Hey, Dawn here! OFU’s Marketing Comms Manager, and I support our sales team. I’m celebrating TWO YEARS at OFU this month, so it’s likely you’ve heard from me or seen me around.
You might not know this though… I actually live in Panama! Yes, the country! What’s it like doing marcomms for an amazing video production agency from the jungle? Well, I figured I’d share a little ‘day in the life’, so let’s go!
Coffee. Living in Panama, I’m pretty fortunate to have access to some of the world’s best coffee. So even though I have a six-month-old and a toddler who is almost three, coffee takes priority in the mornings. The little babe and I usually snuggle in the hammock before the rest of our family gets up.
Our hammock is in the ‘bodega’ which is essentially a covered patio, but with fancy bars as walls. It’s a great place for me to get my bird watching in, and it’s good that I get it done earlier in the day, because we live close to one of the hottest cities in Panama. We also live only thirty minutes away from one of the coolest cities. Panama is like that. Have you been?
My husband is the chef in our family, so he usually wakes up and makes our breakfast. I get our girls dressed and we like to take Azalea (our almost three-nager) to school as a family together. We’re kinda sweet like that. Then we meet Aracelly back at the house. If I had one wish for the world, it would be that everyone could have a friend and nanny like Aracelly.
By this time, I’m caffeinated, kid-free, fed and ready to take on the (video) world. I don’t understand how people can live their lives without a to-do list. I start every workday re-writing my to-do list. What neurotic things do you do to prepare yourself for the day?
Next, I check in with my boss and our team’s Business Development Manager, Robyn Anderson. Big chance you’ve seen her name around or had the pleasure of working with Robyn if you’re reading this. Lucky for me, I get to talk to her almost every day.
This is always a good opportunity to remind each other of priorities or check in with each other’s family and most importantly, each other’s outfits for the day. Working remotely, this virtual check-in is pretty important to me. If I didn’t have this, big chance I’d wear my 96-year-old grandmother’s moo-moo every day. Thanks, Robyn, for this accountability!
Throughout the day’s emails, calls and Zoom meetings, I can often forget that I do, in fact, live in a jungle. I have to remind myself – go hang out by a waterfall for lunch, or grab a coconut from the backyard and drink fresh coconut water – you know, things like that.
When the work week is done, I spend time on our little fruit farm where we just got a horse as well.
Although Zoom fatigue is real, since I live on a figurative island, I actually get energized by these meetings with my team, our clients, prospects, and partners. love learning from our clients – from higher ed to healthcare to just general bada**ery like Meow Wolf, large tech companies – you name it. Everyone has their own story to tell, and I feel so fortunate that I’m a small part of an incredible team that gets to tell others’ stories for a living.
If you read this and thought ‘Wow, what a cool company One Floor Up is to let their team work from the jungle’! – you’re right. It’s an amazing company, and I’m fortunate to be celebrating two years with them.
Are you fully remote? Hybrid? I want to hear your story. I love to hear from our OFU community. Even if you don’t have a current video project in mind, I’d love to connect.
Saludos from Panama!
