Don't You Know Who I am (not)?

Long, long ago, I learned to become a Girl Friday for whomever I happened to work for. Just in case this is a new term for you, the definition of a girl Friday is: a female assistant (as in an office) entrusted with a wide variety of tasks. I have worked in many fields, including accounting, human resources, retail management, education, social media, radio, as a photographer in the music industry, and for private clients, a personal assistant, and a small business owner.

In any given role, I instinctively learned how to be everything to everyone, which was a blessing and a curse. We all know that the more you give, the more they take, and I have had no shortage of jobs where my time and efforts were taken advantage of. I have been fortunate enough to have worked with some who truly appreciated my work ethic, and did not push the boundaries of what was acceptable to expect from an employee.

The absolute worst jobs I have ever had were obviously in corporate settings, like retail and anything non-profit. You are paid very little and are expected to deliver maximum output. You went to work, gave one hundred and fifty percent, spent little quality time with your family, and repeated the process, day after exhausting day. There was little in the form of gratitude for a job well done, but if you dared to step out of line, the response was always harsh, and swift.

When I began working in more creative fields, like that of a segment producer for a radio show, I learned to translate my love of music into a fulfilling career. Within that job, I was lucky (or sometimes unlucky enough to meet my musical heroes. You know what they say about meeting your heroes, right? It's simple- DON'T. Now, I have been blessed to meet and converse with some very talented and gracious people. But I have also been influenced into signing non-disclosure agreements before and after meeting celebrities. The agreements were almost always used to keep us from talking about a person's bad behavior. Luckily, I have more stories about the good some of these artists did, rather than the bad stuff.

I did my best to ingratiate myself to whatever artists I happened to work with, and more often than not, my favorable performance spared me from any blowback that could have occurred by missed deadlines or poor performance. One thing became very important to me in my professional life- be proud of your work.

I learned very early on to be a background person. Reliable. I was willing to do what needed to be done, as long as it didn't go against my ethics and values. I made a point of not being disruptive, unless a situation called for me to buck the rules a bit if I felt that it was warranted.

As I start this new chapter, here in Los Angeles with my artist fiancé, I am looking forward to developing projects with my partner, and putting everything I have learned to good use as a freelance artist, writer, producer, etc. I am blessed to have a few exceptional eggs on my side, who want to see me succeed. I hope I make them as proud of me, as I will be of myself.