Team Player

This morning I had the pleasure of meeting with a woman from the Heart and Stroke Foundation (HSF) to discuss how best to handle sponsorships and donations for the Red Dress Gala & Fashion Show I’m organizing for next February. She was extremely helpful, and as I was telling her more about my event, she suggested I set up an event committee. This isn’t the first time someone’s brought up this idea. 

I know that planning a gala dinner and fashion show is a lot of work for one person to do, but I struggle with the idea of having an official team of helpers. 

One reason I chose to host a red dress gala for my individual professional project (IPP) is because it’s an event I’ve organized before, but never had the opportunity to see through. A university student group I used to be involved with started to plan a similar event back in 2010. Unfortunately, there were too many people involved and things weren’t getting done when they needed to be. It can also be hard when there are too many clashing personalities working together on such a big project. Because this event didn’t go smoothly, I’m a tad reluctant to work on this gala with multiple people involved. It’s hard relying on different people for different things because no matter what happens, everything will come down to me. 

Another reason for my skepticism about working with a committee is the fact that I want to get as much experience from this project as possible. I’ve learned a ton of new skills during this year of CreComm, and I’m anxious to put them all to good use so I can strengthen them at every possible opportunity. There are so many aspects of this gala event and I want to be deeply involved in all of them. 

At the end of the day I guess I want all of the work done for the gala to be my own. Not because I don’t think I can work well with others, or that I’m above needing any sort of help, but just so I can prove to others and myself that I can do this; that I have the skills and the ambition to take on a big project and carry it out successfully. Not only is the success of the event important because the proceeds are going to a great cause, or because it’s failure would mean a later graduation date than expected, but it will be my calling card for jobs that lead me into the career of my dreams. 

No matter what’s happened in the past or what can happen in the future, I know the smart thing to do is to seek out some help. It is a big task and although I feel I can handle the workload on my own, what I have to realize is that once I get a big girl job, I’ll always be working in a team. Sure there will be challenges and not everything will go according to plan, but who says I won’t come across those obstacles on my own?  Having help doesn’t mean throwing in the towel or accepting defeat; it’s what I need to do. 

So I guess you’ll be the first to know, I am now looking for volunteers to be on the red dress event committee. 

Details coming soon!

My 600 Pound Life...

...is what I watched earlier this evening after I came home from the gym. It was airing on TLC and was followed by, My Half-Ton Mom, and Obese and Pregnant. Apparently TLC runs their programming in themes.

I’ve heard about the show before, and have seen clips previously, but I’ve never sat down and watched an entire episode. The one I decided to watch today was 2 hours long. It featured a woman who was once over 600 pounds, who underwent a number of surgeries to remove fat and skin from her body. She went from being over 600 pounds, to being 157 pounds. By the end of her weight loss she was definitely smaller, but had a lot of loose skin hanging from all areas of her body. Even with surgery, you can only loose so much excess skin.

The reason I sat and watched the entire episode is because there was one point where she got down to the exact same weight as myself, but still looked pretty big. 

She and I definitely have different body types, and because she weighed hundreds of pounds more prior to being my current weight, our bodies looked very different. But it got me wondering...am I big enough to be on one of these shows?

Once she got to my weight, she still had a ways to go. 

I’ve been a big girl ever since I was a kid. I was always bigger than my friends, and usually wasn’t able to have that fun childhood experience of wearing each other’s clothes. My weight bothered me every once in a while, but it never seemed like too big a deal (no pun intended). 

Although I was overweight, I always had a big group of friends, and was usually pretty active. I was on the volleyball team, the badminton team, and loved to play intramural basketball at lunch time. I did hate running laps in gym though, but most kids did. Being overweight never stopped me from doing what I wanted to do, and living a normal life. On T.V. and in movies they always had the character of the “typical fat girl eating lunch in the bathroom, no friends, and getting bullied,” ...that wasn’t me. And I wasn’t going to let that be me. A boy or two would make a rude comment here and there, but I dished it right back out in record time, and they stopped. Nice try boys. But Charmaine doesn’t play those games. You’ll have to try it on someone else (but it’d be better if you didn’t).

