Looking back, I consider I’ve been lucky throughout my career. I’ve worked at great companies with great accounts, had great teammates and had some great leaders/mentors. However, for the past 2.5 years, the agency I work with is just perfect for my family and me. Yes, of course there are tough days and crazy busy days, but those are few and far between and the fun and awesome moments outweigh the not-so-good ones by far! To sum it up, here are 3 reasons why I am thankful for my job and why I LOVE working where I do.

1. I get to be myself and do what I love

For those that know me, you know I am a pretty energetic person, in a good mood 98% of the time and probably a pain to deal with at times… At my previous agency, although I was able to be myself around my co-workers, there was this “corporate” feel to it and “playful” behaviors were frowned upon by some of the upper management team. I felt like I needed to watch what I said or did at times and did not feel I had a voice… Booooring… 🙂

At my current agency, that has never been an issue. My boss/owner of the agency embraces people’s personalities and has built an awesome team that allows everyone to be him/herself, while still working as a solid unit. In my experience, when people are free to be who they are and do not have to put up a façade, they work better, more freely, they enjoy being there and feel accepted, which in return yields efficiency and overall happiness.

Besides being able to be me, I get to do what I love- what I’ve wanted to do since I was in high school! I get to work in a fun and creative Ad Agency with awesome clients in so many different verticals! No day is the same, every client, every campaign presents a new, fun challenge and I never stop learning! I learn from my peers, from our clients, from new situations, and experiences and of course from data! 🙂 . Professionally, I could not ask for more.

 

2. My boss is a woman and a mother.

You have no idea what a difference this makes. I think of myself as a very involved father. My family means the world to me and I want to be a part of my kids’ daily lives as much as I can; I would never forgive myself if in 20 years I look back and wish I would have been more present. Nope. I refuse to let that happen and my boss not only knows it, but also shares my same beliefs and is sooo supportive of anything family.

In this era we hear claims of work/life balance and how employees need to support women in the workplace to allow them to spend more time with their kids. Not only that, but to be OK with it and not see their time with their families as a “weakness” or a “lack of commitment” to their jobs that could prevent them from professional advancement.

Although I am a strong believer that all of the above should apply to men as well (that’s a whole other post), I don’t have to worry about ANY of it because my boss is a woman AND she is a mother. She gets it! She practices it! She is very involved in her child’s life and has a very strong family foundation. So, at previous jobs when asking for time-off to go be part of my kids’ activities, or even Dr.’s appointments, although they rarely denied my requests, you could tell they did not like it and I had to do these things with a guilty feeling about it…. And that feeling sucked! Now? She is 100% supportive and in return she knows that I will work my butt off to meet any deadlines, deliverables and expectations. It has to be a give and take where every party benefits and wins from it.

So, to my above point, it probably would be awesome if more women were in top positions in Corporate America to build better workplaces, or we can hope that the new generation of involved fathers (which I know all my friends with kids share my beliefs) start taking over the big honcho roles because we get it. We love family/work balance and a happy working environment.

 

3. We have a team that believes in well being

As a team, we workout together at the local YMCA 2-4 times a week. We support and promote healthy eating habits, diet together, juice at the office, etc. We have a great support group that makes it so much easier to stay in shape and try to eat clean. We’ve all had days we don’t feel like going to the gym, but the team pushes us to go and once we are done with the workout we are so grateful we did it. It takes a village and we have a fun, healthy village.

For the above reasons and truthfully many others, I don’t take it for granted and I am thankful for my job! I hope everyone feels the same about theirs.