Category: Blog

Like many recent graduates during the COVID-19 shutdown, it was difficult to know where to turn to jump-start my career. However, after graduating with a degree in public relations (PR), I came across Green Room’s Fellowship Program that was designed to expose recent graduates to the healthcare communications industry and provide hands-on experience in preparation for a potential full-time position. As a graduate of the program — I’ve been a full-time Assistant Account Executive (AAE) since March 2021 — I am eager to share my experience for those looking to land their first PR job out of college, or who are looking to transition to a new career path in healthcare PR.

• Exposure to Clients. As a Fellow, I built the foundation to prepare for the actual work I would be responsible for as a Green Room AAE, which was not something covered in my college classes. I gained exposure to different healthcare clients, from pharmaceuticals to biotech, consumer health and advocacy, where I learned client expectations, gained experience working in different disease states and developed communications materials with detailed instructions and feedback from project leads.
• Dedicated Onboarding Buddy. I was paired with an onboarding buddy who was also a recent Fellow-turned-employee. Having someone who had been in my position to share advice helped me learn how to be proactive in developing my skillsets and gave me the confidence to ask questions and jump into projects to learn as I go.
• Connected & Caring Culture. Green Room has a flexible work environment, with many employees working remotely and an office space available to those who wish to use it. While onboarding, I got to know my coworkers better because of the culture team’s efforts to keep employees connected. Through our coffee chat program, we can connect with colleagues who we may not work with every day and learn more about one another. The team also recognizes hard work through rewards like Starbucks and Dunkin gift card days. The culture team helped me feel connected to the company even in a remote environment.
• Collaborative Learning Environment. As an AAE, I became a core member of a team handling communications for a client in ophthalmology and began supporting internal and external projects from ideation to completion. In this role, I could see the entire process play out and learned valuable lessons on how to navigate media engagement, make strategic decisions about messaging and design and collaborate with the team to ensure items move at a consistent rate.

The skills I learned as a Fellow made for an easy transition to full-time and I would encourage others to explore our program. If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about current fellowship opportunities at Green Room, please reach out to Linda@greenroompr.com or visit https://www.greenroompr.com/careers/.

How My Daughter’s Rare Disease Diagnosis Transformed My Career

“You will never forget this day as long as you live,” Deb Fowler, a Managing Partner of Green Room Communications, told me on August 19, 2020, and she was right (as she often is!). That was the day my younger daughter was diagnosed with a lifechanging, debilitating, rare disease that we never saw coming; it completely flattened us as a family. As we slowly started to pick ourselves back up and began the seemingly endless scheduling of doctors’ appointments, frantic late night Google searches, and desperate calls to family and friends, I had no idea how I would ever work again or, honestly, if I would even care about work again.

But I did. After taking a brief leave of absence to get our arms around the diagnosis and treatment protocols (unfortunately there is no cure), I returned to work with the full support of leadership and all my colleagues. The biggest surprise to me? Work truly saved me. It gave me a focus when I never thought I could focus again. I have something to contribute. I can solve problems here that I cannot solve in my life.

Since I work in healthcare communications, I believe I am a better strategic partner to my clients than I have ever been before. We talk a lot about being “patient centric” and focusing on the ecosystem surrounding the patient. The insights I have gained as a caregiver and patient advocate give me a perspective that is invaluable – for me and my clients.

As we near the one-year mark of her diagnosis, here are a few insights that have made me better than ever at work:

• Everyone is dealing with something – approaching each other and each interaction with a sense of empathy and openness, knowing people may be dealing with something that has nothing to do with you or their work has released me from taking things personally.
• Perspective is everything – I know what matters and what doesn’t and that allows me a freedom and confidence in my work that I never had before.
• Every (work) problem has a solution – What we do is important, especially in the healthcare space and there are solutions. Lean on your teams and listen to a variety of opinions – just like I have learned to do since no one doctor has my daughter’s cure – listen and learn.
• Give your opinion – What’s the worst that could happen; someone will disagree with you? You can handle that. You have and will, handle worse.

I hope others don’t have an August 19, 2020, but I know they will. I am not the first person to deal with an unexpected family crisis. My hope for you is that you can take some of the lessons I have learned and apply them to your own career – without the crisis.

