Reflections on Grad School Year 1

As the semester comes to a close, I wanted to reflect on the past year. The first year of graduate school has been challenging, exhausting, eye-opening and rewarding. I cannot adequately express how relieved I am to (almost) be halfway done with graduate school. While avoiding the real world for another couple of years is a major plus, there are many days when I would love to clock out at 5 p.m. and go home and have the night to myself.

Complaints aside, I have learned a lot that will be valuable to my future career and will set me apart from others in my industry. Being able to execute instructions from a boss is great, but being able to determine the strategy that forms those instructions will be even more rewarding. Also, the majority of my research has focused on communication among the millennial generation. This group of people will comprise 75% of the workforce in 2020, so I will be able to use my research to develop strategic communication initiatives geared toward this generation. I’m sure you’re tuning out now so I’m done with the academic talk.

While I have advanced academically, nothing compares to real-world job experience. I have loved interning in Media & Internal Relations at UT’s Office of Communication and Marketing. Every person I work with is so great – not only are they total rockstars at their jobs, but they are also the nicest, most welcoming people. They have trusted me with immense responsibilities, showed me how to have fun at work, and made me feel like a part of the team. I’d like to thank them for welcoming me and for allowing me to continue to work with them.

This past year has been an adjustment – with most of my best friends moving away – (and making new friends) but the time we get together is now even more valuable than before. From maintaining friendships with former co-workers to staying active in my sorority as an alum, this year has been a pretty good one.

I have a lot of great memories from this past year on Rocky Top and I am beyond thrilled that I will be sticking around for another. Go Vols!

Local Knoxville Feature: Grow

If you’re lucky, you have a hair stylist who has never steered you wrong and who is good at what they do. And then there’s Shane Archer, who was sent down to Earth by the hair gods. Seriously, this guy is incredible. Shane is the only hair stylist and colorist that I’ve been to since I’ve lived in Knoxville and I won’t go to anyone else. (It speaks to how good he is that he has a 6-week wait list.) Six months ago, Shane opened his own salon, Grow.

grow is a Shane Archer Concept. When designing grow, Shane wanted more than just a salon, he wanted to create an experience. grow caters to everything hair, skin and body. Providing clients with the best the industry has to offer- the best products on the market and the best service by Knoxville’s top salon specialists. grow is all about promoting what is local.  Featuring local artists, local coffee, local music, and even burning local candles.

Not only do they offer hair services, but they also offer massage therapy as well as makeup and other skin services. When creating his salon, Shane thought of everything. The reception area features hair products by Kevin Murphy and other products by local vendors. There is a serene waiting area with an incredibly comfortable couch and a coffee bar. And you aren’t expected to sit in the same chair the entire time – in addition to the traditional salon-style sitting area, there is a color bar where color is put on your hair that has an open lounge concept. Your next step is going to the blow-dry bar where you will fight to stay awake from having your head massaged while being washed.

While I will never have anyone else touch even a single strand on my head, everyone that works at Grow is incredibly talented. Check it out!

Reflection on Return on Influence

Recently in class, we were tasked with reading Return on Influence by Mark Schaefer. Not only did we read his book, but we were also graced with his presence during one of our classes. Let me tell you — that man knows his social media. He knows social media and technology trends so well that it intimidates me into feeling that I don’t know enough about them. Despite my generation generally having a good grasp on social media, this book left me feeling incompetent in my social media practices and knowledge.

Let’s begin by discussing my social media use. I got to a point—probably about a year ago—where I was obsessed with checking my Twitter feed. Obsessed is probably an understatement. On Twitter, you follow the accounts that you follow for a reason—you are interested in what that person or organization has to say. That being said, you don’t want to miss what they have said and in order to do that, you must keep up with your entire Twitter feed. So I would wake up and pick up where I left off checking my Twitter feed before I went to bed. I would check it after eating breakfast, while walking to class, after I got out of class—you get the picture. It was a vicious cycle. Soon I became so consumed with checking my Twitter feed that I wasn’t actually paying attention to what was going on around me or the people I was with. I know this is the sad turn that society has taken but finally, I just gave up. I accepted that there just isn’t enough time in the day to keep up with every single tweet that my 334 followers were tweeting day and night. That being said, I didn’t go rogue and leave Twitter altogether. Now, it’s just more of a convenience factor. I still tweet semi-regularly but I only check my feed when I’m bored or when there’s something going on in my area or in the world that I’m seeking information on.

