A Day in the Life: PR and Pregnancy

This week’s Day in the Life feature comes from Janelle Dickerson, Account Executive at Zeno Group Silicon Valley.

5:15 a.m. – My alarm goes off. A few months ago this would include me hitting the snooze button and rolling over but when you’re eight months pregnant, you don’t sleep very much. I’ve been up since 4:30 a.m. trying to force the last few minutes of sleep into the night. Like most other smartphone owners the first thing I do is check my Facebook, email and Instagram.

5:30 a.m. – I’m struggling to tie the laces on my tennis shoes since I can barely reach my feet these days! Then, out the door to get in a little exercise. I’m lucky to live very close to a trail. My pre-pregnancy workout routine is out the window, so I aim for two miles a day. 

6:30 a.m. – I turn on the local news to make sure I’m up-to-speed on any real-time media opportunities while eating breakfast and take a few minutes to check my email and respond to any hot items.

7:15 a.m. – I’m rushing to get out the door to meet up with the colleague I carpool with. Finally we’re on our way, the car ride usually consists of a mixture of work-related conversation and personal life updates.

8 a.m. – We make the obligatory coffee stop to get my day started. I know you are probably concerned, caffeine?! But you’re pregnant?! Don’t worry. My doctor shared that drinking coffee is ok as long as I kept it around 8 ounces a day (just enough to get my fix)

8:15 a.m. – Computer is booted up and I am starting outreach to drum up attendance for an upcoming  client event. In addition to reaching out to a list put together by my team, I am researching other potentially interested groups on LinkedIn and Meetup. Meanwhile, I am sorting through emails, staying on top of the media to see what’s going on in the world or if anything has popped up that could be a potential story that one of my clients can weigh in on.

Noon – Head to Moveable Feast to get my grub on with a handful of people from the office. Being in the Bay Area food-wise opens up a lot of delicious possibilities and satisfies any and all pregnancy cravings.

1:30 p.m. – Jump on a client call to discuss a media strategy for a soon-to-be released report and brainstorm angles for their different Business Units. Note to self: it’s time to update my passwords – #security.

2:30 p.m. – It’s time to brainstorm proactive outreach ideas for one of my clients. Keeping your clients in the news when they don’t have news to share themselves is a crucial aspect of a successful team and requires a lot of creativity and pitching skills!

3:30 p.m. – I meet with the rest of the Zeno SV Culture Crew to brainstorm ideas for our Zeno New Year’s party. We come up with some pretty awesome ideas, including our first annual Filament Awards!

4:30 p.m. – Wrap up a quarterly media coverage analysis that I have been working on throughout the week and I deliver to the client. The results look awesome, thanks to the great efforts of my team. Everyone loves a successful quarter. #mediamavens 

5:30 p.m. – All the jabs to my ribs have started to get to me and after a quick check of my to-do list to make sure everything is crossed off, I pack up to head home. I have about an hour-long commute ahead of me, thankfully my awesome husband will have dinner ready by the time I get home.

6:30 p.m. – Finally home! I eat dinner while my husband and I discuss the challenges and successes of our day, then we take a quick stroll around the neighborhood.

8 p.m. – Catch up on some of my shows and use the commercial breaks to prep for the following day and respond to any emails that have come in since I left the office.

10 p.m. – Another successful day in the books, time to (try) to catch some Zs!

5 things you should know about Janelle

Fearless moment: Leaving a steady job to start an internship at Zeno; a decision I am thankful for daily.

Most Memorable Zeno Moment: My first new business pitch: long hours, hard work, paid off. We also made it “snow” at 2:00 a.m. in the office the morning of the pitch, but that’s for another blog post …

If not a Zenoid, I’d be a … Probably something in education, most likely focused on student leadership.

Social network of choice: Facebook

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? Somewhere tropical.