Her Year In Review

Briene Lermitte | MARCH 5, 2013

Planes, trains and laundry chutes; early morning Skypes and late-night logistics—my first year at Evviva has been a beautiful whirlwind.

How often does a recent college grad get private tours of the most beautiful hotel suites in LA or get to plant diamond rings in a macaroon box, all under the title of “work”? By learning to embracing the unexpected and taking on the challenges of working for a small global business, I’ve had the chance to do incredible things!

My Evviva journey started with a part-time internship during my last semester at Penn State. It became a full-time role as I moved from rural Pennsylvania to downtown San Francisco, and evolved from a stranded student to a founded young professional.

People often ask me what the biggest surprises have been in my transition from academia to business, and two things stand out.

The first is a mental shift: In college, I learned to memorize facts, regurgitate theories and come to the conclusion the professor wanted. Agency life isn’t about any rubric or box checking. Instead, my daily tasks consist of problem solving, invention and communication.

The second was a realization. Remember when you were a kid and your older cousins and siblings seemed to have it all figured out? When you were in elementary school, the high-schoolers were so cool. In high school, the college students knew their life goals and were on their way toward achieving them. But then you entered college and realized that, having no idea what you wanted to do, surely all of those business professionals understood the world, inside and outside. Well ladies and gentlemen, after a year in agency life, I’ve realized there’s no sense in waiting to “make it” to a state of all knowing, peace and prosperity. In the end, we’re all just making it up as we go, and celebrating that we often do a good job of it.

My work this year has taken me from San Francisco to London, Vancouver, the Mendocino Coast, Portland, Silicon Valley, NYC and LA (twice!). I’ve planned projects, managed photo shoots, cast models, pitched accounts, navigated Middle Eastern clothing markets, organized focus groups, coordinated conference calls spanning the time zones, shepherded an app to life, developed a valuable toolset for solving technology obstacles and human misunderstandings, and ultimately I have become a member of a passionate team, committed to producing authentic work.

Working for a growing organization, I get to create impact daily through my contributions. As project coordinator, I get to see projects from start to finish, from insight to creative execution, from nervous client to proud brand owner.

So that’s a summation of my first year at Evviva. I can’t wait to see what Year Two will bring …