I explain all of this to say that I am not the desirable avid twitter user that Mark Schaefer would want me to be. While I have a Klout score of 58 (when the average Klout score is 40), I definitely do not feel that I have a lot of influence in the social media world. Return on Influence really stressed me out because it describes how your Klout score can affect potential career opportunities and others’ perception of you, which especially applies in the field of public relations.

 

New Favorite Smoothie Recipe

As I talked about in a previous blog post, I am attempting to live a healthier lifestyle by trying to reduce stress, eat healthier and be more active. My goal of reaching 10,000 steps every day fell short a few days this week because of the increased school workload, but I discovered a smoothie recipe that I LOVE and wanted to share it with you. I also wanted to share that I got my ingredients at Three Rivers Market, which I went to for the first time this week, thanks to my friend, Emily. If you’ve never been, I would compare it to a cheaper, smaller Whole Foods. In addition to carrying natural and organic food, Three Rivers Market also carries food from local producers, such as Cruze Farm and Magpies Bakery. I would recommend checking it out!

My new favorite smoothie recipe is as follows:

• 1 cup frozen strawberries
• 1 medium banana
• 1 and 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk
• 1 mini spoonful Trader Joe’s Stevia Extract
• Dash of vanilla extract

Throw it all in a blender and enjoy! I might experiment with adding greek yogurt — or if I’m really in a daring mood, some greens — but for now, I’m really enjoying this recipe!

I’m open to suggestions for other smoothie recipes, too!

-CW

Local Knoxville Feature – The French Market Creperie

Who says you have to go to France to get a taste of authentic French cuisine? Holding the No. 4 ranking on Trip Advisor for restaurants in the city of Knoxville is the French Market Creperie. Behold, heaven does exist. From macarons to crepes to French onion soup (or as the French call it, onion soup) the French Market can do it all. And they do it remarkably well. My roommate and I set out there on a mission one day to get the full experience of this quaint shop on Gay Street. In order to get the full experience, we each got a sweet and a savory crepe. She had a lemon crepe, topped with powdered sugar and a lemon slice, and a vegetable crepe, while I had a smores crepe and a turkey and cheese crepe, which was covered in cheese and filled with spinach and mushrooms. I also had a caramel latte, which was very tasty.

Smores crepe

Let me just say that I am a sucker for anything smores flavored. I don’t know what it is, but if a smores dessert is an option, count me in. The crepes come in large sizes and are very filling, so ordering two really wasn’t our best judgement call – we had leftovers for later, but financially, sticking to one would be better. I have a sweet tooth, so next time around I would only get one sweet crepe — probably smores again or Nutella or salted caramel (they all sound so good!).

Bottom line: I totally understand why they are ranked no. 4 on Trip Advisor and would recommend that everyone try the French Market Creperie.

Local Knoxville Feature – Babalu

Knoxville, especially the downtown area, is growing exponentially. Babalu is one of the trendy downtown restaurants contributing to the growth of Knoxville. I ventured out to Babalu with my roommate, who should have a frequent flyer card there – that’s how much she loves it. She had built it up a lot so it had a lot to live up to.

First impression: I’m not sure what I imagined the interior would look like, but it was not a at all how I imagined it. One of the walls had exposed brick and there was vintage Coca-Cola memorabilia throughout the entire restaurant – which is super cute, but seems to be more representative of a burger or barbecue place rather than a mexican restaurant.

We started off the meal with tableside guacamole and Oh. My. Word. It was incredible. They add sun-dried tomatoes to their guacamole, which adds so much to it. I’m not even a big guacamole fan and I couldn’t get enough of it.

