I just got home to Las Vegas after yet another amazing weekend in New York City. This time? My reason for going was to talk on a panel at the Social Media Weekend conference at Columbia University Journalism School, where I graduated in 2000. Thanks to my friend Liz Borod Wright of Travelogged, I got to sit on a panel called “Social Media for Bloggers.” I was a bit out of my league with Mike Street and Heidi Cohen, but I have so much to say, and I hope I could at least encourage some newbies that you can have a blog no matter if you have a full-time job or anything else. For me, how cool was it to return to the very place that jump-started my entire career, a place I had not returned to since graduation 13 years ago. I was unprepared for how excited I was to run around and take photos of the campus (including an errant clump of dirty snow!) that I loved so much. There, I met the person who pushed my foot in the door at New York magazine, my very first job. After six months of freelance work there, I couldn’t believe my very first full-time job was at that revered magazine. I also met so many strong women who helped me gain confidence in my career choice. “We’re so not worried about you,” they used to say. I never forgot that. Perhaps they should have worried about me: I am the only one who never married, who lost everything at least once, who bounced around from job to job…
To my RW1 professor, Sig Gissler, and my friends I met during that glorious year at J-School, my eternal thanks.
After all, I did need you. It’s a jungle out there.
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What an honor to speak at your old school! I’m sure you did an excellent job and taught the attendees so much. 🙂
How exciting!!!!!! You rock darling! I’m so proud of you!!!
You really are obsessed with that clump of snow 🙂
Think about the number of people that graduate every year and never get the chance to come back to their Alma mater to speak, it is a very rare honour.
Congratulations!
I am so happy to be the one who lured you back to J-School after all these years. Thank you so much for being on the panel — really meant a lot to me! You were fantastic on it, by the way. It was so wonderful to catch up — hope to see you again soon, either in NYC or another (more exotic?) locale.
What a fun way to visit your alma mater! I don’t know if I feel as strongly about mine, but I haven’t been back since I graduated. I’d love to see what it’d feel like to walk on campus again. And, I’m sure you were awesome on the panel!
Talk about a full and wonderful circle! Love it and worth the whirlwind! xoxo