My point is, I’ve always been a bigger girl, and for the most part, I’ve been comfortable with it. Maybe even too comfortable. When I look into the mirror I don’t see a “fat girl.” I would never call myself fat. I see a voluptuous young woman with great curves, a body in proportion, and booty that looks fabulous in a pair of jeans with bedazzled back pockets. I’m not afraid to wear a short dress, a tank top, or a bathing suit at the beach. 

What I am afraid of is having a heart attack, or having a blood pressure so high that no amount of medication will fix it. I’m afraid of not living long enough to develop a career, get married, buy my first house, or have kids. I'd hate to deprive the world of my adorable offspring. 

It’s great that I’m comfortable and confident enough in myself to look this way, but I need to take care of my health. I was born with a heart murmur, which is fairly common, but it’s something that usually goes away into early adolescence. My doctor said it’s something we can look into, but only after I lose weight. Last year I dislocated my knee and called an ambulance because no one was home, and I couldn’t move. When they came (they were cute by the way) they took my blood pressure and it was 210 over...some number. Anyway, it was scary high and when I got to the hospital, they were more concerned with my blood pressure than with my knee. I was more concerned with walking, but hey, I’m no doctor.

I’m taking two medications for my blood pressure and it is going down, which is good. But do I want to be taking medications the rest of my life? The only thing that will permanently bring it down is a healthy weight-loss. It’s been 24 years and if I want to live for 76 more (I plan on living until 100), it’s time for a change. I don’t want to get up to 600 pounds, I don’t want to have fat and skin surgically removed from my body, and most importantly, I don’t want to die today. I’m too young, too funny, and have too much to live for.

 I mean, I haven’t even met Zac Efron yet. 

Seriously....look at him...

My future husband

Quite the Conundrum

I’m willing to bet we’ve all had the same problem...can’t get a job without experience, can’t get experience without a job. Someone somewhere is going to have to change this one day. 

I had a job interview earlier this week, and I was excited for it because this time it was a job in communications. The position called for a summer student to handle media/community relations, sponsorships, and odds and ends here and there. The company was looking for a student (who would be returning to school in the fall) to work full time during the summer months, and hopefully onto part time when classes resumed.

I felt as though the interview went well, and the interviewer seemed to be really engaged with my portfolio. By the end of it, I was rather confident that I had a fighting chance to land the position. But unfortunately, it was a no go. I was told in an email that my interview went really well, and that there was clearly a lot I could contribute to the company, but that they had decided to go with a candidate with more experience.

More experience? 

This troubled me for two reasons. 

1.       Because the position specifically called for student applicants, there is a strong chance the majority of applicants are going to have a limited amount of experience related to the position

2.       I was told that the company had interviewed other CreComm students for the position, and chances are, we all have around the same types of experience (probably the exact same)

Aside from the fact that I really want a communications job this summer, the result of this interview has gotten me worried for when it’s graduation time, and my fellow classmates (and friends) are applying for the same jobs, having had the same experiences. As I’m sure most CreCommers do, I would love to have a job landed before I graduate, and I’m scared that it’s not going to happen. The program does have a rather high success rate, but with any graduating class, there is always someone who’s going to fall by the wayside.

I don’t want to be that person!

IPP Ups & Downs

Friday morning I had a breakfast meeting with a woman from one of the hotels I’ve been in contact with for my Red Dress Gala. She wanted to meet in person to further discuss what I had envisioned for my event, and to fill me in on what they could offer me as a potential sponsor. P.S. I had fresh squeezed orange juice and Eggs Royale, which is basically eggs Benedict with salmon….it was the most delicious breakfast I’ve ever tasted! 

I started off the meal by telling her my idea for a red dress themed fashion show and sit down dinner, but I didn’t deliver my idea with too much enthusiasm. She asked me why I seemed unsure of myself and my idea and I explained to her how the IPP process works. She politely asked me to explain my ideal event details again and I did. After I finished she put down her fork, folded her hands on top of the table, leaned in and said “this seems like it’s important to you, and so I’m going to do everything I can to help you out. We can make this work, I promise!” 

