*honest Agency

Three weeks isn’t long enough—this is my immediate thought as I finish up my last day at *honest Agency. I mean, it has beer Fridays and cookie runs to Winnipeg Square! I could do this for weeks!

But in all seriousness, I’m graduating—and three weeks prior, I was very nervous.

CreComm, while nerve-racking, foreboding and stressful, is school and school is a warm security blanket for students. The real world is the person who rips that security blanket away, forcing you to face room temperature for what it is.

My first day at *honest went by very quickly. I met Sherril and Callum briefly before they went to a meeting for Lake Friendly (a campaign I got to work on and contribute to). The morning consisted of getting to know the lovely ladies of *honest (Josie, Kerrie, Melissa and Roberta) and graphic design intern Eric.

At lunch, we all ate, talked and I admired Roberta’s leftovers from a wedding shower she hosted over the weekend.

Every Monday, *honest has a production meeting, which usually happens in the morning, but this time it happened in the afternoon. I thoroughly enjoyed the meetings because while it was business, Sherril and Callum took the time to ask each of us how our weekends went. Meetings also covered television shows (Mad Men, Game of Thrones) followed by, “SHHH! SPOILERS!” It was important to not ruin it for those without cable television.

During my placement, I worked on press releases, conducted research, made cold calls and edited documents for *honest’s collaboration with Lake Friendly to save Lake Winnipeg—a huge project that will launch in June. I also wrote a blog post on micro-camera contact lens, and while it was supposed to be positive, it nevertheless ended up sounding like the beginning of Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Josie, who I made my unofficial mentor, was also my desk neighbor and fellow CreComm grad. We bonded over Lake Friendly and ways to guerilla market the campaign all over Winnipeg. Some ideas were better than others.

I had an awesome time at *honest and there were many instances over the last few weeks that I feel eased my transition from a warm swath of blanket to partial nakedness. I know that the kind of bosses I want to have will be like Sheril and Callum: smart, supportive and funny.

I also know that lunch beers and Jimmy Fallon are imperative to TGIF afternoons at the office.