A Brief Update On All Things Chelsea

Hi friends, readers, and random web surfers. Since I’ve seen many of these brief bulleted blog posts on personal updates lately, so I thought I’d chime in on what’s new with me since my hellaPR blog posts have been rather sparse this year.

• Landed my first “real” job earlier this year
• Received my first “real” layoff later this year
• Turned 24 – gained an even deeper feeling of my quarter life crisis; faced the sad truth and difficulty of gaining true independence
• Traveled North – camping in breathtaking British Columbia and exploring beautiful Washington & quirky Oregon
• Traveled abroad – taking a spontaneous trip to France and experiencing the harvest and helping out with the remontage in Provence, then gallivanting through Paris, one of my favorite cities in the world
• Worked many, many, many promotions jobs, representing numerous consumer brands, thankfully earning enough to make my student loan payments each month
• Worked a lot harder on OMGbuymeTHIS.com, the fashion blog I co-author with Mallory Mitchell – the blog is gaining exponential traffic, real traction on search engines and other blogs, and scoring some sweet perks from affiliates and publicists representing some cool apparel and cosmetic brands
• Worked and am still working hard at finding a new job – facing one of the toughest job markets in, arguably, all time, but keeping a positive attitude with every recruiter I connect with and every company I interview with

With that all said, it’s time to turn a new leaf and reinvigorate my passion for blogging here and sharing my thoughts on marketing, public relations, and social media, with a dash of my own job search and Generation Y struggles and successes along the way. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned.

Join me tomorrow for a #Twitterview with @SteveRubel from Edelman

Join @EdelmanSF, @SteveRubel and I (@chelseapearl) tomorrow for a Twitter chat like none before – join us for the #Twitterview. From 1:30 to 2:00pm PST on Friday, May 6, Steve and I will be discussing social media, consumer insights and the overall world of PR. It’s a way to give back to our Twitter community and celebrate @EdelmanSF reaching 1,000 followers.

Steve is the EVP of Global Strategies and Insights at Edelman. He is an explorer of all things media, authoring his own blog and contributing to his own column every month for AdvertisingAge.

So just tune into your Twitter stream Friday, follow our #Twitterview hashtag and feel free tao shoot us an @reply with your marketing-related, truncated questions.

Thanks for the opportunity, Edelman San Francisco team and Steve. Looking forward to the chat!

What’s Next For Me

After a long and sometimes frustrating job search, I’ve landed a position that starts Monday with a fun snack foods brand which integrates my passion for marketing (on- and off-line) and food.

I’ll be starting Monday at Pirate Brands as a Field Marketing Manager for NorCal. It’s a dynamic role, where you get to use prior experience in public relations, field and guerrilla marketing, and some aspects of social media to develop brand equity and support sales in the region.

I wanted to thank everyone who helped along the way, lent me an ear to listen to me vent, and passed along my resume during these last few months of searching. I also wanted to give some advice to those who are still on the hunt; be flexible. Be flexible with the job title you’ve honed in on and the lead source. Not sure if you want to work with a recruiter? Give it a try. By the fifth recruiter lead, just when I was ready to give up, but it lead to a great fit. It’s not the title of community manager, social media or marketing associate/analyst I may have been isolating my search for. Just keep putting yourself out there as you never know what could be around the corner.