To the Moments that Made me
I walked through the doors of VaynerMedia exactly 5 years and 2 months ago. I was young, eager, confident, and full of a desire to learn, grow and evolve. I was also utterly clueless — this was my first time working at an “agency”, my first time having “clients” and my first time working in a place where the expectation wasn’t just hard work, it was great work.
I landed here through a chance encounter at a breakfast burrito place in the west village, when the burrito maker himself insisted I talk to the energetic woman behind me because we both worked in social media. She told me about some guy named Gary Vaynerchuk, mentioned a social media agency, and wished me a happy breakfast as we exchanged twitter handles and went our separate ways. She was gone, but her passion stuck with me. Two months and a series of DMs later, I found myself on the other side of a three-round interview with a signed offer letter in hand.
Fast forward 5 years and I’ve done many of the things I set out to, and then some. I’ve learned an incredible amount, grown leaps and bounds, and evolved through a series of opportunities and challenges that built me, brick by brick. Across coasts and continents, my relationship with this company, and more importantly the humans I’ve met here, has shaped me. So here’s a tribute to those individuals, and the moments we shared, that made me the man I am today.
That moment when…
I didn’t know what “SOW” or “AOR” stood for and you patiently taught me during week one
I learned how to talk to clients, and found my “client voice”. And then you were all patient with me when I couldn’t turn it off after meetings
I made typos in my emails but instead of pointing them out, you just said I made a mistake and made me find it and fix it
You gave me most transformative piece of feedback I’ve ever heard, “you’re not being a team player”. Two months later when you commended me for turning things around
You saw in me what I hadn’t yet seen in myself
You pushed me to find an extra gear. That I could work 10 or 24 hour days if I really needed to, but never that I had to
We had a 100+ person game of flip cup during a holiday we made up just to celebrate us
You gave me the chance to build something
We got our first big win as a small team, and hugged and jumped up and down
I realized I didn’t have co-workers, I had friends. And then we stopped calling it a family, and called it “best friends” because you choose and work for those relationships, you don’t just default into them
I learned a new definition for the word “culture”. And then did everything in my power to promote, support, nurture, build and sustain it
We held our hugs longer than normal but it was normal to us and that was just fine
I felt safe to be completely honest with you about what I wanted in life. And then we made decisions together about good for the company vs good for me
When I realized that really what I learned here wasn’t just how to be an expert in my field, but how to solve any problem
For everything I said above and everything I didn’t. For all the smiles, the hugs, the high fives, the honey and the warmth of walking into a place each day that buzzed with the heartbeats of people that cared, of people that believed, in what we were doing and how they were a part of it. For creating a place that brought together some of the most incredible minds and hearts I’ve come across and some of the most important people in my life.
For the people that shared in the moments that made me who I am today.