For my dinner, I had a pollo (chicken) taco, a camarones (grilled shrimp) taco and mexican street corn. The tacos are small, so I recommend going for “social hour” from 4-6 p.m. Monday-Friday, when they’re $2/each. The mexican street corn was incredible. Out of the tacos, the grilled shrimp was my favorite. I also accompanied my meal with their seasonal margarita, which was a blackberry margarita and woo-wee! It packed a punch. I would’ve been a goner had I not had any food.

Would I go back? Yes. Is it my favorite place to eat in Knoxville? No.

…9,998, 9,999, 10,000.

Ten thousand steps. That’s how many steps I set a goal of walking every single day starting April 1. A combination of stress and the desire to lose some weight for an upcoming wedding I’m in sparked the creation of this springtime goal. For someone who is on a college campus, you would think that’s an easily obtainable goal – but its not. However, I’ve made changes in my daily schedule in order to accommodate this goal. Some of these changes being:

• Getting up once an hour to take a lap of the floor of the building I’m on
• Actually taking a lunch break to take a walk around campus
• Parking farther away
• Not taking the elevator and always taking the stairs
• Walking the long path from A to B
• Taking a nightly walk

In getting my 10,000 steps a day, I’ve learned a lot. I’ve learned that taking a few minutes every hour to get up from my desk and walk around stimulates my creativity and makes me more productive when I’m at my computer. I’ve learned that “me time” is something that shouldn’t be put on the back-burner as it alleviates stress and makes you feel better.

Oftentimes, we get so lost in the day-to-day that we forget to make time for ourselves. Even if it’s not walking 10,000 steps a day, I encourage every one to take some “me time” because it will benefit your attitude, your work and your well-being.

This is actually a picture I took on tonight’s walk. Stunning, right?

-CW

Reflection on #UTSMW16

This past week was UT’s fifth-annual Social Media Week. Thanks to the hard work of all those involved with the planning and execution, it was a success. I think it was one of the most interesting social media weeks to date.

Shoutout to one of my fellow PR ’15 graduates, Leigh Anne Fritts, for these incredible looking (and tasting!) cookies.

#UTSMW16 kicked off on Monday with a mayoral proclamation by Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero and Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett. The remainder of the sessions focused on social media’s role in politics and crisis communication. I was not able to attend any of the sessions on Monday but heard great feedback-particularly on the Politico talk.

Tuesday’s theme was “The Importance of Creativity in Social Media.” I was able to attend one of the panels and the afternoon workshop. I attended “Music, Murder, and Entertainment: How to Kill It in Social Media,” which featured Deborah Allen, the VP of Programming and Executive Producer at Jupiter Entertainment; and UT alums Mike McCloud, CEO of World Food Championships; Paul Jankowski, Founder and Chief Brand Strategist at New Heartland Group; and Erick Baker, a local singer/songwriter. WATE’s hilarious and entertaining Tearsa Smith moderated the panel. I thoroughly enjoyed this panel. Paul and Mike, in particular, had their shit together (excuse my French) and seemed very knowledgeable and authoritative in their respective careers and fields. I also attended Tuesday’s Content Creation Workshop in which UT Knoxville’s Social Media Manager assigned us, in groups, to generate ideas for Snapchat.

Erick Baker

“The Business of Social Media” was Wednesday’s theme and I had the opportunity to sit in on the Sports presentation featuring Nate Bain, the Digital Media Manager of the Los Angeles Rams, and Adam Moussa, ESPN’s Programming Coordinator for XGames, and moderated by WATE’s Michael Spencer. This was definitely a fun presentation to be sitting in on. I’ve always dabbled with the idea of working in sports early on in my career before I settle down and have a family, so this just renewed that spark. It appears that both gentlemen have jobs that they love, despite the time commitment required of the sports industry.

Finally, I was fortunate enough to be present for Adam Brown’s keynote address. Y’all. His talk was incredible. I wish they had been allowed to record it because it featured some really interesting (aka nerdy) information about the big data powered by social media. Of course Adam is a great speaker – he’s only worked for Ketchum, Coca-Cola, Dell and now Salesforce. He challenged those of us who use the right side of the brain (creative side) to tap into the left side and be comfortable with data science. Adam is also the generous donor for UT’s Social Media Command Center, which will provide CCI faculty and students with the resources necessary to track crazy in-depth social media analytics.

