Prior to joining lotus823, I worked for a large, global PR agency where my colleagues were based in San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, and Washington, D.C. While I had the chance to meet most of my teammates in-person, there were a few I never met face-to-face, including my direct manager.
When I joined lotus823, I entered an environment where all of my colleagues are not only located in the same office as me, but are all seated right next to me. It’s great to be able to turn to my right and ask any of them a question.
Most of my colleagues from my previous job have since moved on to new roles, but I often wonder if their workday is similar to mine…. so, I asked!
Molly, a Sr. PR Manager for a large tech company in the Seattle area was gracious enough to help me out and answer my questions.
Below, see how a day in the life of a West Coast public relations executive compares with a day in the life of an East Coast public relations specialist.
Morning Routine
Molly’s day starts like many of the loti – she drives to work. Molly, however, lives in the city and commutes to suburbs, while every member of the lotus823 team lives and works in the suburbs. It can take Molly up to an hour, which she states, “has been an adjustment from the East Coast (and SF) where I just took the subway/train.” Her one perk – “I did get to buy myself a fancy new car so I can’t complain too much.” Like Molly, the furthest away any of the loti live from the office is an hour.
We all start our day the same way, with coffee. A hot spot for Molly is Starbucks, which she is lucky enough to have in her office building. Top coffee spots for the lotus823 team include Rook Coffee, a local shop near the office, or Wawa.
Regardless of your home base, if you work in PR, you know anything can happen. We all scan the news while drinking our coffee and check in with each other throughout the day. Molly’s office has All Hands meetings where refreshments are served on occasion, lotus823 has team meetings and snacks are ALWAYS served (unofficial loti policy).
Lunch Time
A big difference between Molly’s day and our day at lotus823 is how we have lunch. It may be attributed to our small office environment compared with that of a large office, but usually everyone at lotus823 sits down to have lunch together in the office kitchen or outside if it’s nice out.
Molly’s day is usually quite busy and as such, she tends to eat lunch at her desk. She does try to “sit down at the cafeteria and catch up with colleagues as much as possible.” When she does have a chance to eat with her colleagues, they hit up one of the cafeterias on her company’s large campus or “if [they’re] feeling fancy [they] walk to the one restaurant in close vicinity.”
After Work
While our workdays are a bit different – particularly with the largest difference being that people on the West Coast tend to start their day earlier and end by 5:00 or 6:00 p.m. and East Coasters start a bit later and can end up in the office until all hours of the evening (Molly stated, “If I get to the office at 9 a.m., I consider myself late.”) – we all have one thing in common and that is a love of happy hours.
Molly and her colleagues like to go to a local bar in Bellevue with “delicious truffle fries.” At lotus823, being close to the Jersey Shore, we have a plethora of options, particularly in the summer months. If it has a water view, we are there.
Molly’s free time is spent doing many of the same things the team at lotus823 enjoys. She loves online shopping – a favorite activity for loti’s Katie, Kara, and Christine. She loves “a good glass of red wine, a craft IPA… and cafeteria brownies (they’re delicious)” – all favorites of the lotus823 team!
So, while I thought my West Coast counterparts would lead a completely different day than I, I am pleasantly surprised to see that the opposite is true. We may be based in different cities, on different coasts, in different time zones, and work in organizations that are very different in size and focus, but when it comes down to a day in the life of a PR pro, we pretty much do the same thing.
How does your day compare to the above? Share your thoughts in the comments below.