My Journey to GoGirl

It was a dark and cold night. I lay awake in my bed, unable to sleep. I turn and look at the clock: 4:30am. I groan and pull the covers over my head. Frustrated, I hopped out of bed and went out to the living room and turned on the television. I flipped through various infomercials and evangelical church services before settling on the KIRO 7 morning news. I watched as Julie Francavilla and Chris Egert talked about the latest headlines, before deferring to Jenni Hogan for an update on local traffic conditions. And there she was, Jenni Hogan in all her glory. She said something about Twitter, and I immediately grabbed my computer and started following her. I sent her a tweet; something to the effect of "it's so early and I can't sleep, so I'm watching KIRO!" To my surprise, she almost immediately tweeted back a friendly "Good morning!" and said that she would point to me during her next on-camera time. Once it was time for a traffic report (every 10 minutes on KIRO 7!), Jenni pointed out the spots to avoid and then pointed at the camera and flashed a big smile. I was so excited!

From that morning on, I would watch KIRO when I ate breakfast every morning (when I was up early enough to catch it!). Jenni and I would tweet back and forth, and then we becameFacebook friends. When I found out that Jenni was pregnant, I went downtown in search of some cute baby clothes for her baby girl and my friend Cecilia's baby boy. I found the cutest onesie for Lil Pookette (Jenni's baby's nickname pre-birth), and some matching clothes for Baby Ortiz. I dropped off the pink prezzi at the KIRO studio, excited for Lil Pookette to wear it.

Jenni and I were e-mailing back and forth when she told me about the GoGirl Academy. She said that they were doing a "dress rehearsal" of the Career Acceleration class, and would love for me to be a part of the inaugural class! I was so honored, and sent in my application right away. The next week, I got my formal acceptance and welcome packet from GoGirl executive director Margo Myers! The Career Acceleration class would be a 10-week course, meeting every Thursday from 5:30-8:30pm in the boardroom at The Maxwell Hotel.

The invitation to join the GoGirl Academy came at just the right time in my life. I was preparing to graduate from Seattle University, and was deep into the hunt for a job. Jenni promised me that the GoGirl Academy would be a great networking opportunity, and she was determined to help find me a job. Even more than job hunting, everything that I can become accustomed to for my college years was dropping away: the 3 girls that I had lived with for 3 years, my best friends, were all going their own ways. My daily routine of going to classes, doing homework, and living "the college life" were over. I felt alone and scared about being a "grown up." And then that one early morning came. I watched Jenni as she did her traffoxy thing with that amazing Australian accent that she has, and felt a connection with her. I thought to myself: "This is a woman who is so clearly confident in herself and what she does. I could learn a thing or two from her." And oh, how much I am learning!

Stay tuned for my next post about the first GoGirl class: Defining my personal brand.