Adam Brown’s Keynote Address

Ok, I’m done nerding out now. I thoroughly enjoyed #UTSMW16 and wish it wasn’t over yet. Shoutout to the organizers of the event – they did a fantastic job and executed a truly great event.

Till next time,

CW

All Dogs go to Heaven

Something I’ve been faced with a lot lately is old age. Not my old age – despite the fact that I officially feel old seeing that I can no longer have coffee after lunch or I’ll be awake all night – but the old age of others around me. Growing old is inevitable. And it’s definitely preferred to the alternative. However, you have to be tough be able to grow old – it’s no easy feat.

Speaking of old, I’d like to introduce you to Bailey. Bailey is the dog I grew up with that was my dog. When we got her when I was in third grade, it was under one condition: I was the one responsible for taking care of her. Done. Now, it’s a little hard to take care of her when I’m two and a half hours away from her and I miss her like crazy, but I try to make up for it when I do get to see her.

Meet Bailey.

In case you didn’t put the math together, Bailey is now 14 years old. Life is challenging when you are a 14 year old dog. Her sassy butt-wiggle turned into a slow, deliberate gait and her incessant energy turned into endless naps. She has to be cautious with her movements as she knows she lacks the strength that she used to have. At her age, whenever something is wrong, I think “this is the beginning of the end,” as morbid as that sounds. I don’t find it morbid – it’s not that I think she has 9 lives or anything – it’s just that I have to face the reality of the situation.

In her old age, I’ve come to the conclusion that we can learn a lot from dogs. Bailey has taught me more life lessons through the concept of aging than I could ever learn from a textbook.

She’s taught me to be strong in situations outside of my control. If I could have it my way, Bailey would live forever, but I know that’s not possible.

She’s taught me to be patient (a virtue which doesn’t run in the Willis family). Not just in the instances where it takes her longer than it used to to complete a task, but the journey of life itself.

Bailey has taught me to trust my intuition. Last time I was home, we had an instance where she wasn’t willing to walk and was dragging one of her back legs – ended up being a minor issue of inflammation – but still was something that required medical care and could not be put off. Taking care of yourself is extremely important and dogs depend on us to take care of them. Your body’s reaction to something harmful is pain, and sucking it up to see a doctor will not be the end of the world.

She’s made me appreciate the little moments. Now, I just want to sit next to her and pet her over and over because I don’t know how many times I’ll be able to do that. Spending time with our loved ones is important and should be a high priority.

Bailey has also taught me to enjoy the journey. That dog loves walks and car rides. Too often we are set on achieving an end goal and don’t take time to appreciate the steps that it takes to get there.

Loving the journey (unless it ends at the vet).

Last but not least, Bailey has taught me unconditional love. No matter what, dogs love unconditionally. Bailey is always so happy to see me when I come back to see her (after she’s done barking at me because she’s mad that I left her) and she is always there to accept me when I come back.

–CW

Local Knoxville Feature – Blue Coast Grill

Ok, I was pretty active in the local business scene this weekend. For readers in my hometown of Murfreesboro, you are probably familiar with Blue Coast Burrito (for those of you who aren’t from the Boro – it’s a fast casual restaurant set up similar to Moe’s). Market Square in Knoxville, however, has Blue Coast Grill. It’s owned by the same family of restaurants but operates in a dining setup as opposed to the fast casual set up, as it fits in better with the feel of Market Square.

Anyway, following Easter service, Matt and I headed to Blue Coast Grill for brunch. Matt had one condition for brunch: chicken and waffles must be on the menu. So to BCG we went. We didn’t have to wait, the service was great (our server even gave us a card for a free appetizer next time we come back), they serve local products and not only was the food delicious – but it came in huge servings – we both took home leftovers that served as our dinner! I feel like it’s largely overlooked as a brunch spot, but the selection and prices are very reasonable.

Matt obviously had the chicken and waffles, while I had a bird’s nest: Texas toast, eggs and breakfast potatoes with cajun cheese grits as my side (calories don’t count on Easter, right?). Don’t overlook this place next time you’re in the mood for brunch! It has something for everyone.

Happy Easter!

Till next time,

CW