that I am stranded and in need of rescue (yeah – I’m not messing around). Then I guess I would grab one of those really big jars of peanut butter for sustenance until I am rescued, and the warmest blanket I can find.  

What’s your “vantage point” at Text100?

It’s a great time to be at Text100! PRWeek recently announced the finalists for the US Awards, and our work was shortlisted for three categories:

·        Best Use of Analytics - Adobe

·        Best Use of Analytics - Kayak

·        Business-to-Business Campaign of the Year - Cisco

In addition, our CEO, Aedhmar Hynes, is nominated for PR Professional of the Year.