Well, after three years, I’m leaving the PR firm.
I love the people (wonderful) and love the work (helping non-profits think through the messaging and online presences) but never could get resources marshaled at the level required to do truly exceptional work.
Truth be told, I struggled a bit with figuring out my next step. Before I joined the Firm, I thought my next job would be as a VP of Marketing Communications for a non-profit — and acquiring the requisite skills was a big reason that I took the job I’m leaving.
But, as I stood on the precipice, I started to wonder if that job — the VP/MarComm job — was really going to make my life better, happier, etc. It took me a long time to ask myself the question, but once I did the answer took about 30 seconds to come back as a big, fat “nope.”
So, I’m leaving to join Freeflow Digital as one of their senior principals. It’s a reunion of sorts, as I worked with over half of Freeflow’s staff of 12, including the founding principals, when I was at Carol | Trevelyan Strategy Group (CTSG). I’ll be able to use my geek-to-English translation skills, focus exclusively on non-profits, and be one of the leaders as opposed to yet another middle manager.
Freeflow is B Corp that helps non-profits and universities with web development, data integration, CMS/CRM strategy and big-data business intelligence — so it’s a lot of the same work I was doing, just a bigger focus on execution as opposed to strategizing about how to get the work done.
So, I start April 1st with the new job, but I get to keep the stuff I liked most about the last job, too. I’m keeping a couple of non-profit clients with the PR firm, and they are (generously) giving Freeflow office space in the same DC office I’ve been working out of for the last year.
So, the grass is actually greener on both sides of the fence.
