Creating a Carrot Kind of World

I’m in the middle of something amazing right now.

If you asked me a few months ago if I thought this was a possibility, I would obviously say no since I didn’t think I would even be in the City. But the point is, I have a chance at a dream right now.

A few weeks ago, Mike Germano of Carrot Creative tweeted that he was looking for an executive assistant (or in his words, a right hand (wo)man to help take over the world). My initial thought was “Pinky and the Brain!” And “Me! Me!” So I replied asking for directions, which he was not planning to give out. Thankfully I’m a memorable person (I guess) and he direct messaged me asking for my resume the day before I was going to email him (a common theme later on). I sent it off with a little note and a picture of Pinky and the Brain. A week later, right before I’m about to email him, he asks me for a meeting. I believe my heart stopped for a second or two. We set up a time and I got to actually go to the Carrot Creative headquarters, I got to see the orange couch, I got to meet the Carrots!

We sat in Starbucks with Chris Petescia and chatted for an hour and a half. It was seriously the most interesting interview/conversation I’ve had. We talked about everything, including religious background, arrest records, personality traits, and, of course, an outline of a job description that has yet to be written.

Why would someone want to apply for a job that has only been described in 140 characters or less? Well, that is the exact reason I wanted to apply for the position. I like the idea of being everywhere and doing everything. I never want to be sitting and not thinking, creating, solving. If I don’t have a job description then that means I have no borders, nothing that falls outside of my responsibilities.  I like helping, being auxiliary forces. Some people are leaders, I’m a coaxer. I get results from people by helping them realize what they want out of life, or the situation at hand. So, to me, an executive assistant position isn’t just a “stepping stone” to something greater, but something I really enjoy doing. It is already that “something greater”.

So, why Carrot Creative? When Mike asked me this in the interview/conversation over coffee I gave a really lame answer. Something similar to “ya’ll are cool.” And while this sounds really lame (that’s two “lames” now), it’s the truth. Work environment is extremely important to me. As Mike said, we spend a third of our lives at work, why should we be miserable? I have always viewed work to be somewhat of an extension of who I am, not a place to make money. I want a job that makes the money aspect just a benefit of being there. After meeting with a few Carrots and discussing their company view, I’ve developed a more eloquent explanation of my desire to work with them. Carrot Creative is doing something I thought was impossible. I have worked with enough non-profit organizations to “know” that changing the status quo is impossible. The Man is in charge 100% and you better fit into his mold or get out of the way. Carrot Creative is different. They are able to fit into the mainstream and change the-way-things-are to the-way-things-should-be from the inside. And, they do it so seamlessly that no one notices. They are changing the way companies interact with their consumers, making businesses more accessible and adaptable to their customer’s real desires and needs. Their work makes me hate capitalism just a little less. Or, at least gives me hope that we can eventually have a benevolent capitalist economy.

So, as I said, I’m in the middle of this whole thing. I’ve met with 4 Carrots, and am waiting to hear if I’m The One or if I’ll be passed over for someone more experienced in Social Media (even if it had little to do with the position). I’m confident I’m the right person for the job, but not confident that I have done a sufficient job convincing them of that fact. We’ll find out next Monday. In the mean time, I keep seeing killer tweets like “Excited about our latest staff addition to @carrotcreative! Announce next week :D” – @chrispetescia and “Great News! We just added another amazing talent to our team. More info next Monday. Our team gets better everyday :)” – @carrotcreative

–Wish me luck! 🙂

Until Next Monday,

Rianna Rose