MY FIRST WEEK AT CITY

The first day—

 

Whatever the first day may be, it is always filled with the two same emotions: excitement and nerves. It’s the unknown that drives the pins and needles feeling into our skin. It causes us to overthink, and become a more awkward version of ourselves. The worst part is no matter how much you prepared; you never know how they are going to turn out.

My morning wasn’t very different than most. I woke up, brushed my teeth, had an applesauce fruit pouch like the adult I am, tossed my trusty lipstick in my purse, and left 15 minutes early as I do for everything. I was prepared and felt a sense of calm that nothing could go wrong. The weather and the snowplow in front of me, on the other hand, had some other plans.

 

My 15 minutes early turned into barely making it on time. I fumbled to grab my things in my attempt to hurry. As I was trying to organize the thousands of things in my hands, fix my hair, and straighten my clothes, I looked up to see a little sign on the door. On it read, “CITY welcomes Lexie Exline” and in that very second, I felt all my nerves slide away.  (Well, most of them anyway.)

 

As I walked through the door, I was met with a familiar face. Nicole O’Brien(Human Resource Manager). She welcomed me with a friendly smile and walked me back to her office to do the very exciting task of signing paperwork. After I was done dotting my “I’s” and crossing my “T’S”, she sent me off to the next part of my day: meeting with the sharks.

 

As Nicole and I walked back to the marketing office, or as we like to call it, The Shark Tank, I felt the nerves come back once more. I was going to meet the whole team for the first time. As I opened the door and took my first steps into the tank, I was met with a warm welcome and the nerves started to dissipate.

 

As we all continued to talk and get to know each other, one thing became very clear to me; they were some of the most genuine and supportive people I had ever met.  Each one of them was very open about not only their jobs but also who they were as people.  They were the kind of people that you could ask anything of and they would be happy to tell you.

 

As Emily Novotny (Boss Shark) took me around the plant, I saw that this is a trait that all CITY employees have. Every single person is kind, genuine, and honest. Which led me to feel more comfortable in my own skin.

 

My day continued with training. I was shown how to use the Glowforge, which seems very intimidating. In fact, I think most people would be intimidated learning how to use a high-powered laser that can cut through metal and catch fire. I also learned some less adventurous programs like Adobe for the first time.

 

Throughout my college career, I was briefly exposed to Photoshop and other software like it, but I would by no means call myself the Einstein of graphic design. So when your boss tells you a pretty big portion of your job will be using a program you never used before, it can be a little frightening. As Emily explained the program to me I asked about 3,467 questions, took notes and then was released back into the water to try it on my own. After doing a few simple tasks (and getting out of my own head), I realized that the program was really easy to use and I had no problem getting the work down.

 

This process continued for the next few days. I’d learn a program that looked really challenging, use it a few more times, ask questions and be doing it all on my own by the end of the day. After I had a good grasp on the majority of the essential software and company information. I started learning more about the creative side.

 

My first creative task was actually to write this very blog. Emily could tell I was a little nervous about writing a blog about myself, so she told me to write it as if her and Colin Wetlaufer were going to be the only eyes to see it. Lucky for you though, Emily decided she liked it enough to post it to the company blog. So I hope you’re enjoying it so far, but let’s get back to our scheduled program.

 

I have always enjoyed writing as a creative outlet so I was happy to show my writing skill through a topic I could confidently write about: Myself.  Even though I have never been very good at talking about myself, I was excited to show my coworkers my writing style and the creativity that I have.

 

This wasn’t the most exciting part of my week, though.  The very next day we started talking about social media marketing, AKA my favorite thing to talk about. It’s my biggest passion. I even talk about social media marketing more than I do food or makeup! So when we started to go over CITY’s social media calendar, I was so excited. The best part was that I was encouraged to be actively involved in the process. It was honestly amazing. It’s still crazy to me that I get to be part of such a creative and amazing team, and they want to hear my ideas.

 

My first week was, honestly, kind of a blur. It wasn’t one of those days where everything is moving too fast, but one where you are trying to stuff your brain with information like a turkey on Thanksgiving. I have learned so much in my first couple days of being here, but it’s not going to stop there.  I have a lot to learn here at CITY and I know with the help of Emily Novotny and CITY’s videographer Nick Swenston , I’ll be swimming in no time.

 

As I have continued to observe the people here at CITY, I have started to notice something. Every employee I have talked to has always told me that city employees are like family. This is something I see more and more every day. Everyone is there for each other and willing to help others out. The people at CITYdon’t only talk about how important their company culture is; they show it.

 

CITY is not only amazing at providing their services and serving their customers. It’s also a place filled with great people that I have the luxury to work with. People that are constantly trying to not only better themselves, but every single person around them.  It astounds me every day that I not only have the opportunity to work with these amazing people, but I get to learn from them as well.