One Year Reflection — Sienna
Sienna has officially reached one full year here at Little Taller. Turns out she wants to be a dolphin trainer, unsure how that fits here but it’s fine.
Little Taller : What’s your title and then what is it you actually do every day?
Sienna : I first started as Project Manager and then in March I became Account Manager. I would say it’s not so much manager, but more of an overseer, of almost everything. On a daily basis, I go to scrum and listen to what everyone’s doing, make sure all of our projects are running smoothly. I have relationships with the internal team and with the client and help push those projects along. There’s things I’ve learned how to do myself to streamline the process because sometimes it’s faster for me to do it rather than interrupt someone else’s workflow. That’s really what I’ve been doing for the past year.
Little Taller : How would you explain this to other people who aren’t in the industry or just don’t get it?
Sienna : I don’t think a lot of people know what I do. But when I say advertising I think it starts to make more sense. I’ll start to explain designing and developing of websites. The design part usually makes sense but the development part usually doesn’t. I’ll tell them we put websites together and create other marketing materials like social media campaigns. But where I come is in helping move those projects along.
Little Taller : So what’s your biggest takeaway from year one?
Sienna : I would actually say a lot of things. My biggest takeaway kind of scares me, but I’ll just say a lot of them. I am the only person that is really driving my knowledge for how much I need to know or get done in the day. It was hard in the beginning cause I didn’t really know what questions to ask or really what to do all the time. But once I started like opening my ears and listening I started to see the pattern of what I needed to accomplish. I could be at one step and see what needed to happen next. I’ve found that making an excel sheet can help me to better understand the process for each project. One of the biggest takeaways was having to find a way to receive the information and then make sure I understood it properly. Another takeaway would be that working from home is hard. I’ve recently come to the conclusion that I’m a very, very social person and being home alone all day can be difficult for me. Sometimes I go to coffee shops but being home I have this environment that I am in total control over. I control the temperature, I can eat when I want to, it’s quiet. It’s so much easier to be home but you do miss out on that outside world. Somedays I feel like I never saw the sky, I didn’t get myself ready, well that one is my fault. The rhythm of the day just all blends together. Your whole day is work and it’s in your safe space at home. Maybe I still haven’t found the right balance between the house and work.
Little Taller : Before starting at Little Taller, I know you were a student, cause I know you personally and I know you interned at OH Partners. Can you tell me about that jump from an academic world to a professional environment?
Sienna : School and work are totally different. They are just totally completely different. Well my experience is also a little different because I went to community college for two years and then I went to Grand Canyon University (GCU) for two years. I feel like I could’ve spent so much more time at GCU. I feel like my time was cut short. I was just starting to understand my design skills and I’m not sure I had enough time to really figure out what I wanted to do. Whether it was design or more on the the account side or the project management side. I feel like I never learned in school any other option besides design. I would have loved to take classes for other agency positions in the advertising program. Almost an agency life class. After graduating it was really helpful to intern with OH Partners and really see that agency life come full circle and how everyone works together. I wish I would have had a little more time there too. I just jumped into this startup life and it was my job to figure it out instead of follow someone else’s example.
Little Taller : Do you want to tell me more about the learning curve at work versus at school? Just how you continue to further your education or what that shift in learning patterns was like?
Sienna : I’ve always had trouble learning. I’ve always struggled with ADHD my whole life. It’s mellowed out a little bit as I got older but those ADHD tendencies are still present. I’ve always had to be in charge of my own brain and really figure out how to decode what everyone else is saying in order for it to make sense to me. School was easier because I had 16 years of practice learning in that format. Now I feel like everyone expects you to know everything. Instead of step by step instructions or here’s your task its “Go do it now.” It’s like jumble, I have figure out what needs to be done. Because of this I think the biggest learning curve I’ve been working on is hearing the client’s wants and then putting it into actionable items of what can I do. Breaking out those steps for what’s next. That’s been a big learning curve and I’m still trying to figure it out.
Little Taller : So how do you continue learning like professionally or even just like non professionally?
Sienna : I would say talking with friends cause I have a lot of friends in the industry, especially my boyfriend, Brandon. He’s more on the strategy side but he works in a bigger firm. It’s interesting to see what they do. I would say word of mouth and stories for non professional and professional. I’m not a very good person for like reading things or listening podcasts and stuff, but I read a lot of like job posts of what are people are from like account and project manager to kind of understand what the heck I’m supposed to do.
Little Taller : So how do you balance remote working in your everyday life?
Sienna : When it’s on the weekends, I don’t want to look at slack and I don’t want to do work. I’ve set really clear boundaries with that but it’s harder to set boundaries during the work week. I’ve really struggled with that.
Little Taller : What are some things that ensure you can do your job effectively?
Sienna : Because I feel like I’m wearing so many different hats I find that I depend a lot on feedback, which may not always be good but that open communication between the head leads and the worker bees is really helpful for me.
Little Taller : What accomplishments are you most proud of the, from this last year?
Sienna : It would be pitching to a holding company board, it was full of people that are big CEO’s and it was kind of scary but I did it twice! It may not have gone through, which is a bummer, but I still did it. I’m also learning a little bit more in html. Which is good and beneficial for understanding what the heck is happening. I’ve gained some great skills from reporting like Google analytics. I’ve become familiar with quite a few project management sites such as Assana, Teamwork, all these I really had never touched before. It’s been great to build that tool belt and understanding the pattern behind business. It was a big learning curve all around going from school to this.
Little Taller : So what responsibilities do you enjoy the most and what do you enjoy the least?
Sienna : I talk to some clients more than I talk with my family or boyfriend and that can be hard but I really like getting to see some of the designs that people come up with. I love being in this creative field. I enjoy getting to be that liaison between the team and the client.
Little Taller : What is it you like most about working with Little Taller?
Sienna : The people. I mean, it’s Girl Gang for Petes sake! I graduated with these friends, I work for the people that used to my professors. It’s the people and the quality of spirits we have, it’s quite the variety at times but it’s always good.
Little Taller : That’s a tender answer. What are some goals you have coming up?
Sienna : I want to get more organized and really stick with the process we have in place. I want to get better at determining estimates and then ensuring we’re sticking to that budget. I want to get better at getting my tasks in order and having all the tags right. I’ve been able to get more done and ask for help less so that’s been good.
Little Taller : Do you have a professional skill that you’re currently looking to develop?
Sienna : I would love to be more methodical. Like note taking for example. I would love to get a system down where all that information is where it needs to be and everyone who needs access, has access. Just be more prepared overall. It wouldn’t take much to spend 5 minutes in the morning and afternoon to double check that everything is where it should be.
Little Taller : If you can be an expert in anything, what would it be? Anything in the world, you wake up tomorrow and you are an instant expert.
Sienna : Language. All of them, but specifically French. I would love to just wake up tomorrow, call my grandmother and be able to speak French with her fluently. Actually it would be cool to be a dolphin trainer, too.
