Welcome to the latest installment in our series on the “Day in the Life” of nonprofit communicators! This series lets you describe your workday in your own words.
For the past 7 years, Rebecca Lechner has been the communications manager for the Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance (MOCA). In her role, she manages internal and external communications, media relations, social media, video projects, special event communications and more. Prior to her current role, Rebecca spent several years at the public relations firm Weber Shandwick in both the Financial Services and Healthcare departments. Rebecca started her career as a reporter and producer at WEAU-TV in Eau Claire, Wis. She has a BA in broadcast journalism from the University of Minnesota.
And this is her typical day:
Before 8:00 a.m. – Three days a week I’m up at 4:45 a.m. to work out. But today I get to sleep in a bit and am up by 6:30 a.m.
I sit with my dogs with a cup of coffee, check work email (you never know when you’ll wake up to a media request!) and then head over to Twitter to catch up on the day’s news.
8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m – After school drop offs for my two boys, I arrive at my desk at our office in South Minneapolis and get to emails that need to be responded to ASAP.
I map out my day and go over our scheduled social media posts. Today, we are launching our interactive Annual Report, so we have a coordinated blast of emails and social media announcements and graphics to share the news.
10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. – Lunch is at my desk, usually looking over Twitter and catching up on the headlines at the New York Times and Minneapolis Star Tribune.
I might add a note about a new reporter to add to my media list or an idea for a story to pitch to my ideas file.
12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m – We are gearing up for our busy season – September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, where we have a slew of events.
Since this year is our 20th anniversary, I am also working on a new awareness campaign to roll out in September, so there’s work on that and then connecting with our researchers and Ambassadors for quotes, video or photos to use in upcoming communications through the summer and fall.
2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m – If the weather is nice, I’ll walk up to our local coffee shop for a quick pick-me-up.
We are in the middle of a website update, so there are often emails and calls to connect with our developer.
I’ll often try to use the afternoon time work on writing projects; emails, our monthly newsletter content, blog posts or more.
After 4:00 p.m – I am typically out the door by 5 p.m., unless we have an evening planning meeting with our Gala or Walk/Run committee. I like leaving the office with a to-do list for tomorrow.
As a hockey and lacrosse mom, our nights are full with activities, but I do like to take a peek at email before bed just to make sure I’m not missing anything.
Thanks for sharing your day, Rebecca!
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