Working Mom. The term comes with a sense of accomplishment and the ever-present wave of emotions. I cannot tell you I have it all figured out, but I CAN tell you how I have learned to create physical and mental space to focus on one thing at a time, one day at a time.

It took a long time to find my stride and a workplace that allowed and trusted me to do both jobs well. When I first met with Green Room, I knew something was different. I talked with one employee after the next – each a working mom herself. I kept hearing words like “balance,” “trust,” “flexibility,” and “support.” It became clear that Green Room was really “walking the walk.” And what says it all is the retention rate, which speaks volumes about how great their culture truly is. In addition to finding a great culture fit for me, below are key components that have been tested and tweaked to help me remain successful at the balancing act. And even today, I am still refining my methods.

Time Management. As a working mom, I often feel like there is just not enough time in the day for it all. Something that helps me make the most of each day is being smart about how I spend my time. Below are four consistent steps I take to organize my time.

1. Reviewing my work and family calendars on Sunday to sort out coverage.
2. Prepping and reprioritizing my to-do list every afternoon for the next day ahead.
3. Booking dedicated time in my calendar to work on certain projects.
4. Allowing for short “brain breaks” throughout the day to help me bring my best, most strategic self to my next assignment.

Communication. In healthcare PR, it is literally our job to communicate about complex topics and corporate issues and still, the struggle is real to communicate our own personal and professional needs. One element of the Green Room culture that I love is that asking for help is encouraged. When I feel my workload getting too full, I raise my hand. It ends up being better for me (mentally), but also allows us to get more done for our clients, faster.

Work-Life Integration. Whether you are a mom or not, everyone deserves balance. Work-life integration is one of the most important pillars of Green Room’s cultural values and one of the most prominent reasons I wanted to work here. It allows us to set personal boundaries to prioritize our lives and, in turn, bring our best selves to work. Our “in-and-out” Slack channel is also great to quickly communicate when I am stepping away to drop something off at daycare or to take a “brain break.” The key is to communicate and have a supportive team at work (and at home!) to cover for you. Likewise, there are high-priority work events that come up and for these, I rely on my village at home (e.g., husband, daycare, mother-in-law, meal subscriptions!)

Flexibility. As most working parents know, you cannot always plan for the unexpected. Life happens and no matter how strong your village is or how many back-up plans are in place, flexibility is one of the most important assets to keeping it “seemingly” all together. For those days, I flex my hours by picking up an extra hour or two on a day when I know things will have calmed down.

As a parent, I feel it is incredibly important for my children to see how hard I work AND how present I am when I am around them. I am setting an example for possibilities I hope they see for themselves one day. I want them to know that they can achieve anything through hard work and dedication and, most importantly, that you do not have to sacrifice one role over the other. Working at Green Room allows me to feel more whole as a person; able to chase my passion, provide for my family and remain completely plugged into both worlds. My only regret is not having worked here sooner.

By Linda Chang, Talent Resource Manager at Green Room Communications

One year into working from home and here we are: braver, stronger, and more connected than ever. While COVID-19 tested companies’ remote work abilities, Green Room did what we already do best — we pivoted (word of 2020!) to elevate our existing infrastructure. Along the way, we uncovered important insights.

Flexibility and Agility is Key

When our office-based team packed up our desks last March, we thought work-from-home would last two weeks. We quickly realized we needed to prepare for the long haul. Luckily, Green Room already established a nimble and flexible work culture – we refer to it as work/life integration. This term took on a deeper meaning as team members juggled work priorities with the demands of home life, virtual school, and keeping families safe and healthy. Having the tools already in place, like the ability to flex our hours, allowed us to remain responsive to clients while still being able to take care of personal needs. This already built-in mutual level of understanding, trust, and support gave team members a fighting chance at getting it all done, because as we all know – it takes a village.

Team Connectivity and Mental Health are Essential

Since we are still not able to physically be together in the office, we added to our arsenal of collaboration platforms like Slack and quickly got onboard with Zoom and FaceTime. We also implemented Coffee Buddies – a weekly video coffee chat with a team member selected at random. We held a virtual Trivia happy hour, Halloween costume contest, and shared Starbucks QR codes for a pick-me-up. Perhaps, most important, we prioritized offering bi-weekly meditation sessions and encouraged brain breaks, walks, and lunches away from laptops. During a time where we are being asked to stay home and distance, we found that little acts like this go a long way to show how much we value our team. These new staples will live in our culture well beyond COVID.

