Mar
28
2011
The Pay It Forward Project is the continuation of a series of articles I started here in 2010 spotlighting some individuals who were recommended to me for the article I wrote on Mashable, 4 Essential Traits for Social Media Success in Your Career. The purpose of my project, detailed here, was to profile some social media professionals to keep an eye on in the coming year.
The 2011 Pay It Forward profiles will consist of the 2nd generation of spotlights — individuals recommended by those who were featured in the 2010 series.
Spotlight: Jenny Blake
Title: Career Development Program Manager
Employer: Google
Who paid it forward: Jun Loayza
Jenny Blake is a Career Development Program Manager at Google, where she works on coaching programs and scalable development tools and solutions to help Googlers focus on their career development. Jenny also helps manage the Authors@Google program. Before taking on this role, she was a trainer and team lead at Google on the Training & Development Team in the Online Sales and Operations Department for almost four years, where she trained over 1,000 people in AdWords and web development.
Jenny also blogs at LifeAfterCollege.org, where she shares practical tips for life, work, money, happiness, personal growth, productivity, and more. Her goal is to help young professionals gain confidence and lead happy, well-rounded lives through simple, practical tools & tips. Additionally, Jenny has a book coming out tomorrow called Life After College: The Complete Guide To Getting What You Want (visit the book website here).
Continue reading “#PayItForward 2011 Profile: Jenny Blake” »
Mar
14
2011
The Pay It Forward Project is the continuation of a series of articles I started here in 2010 spotlighting some individuals who were recommended to me for the article I wrote on Mashable, 4 Essential Traits for Social Media Success in Your Career. The purpose of my project, detailed here, was to profile some social media professionals to keep an eye on in the coming year.
The 2011 Pay It Forward profiles will consist of the 2nd generation of spotlights — individuals recommended by those who were featured in the 2010 series.
Spotlight: Jason Peck
Title: Social Media Manager
Employer: eWayDirect
Who paid it forward: DJ Waldow
Jason Peck is a Social Media Manager for eWayDirect, a full-service emarketing service provider. He is also the founder of Highway 24 Media, LLC, a social media consultancy. He attended UNC Chapel Hill where he studied Journalism with a focus on Advertising. His love for creative writing helped him land an internship for a media agency. But his first love was sports, and he was always interested in the marketing side of athletics.
Continue reading “#PayItForward 2011 Profile: Jason Peck” »
Aug
23
2010
Twenty bright individuals. Twenty wonderful conversations, from which I learned so much over the course of this year. I hope you did as well! The
Pay It Forward Project started off as a simple conversation I had last summer with
David Mullen and blossomed into an on-going interview series that I hope will continue for years to come.
One of the most critical components to the success of an idea is ensuring its sustainability. When we bring others up behind us (or I prefer to think alongside us), we help with this process. One of the worst things a successful person can do, in my opinion, is to be stingy with his or her knowledge. This is the foundation on which the Pay It Forward Project has been built. Asking those who’ve been honored to think about who they see making a mark for themselves and then getting inside their brain to find out what makes them tick will help to pass the torch for knowledge as our social technologies continue to evolve and change over time.
If you haven’t read the profiles for those who were spotlighted this year, I would strongly recommend doing so. These folks were recommended by some of the brightest names in the professional social media community as individuals to keep an eye on in 2010:
- Keith Burtis – Owner at Keith Burtis Consulting
- Kaitlyn Wilkins – VP of Digital Strategy, Ogilvy’s 360 Digital Influence Group
- Kipp Bodnar – Inbound Marketing Manager, Hubspot
- Venessa Miemis – blogger (emergent by design), currently pursuing a Masters in Media Studies at the New School
- Ken Burbary – Director of Social Media, Ernst & Young
- Sarah Evans – President, Sevans Strategy
- Jennifer Leggio – blogger with ZDNet
- Dave Knox – Brand Manager, Global Branded Entertainment, Procter & Gamble
- Nadia Jones, Stacey Ferguson, & Nyasha Smith – the 3 ladies behind www.MamaLaw.com
- Ruth Sylte – Principal Consultant, Manitou Heights Group Inc.
- Len Kendall – Digital Account Supervisor, GolinHarris
- Daniel Honigman – Social Media Manager, Sears
- Jessica Randazza – Senior Associate with Digitas
- Laura Roeder – Principal of Roeder Studios
- Amanda Mooney – Sr. Social Media Strategist, Edelman
- Kneale Mann – Marketing and Social Media Strategist, YouIntegrate
- DJ Waldow – Director of Community, Blue Sky Factory
- Jun Loayza – President, SocialMediaMarketing.com and Chief Marketing Officer, Viralogy
What’s next? Continue reading “Pay It Forward Project: What’s Next?” »
Jul
27
2010
These spotlights are opportunities for you to get to know some individuals who were recommended to me for the article I wrote for Mashable, 4 Essential Traits for Social Media Success in Your Career. The purpose of my project, detailed here, is to profile some social media professionals to keep an eye on in the coming year.
Spotlight: Jun Loayza
Title: CMO
Employer: Viralogy.com
Who paid it forward: Dan Schawbel
Jun is the Chief Marketing Officer of Viralogy, a company that specializes in eCommerce Intelligence. They personalize the shopping experience for shoppers on ecommerce stores to increase average order value and conversion rates. Jun attended UCLA and earned a BA in Economics and Philosophy in 2007. It was during college that he met Co-founders Yu-kai Chou, Stephen Johnson, and Joseph Yi to bring Viralogy to where it is today. Jun has written for Dan Schawbel’s Personal Branding Blog as well as Mashable, and has presented at conferences such as Web 2.0, Social Media Strategies, and YPulse. Jun also ran Social Media Marketing and blogs at Young Successful Entrepreneur. Continue reading “Pay It Forward 2010 Profile: Jun Loayza” »
Jul
20
2010
These spotlights are opportunities for you to get to know some individuals who were recommended to me for the article I wrote for Mashable, 4 Essential Traits for Social Media Success in Your Career. The purpose of my project, detailed here, is to profile some social media professionals to keep an eye on in the coming year.
Spotlight: DJ Waldow
Title: Director of Community
Employer: Blue Sky Factory
Who paid it forward: Amber Naslund
What Amber had to say about DJ: “DJ has an email background, but he’s fully grasping the potential and power of social media, and I already know he’s making a difference to his community.”
DJ graduated with a BBA from University of Michigan in 1998. Upon graduation, he worked as a business analyst for two years in Chicago and Kansas City. He then decided to pursue a Master of Education degree because he wanted to be a teacher. Upon earning that degree, he taught junior high American history for two years. Ready to get back into business world, he went back to North Carolina to work in business for another four years. A year ago, DJ earned his MBA from UNC Chapel Hill. Last summer, he became the Director of Community for Blue Sky Factory, a company that provides email marketing products and services. His role was actually written based on Amber’s job description – he manages the social media presence for the company, including writing and managing the company blog, The Thinking Inbox. DJ says that if he’s doing his job right, you’ll associate his name and his face with Blue Sky Factory and email marketing. Additionally, he writes a monthly article for MarketingProfs, a monthly column for the Email Insider, and blogs for himself at Social Butterfly Guy. Continue reading “Pay It Forward 2010 Profile: DJ Waldow” »