Now I know I’m not supposed rely too much on the help of others, but this woman seems very convincing. She added to the many ideas I already had, and told me how she and the sales and marketing team of her hotel can play a role in all of these ideas. She even made a few phone calls during our meeting to give me as many immediate details and information to put me more at ease.

I told her that in order to stick with the original IPP I had proposed earlier in the week, I would need that mighty powerful  letter stating what their establishment was willing to contribute to this event. As I’m sure I’ve said in an earlier post, it’s hard to say what they can do exactly, because it depends on what angle I decide to approach my event from.  Sit down dinner? Fashion show? Appetizers? Cash bar? Decorations? All of the above? None of the above? We have bounced around many ideas, but I’m learning it’s not a good idea to release too much information too early. 

We met for about an hour and a half and by the end of breakfast, I was feeling really good about everything. She could tell my mood had greatly improved and once again, reassured me that she was available when I needed help or had questions or concerns. She gave me a hug which was really cute, and told me things will work out. 

Less than an hour after I had left, I already had emails from her with potential dates, quotes for different event scenarios, and even other possible venues owned by their hotel that might work even better for what I wanted to do. But she still had to get more information from other people in her marketing team, to send my way. 

Early this afternoon I took a cab to one of the venues we both thought might be best, and it was absolutely beautiful. It was being set up for an Italian dinner happening this evening, which was great for me to see. The woman there took me for a walk through of the establishment and described all of the possible set-up we could work with. We then discussed different menu options and prices, and she listed a few prices and fees that are already in the works of being waved. But she did say that an actual list will be emailed to me by the end of the week of exact prices, and how their sponsorship will play a role. 

When I got back to school I met with an instructor to confirm that I understood what was expected of me in regards to submitting a new IPP proposal and or a letter from a sponsor. Now, from what I understand, even if I get all the things in the world donated, it is suggested that I still propose a scaled down version of my original event idea. 

I understand why this is suggested. It’s okay for me to propose a small event and make it bigger if I find that certain things happen down the road to make that possible, but if I propose a big event and I find that it doesn’t seem to be within my capabilities, I would fail IPP “class” if I make my event smaller or different.  

Re-submission of our proposals are due tomorrow at noon, and I need to be careful with what I choose to hand in, assuming I choose to hand anything in at all. I’ve been talking to a lot of people in the last few days that have to re-propose an idea, and it’s sad to say that a handful of students I’ve talked to are proposing projects they are less passionate about than their original, but at this point they just want to pitch something that will be accepted so they can avoid facing a third round of panels. This doesn’t mean they won’t do well with their project, or be happy with the final project, or have a project that will turn out better than the original idea would have, but it always sucks to start off something with a bit of a disconnect. 

Tomorrow is fast approaching…what to do?

Batman

The bulk of this semester seems to be surfacing around a ton of group work. Right now I’m a part of four different groups for different classes. I have a group for producing a radio intro, a group for our magazine project, a group for creating a radio drama, and a group that has to shoot our very own infomercial. As soon as one group project ends, another begins. 

One of the strengths I claim to have on my resume and during interviews, is that I work well with others and that I have a strong ability to problem solve, which I hold to be true…most of the time.

I feel that when a group I’m apart of is faced with a problem or some sort of roadblock, that I can usually find a way to get us out of the jam, or at least contribute a list of ideas to help along the problem solving process. However, with all of the group work we’ve been doing this month, this doesn’t appear to be the case, at least not as often as I’d like it to be. 

Why?

It’s easy to come up with solutions to a problem that’s prevalent in a group, but what do you do when you’re the only person who recognizes something as problematic?  I don’t want to be rude and push a “solution” to a problem no one believes to be there, but at the same time, I want to I don’t to be penalized for an issue that could have been avoided early on.

In public relations we learn the importance of detecting potential problems before they turn into real issues down the road. So I’m not sure if I’m using my PR brain, if I’m over analyzing things, or if I just want to jump at the chance to be a hero. Batman, not Superman….blue, yellow, and red don’t mix but damn, I look good in black.