New Hires Need More Connected Onboarding

Our new hire onboarding process was reworked to be fully virtual … and it worked! Aside from the logistics of shipping laptops, issuing cell phones, accessing tools, enrolling for benefits, etc. – our biggest challenge was: how do we welcome new team members virtually and help them feel comfortable and connected on day one?

In addition to bringing our new hires in on virtual team activities like Coffee Buddies, we also now pair them with an onboarding buddy, schedule more and quicker onboarding meetings for their first weeks, welcome them on Slack (followed by an onslaught of excited team member welcome messages) and introduce them at our quarterly Town Halls. We are currently working to up our game in company swag and with a team welcome video. And like all processes, we listen to feedback and implement as we go.

A Look Ahead

Vaccines are finally here, and we are so hopeful to reunite in person sometime soon. This pandemic threw big curve balls, but one positive is how it shined a light on the importance of work culture. Green Room is proud we had a strong foundation that is flexible and respectful of our teams’ lives outside of work, so that we bring our best selves to work. Our advice: listen to what your employees truly need, create a space for feedback, make real solutions happen, and do not be afraid to pivot when things change. This will ultimately strengthen your culture, help to retain talent, and better position your team for success post-pandemic.

By: Deborah Fowler and Karen Carolonza, Managing Partners, Green Room Communications 

As 2020 comes to an end (finally!), we find ourselves reflecting on a year that will forever be synonymous with a pandemic that upended lives in every corner of the world. Staying positive remains a struggle as humanity continues to navigate COVID uncertainties. We have been collectively grieving—our old “taken-for-granted” routines, face-to-face connections, embraces, in-person schools and businesses, and for many, loved ones taken by this complex disease.

If we learned anything from this challenging year, it’s that beauty and growth can be found in the darkness. For the two of us, as women, mothers and leaders of Green Room, this took form in the practice of gratitude for others and ourselves.

As research shows, the practice of expressing gratitude can benefit your well-being, reduce stress, boost happiness and increase positivity in relationships, and is associated with better sleep, mental resilience and physical health. Anyone working in public relations knows these are all critical for success!

When things erupted in the U.S. last March, the Green Room leadership team quickly paused to carefully determine how to keep our employees safe while also allowing our business to thrive. Our nimble, flexible business model gave us a huge head start. Green Room already operated under a “work from anywhere” mantra, so we were able to seamlessly flex into all-remote operations. This avoided workflow disruption and allowed our team to keep activity in motion, which was especially important for our healthcare clients on the frontlines of COVID-19 vaccine and therapeutic efforts.

While remaining client-focused, we also prioritized self-care. As they say, you have to put your oxygen mask on first so you can better assist others. Our Green Room team members have always been caring and supportive of one another (and our clients), and this year each of us elevated that compassion in new ways. We launched round-robin virtual coffee chat sessions to create a space during the workday for 1:1 relationship building across the company. We held biweekly meditation sessions on Fridays via Zoom and created a Slack channel for sharing positive news and little slices of gratitude daily. We came together not only for virtual town halls and brainstorms, but for fun team-building events like happy hours, trivia nights and escape room competitions.

With our own masks tightly fastened, literally and figuratively, we also stayed nimble. With each passing month, we leaned into what our team needed – from flexible schedules, tech support and ideation of more effective ways to share strategic thinking. Through it all, we found our way.

We are grateful for our smart, kind and compassionate Green Room team (including colleagues, consultants and clients) who adapted positively to the “new normal” during such an abnormal time in our lives, even when it seemed like everything around us was in utter chaos. We are grateful that our team continues to get bigger. We are grateful for our clients who stayed the course and continued to put patients first and who treated us as true partners, allowing us to help uncover solutions in new territories.

In a year of loss, change and grief, we found silver linings while practicing gratitude. For that, we will be forever thankful. Here’s to a happy and rejuvenating holiday season, and a healthy 2021!

Deb and Karen