There are two questions I've gotten almost every day since I started at Pixel Bakery:
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"What kind of stuff do you bake?" Usually, it's from someone who thinks we're a traditional baked goods kind of bakery. I'll hit them with the "videos... haha..." and then explain I didn't come up with the name but yes, I know it's confusing. We can blame Jordan Lambrecht for that one.
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"What is a Community Manager?" I get this one from everyone, and it's understandable. It sounds like a fake job title. This is especially confusing to people like my mom and my girlfriend, who have to try to explain it to their friends but don't really understand it themselves.
Well, friends, today is the day. Let's talk about what I even do here.
I divide my role into a few categories: networking, creative, and people.
I love to network. I am constantly networking, anyone who knew me in Eau Claire can attest that I couldn't enter a business, restaurant, event, etc. without saying hello to at least one person I know. This is ironic because my grandparents are the same way in my hometown and it used to embarrass me to no end. I've been slowly getting to know more about Lincoln, its business community, and its creative community. I've even been lucky enough to travel to Philadelphia for Expo East (RIP 😔).
I have a Graphic Communications degree that I use often, but not in the way you might think. One thing I've realized is that there are so many good graphic designers out there and I, for one, do not want to compete with them. They can be good at graphic design, and I can be good at something else. That "something else" in my case is providing feedback and being able to come up with creative concepts for projects. In college, I learned about the creative process, participated in critiques, and worked on group projects with my classmates. Those skills are still applicable, even if I'm not the one opening Adobe Illustrator and making the designs myself. I've also learned that sometimes, people need a little direction in order to make things happen. I have a million ideas and 8 hours in a day to get them done, so being able to delegate some tasks to members of my team (who will be able to execute them better than I ever could) makes my life so much easier.
Finally, people. All of my team members know there's nothing I love more than to bother- I mean, bestie it up with them. I know work culture varies from workplace to workplace, but to me, it's important that we see each other as people first. My coworkers are extremely talented at what they do, but they also have a life outside of work that sometimes comes first. I try my best to make everyone feel like they belong, and like someone cares about what they think, what songs they're listening to, what books they're reading, and what drama is happening in their life (if they choose to share).
Basically, I'm a professional bestie ✨