RCM First Timers: Type A, All Day

I am a Type A personality. You know, the typical stuff: perfectionist, overachiever, workaholic. Or, if you’re trying to put a positive spin on it: I am blessed with a goal-oriented mindset and an intense drive to succeed. My Type A personality definitely helps me be an effective deputy director here at RCM. You’ve got to be superhumanly organized to manage everything related to operations and management for an advertising agency with as many clients as we have.
I’m highly conscientious. It’s a blessing and a curse. I often work past the late night shows only to be back at it before the early morning news. I monitor deadlines, makes sure the clients are getting what they need, and keep the rest of the office on track. It’s tough to be the person who cracks the whip, but sometimes it’s necessary when you’re herding a bunch of creative types.
I’m a contradictory combo of right and left brain. In college, I majored in criminal justice and minored in art. I also have a masters degree in criminal justice with an emphasis in intelligence analysis. Incredibly, while I was in graduate school, I scored a security analyst job at a global private intelligence agency here in Austin that specializes in geopolitics. All this by the age of 22. Impressive? Yes. Robust social life? No.

I was responsible for analyzing things like terrorist threats, money laundering, organized crime, and security threats to global events like the Olympics and World Cup. After about four years at the company I was asked to create and manage the company’s entire social media marketing and branding strategy. This might seem totally unrelated to being an analyst, but it really wasn’t.
As an analyst your job is to foresee, prepare for, and prevent tomorrow’s threats. Many times I worked on all sorts of subjects that may have not made it to news headlines, but became the next national or international threat. I applied all my skills as an analyst to marketing: critical thinking, strategy, assessments of past and current events and their impact on future events. I use these same skills every day at RCM. An analytical mind is hugely valuable when we’re analyzing a client’s sales funnel, anticipating future trends and providing the high level marketing consulting that Rock Candy Media is known for.
At RCM, I get to use both the right and left halves of my brain. All of the very creative and inspiring individuals I work with day-to-day fire up my left brain, while my duties as deputy director of operations and management fulfill the needs of my right brain. The fast-paced and demanding environment at RCM feeds my preoccupation with achieving outcomes. The late nights and early mornings are worth it when I see our clients grow and prosper.