In the Shadow of Agency Life

Recently, I had a one-day shadowing experience at talkStrategy. I have not had much experience with the agency side of communications. I was very curious as to how an agency brands themselves compared to the corporate side. After stepping into their lovely offices on the first day, I was greeted by their CEO, Anamaria, who immediately welcomed me with a great smile and took me around the office to introduce me to her fabulous team. After these quick introductions, it was time for work.

The first meeting I attended was an account meeting with three of the talkStrategy team members. Right off the bat, they were walking me through each step, some of which were very unfamiliar to me but necessary to understand the agency’s perspective. They did not hesitate to answer any question I asked even if it was simple. After the account meeting, everyone joined in the main meeting room for a traffic meeting, where they go over all updates for their accounts. The main thing I took away from this meeting was watching the team members work in such a collaborative nature. Every team member relies on and trusts the other to handle their respective responsibilities. This can be very hard to find in a company and is vital to have a successful agency. I believe what built such an amazing communicative nature at talkStrategy is the culture. The culture at at the agency is acceptance. All employees accept and respect each other’s personalities, as well as their ideas.

In every meeting I attended, there was amazing give and take of ideas. They were able to bounce ideas off each other to come up with the best approach, and the end goal was always a collaborative effort. From just one day of shadowing, they welcomed my thoughts and ideas for a project as if I was a member of their team. This allowed me to be open and become more confident with expressing my opinion. I went around at the end of the day and added almost all the team members on LinkedIn. They were more than willing to connect with me and wanted to keep in contact with me.

This reassured me that the team members at talkStrategy are willing to give and help me improve in my career and genuinely want the best for me. Overall, I had the best time shadowing talkStrategy and seeing the way they built their brand and the culture within that brand. The day gave me the best first impression on a glimpse of agency life.