Kristen Olsen
Here’s the latest installment in our series on the “Day in the Life” of nonprofit communicators, where we ask you to describe your day in your own words.
Share your day with us! Don’t be shy – tell us what you do in a typical day as a nonprofit communications pro.
Kristen Olsen is the Communications Manager for the Brain Injury Alliance of New Jersey, a statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to improving quality of life after brain injury, and offering the promise of a better tomorrow. She started in December 2015 after graduating from Rutgers University, where she served as Marketing Director of a Rutgers Chapter nonprofit. The nonprofit world inspires her everyday and she is so proud of the work nonprofit communicators do on a daily basis.
And this is her typical day:
8:15 am: I start every morning with a cup of coffee and a nice walk with my Shiba Inu, Charlie. I keep my routine short and sweet with a quick breakfast and off on my 5-minute commute to North Brunswick, New Jersey.
9:00 am: Emails, emails, emails! Because a lot of my coworkers are stationed throughout the state of New Jersey, they work at all hours of the day (I have a lot of 9pm emails waiting for me!) I usually open up emails requesting specific social media highlights, website updates, and newsletter features.
9:30 am: Need. More. Coffee. Forgot creamer. Drink it black because desperate mornings call for desperate measures. I should probably drink water instead. BUT COFFEE.
10:00 am: Time to open InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator. I’ll inevitably need to create some kind of graphic before the morning is over.
10:30 am: Review my Google Alerts and look for anything news-breaking related to brain injury. Concussion, pediatric brain injury, and motor vehicle accidents always top the list of most-talked-about.
10:45 am: How did I finish that coffee already?
11:00 am: Nail down a to-do list, for the week and for the day. Prioritize accordingly.
11:10 am: Facebook post! Today I’m introducing some of our clients with brain injury, in order to promote our Walk for Brain Injury Awareness coming up in two weeks. I also make sure to condense the post for Twitter.
11:20 am: InDesign time! I knew I’d need it. Received a proof back from our printer and decide I need to adjust where my content falls between folding margins.
12:00pm: Review an ad we placed in the New York Giants 2016 Yearbook–our concussion ad looks great, as does our distracted driving ad!
12:10 pm: How did my mailings do last week? Log in to find my Walk for Brain Injury Awareness engagement email had an amazing open rate–46%! I knew my headline would be a winner. I’m also satisfied with my email to people not yet registered-25% click rate….but how can I improve that further?
12:15 pm: E-newsletter time again. Email coworkers to gather feature inspiration.
12:20 pm: Lunch time! Quick trip to the grocery store for essentials and a stop home to walk the doggie.
1:30 pm: Back to the office. Finish some smaller tasks on my to-do list. I love watching the list get shorter.
2:00 pm: Participate in a skype call with a mobile application developer – this is one of my favorite and most exciting projects! I finally get to see a mock-up of what the application will look like on a cell phone.
2:30 pm: My notes from the meeting are getting extensive… I need more coffee… But this time I actually reach for water! Pat myself on the back.
2:45 pm: The meeting is still going. Wonder how on Earth I’ll muster up the energy for my gym class later tonight.
3:30 pm: Finally, a moment to stand up and walk away from my desk. I loved making progress on the app, but I need to stretch my legs before they fall off.
4:00 pm: Where did the day go? Do I really have an hour left? Double check my emails to make sure I didn’t miss anything urgent.
4:15 pm: I request some registration statistics so I can draft a creative Facebook post tomorrow, I want to entice people to register for our Fall Family Conference.
4:30 pm: Fill out my timesheet, reorganize my desk, and head home to make dinner and get ready for the gym. I find the best way to prepare for tomorrow is to completely unplug and do whatever is going to make my boyfriend, myself, friends and family happy! You need a clear mind to make real progress.
You need a clear mind to make real progress.
Thanks for sharing your day, Kristen!
Want to be featured in this series? Tell us what you do in a typical day as a nonprofit communications pro.
