Alexandra Tomko
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.
We’d love to feature YOU in this series! Tell us what you do in a typical day as a nonprofit communications pro.
Alexandra Tomko is the Director of Marketing and PR for the Better Business Bureau serving Central Virginia. BBB helps people find and recommend businesses, brands, and charities they can trust. She has been with BBB for just over 5 months. In her spare time she is exploring Richmond, VA with her dog Bruce or taking a spin class at a local Indoor Cycling Studio.
Here is her typical day:
Before 8:00 am: Wake up a little before 7:00 am and while lying in bed cuddling with my pup Bruce, I check my work email, check calendar for the day, browse our business social media outlets for news/alerts/information, take Bruce out while my coffee is brewing and head to work.
8:00 am – 10:00 am: Arrive at work right around 8:30 am…check email that I received on the way into work, check Groupon/Living Social/Amazon Local for deals & vouchers from our Accredited Businesses and re-post to social media, listen to and return voicemails, plan social media posts for the day or schedule them for later in the week.
I have a continual to-do list by my desk that I cross off and add things to daily – I check in on that and see what I have for the day!
10:00 am – 12:00 pm: Grab a cup of green tea because I am working on cutting down my coffee consumption..I check in on progress of upcoming events, participate in webinars or classes I am currently enrolled in, or work on any projects I currently have going on – this week it was 2 online newsletters and a print version.
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm: 12:30 is normally lunch time, I try and pack my lunch most days so I can sit at my desk and keep working or if it’s really nice that day, I will run out and grab something.
Most meetings for my company are in the afternoon, so I prep for those. If I don’t have a meeting I am prepping for the next day, posting social media posts and engaging with members/followers.
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm: Any meetings that may be scheduled for the day, followed by gathering my thoughts from the meeting and creating a to-do list of action items that came out of the meeting, checking in and answering emails, finishing up any projects that are due that day.
Today was unique though, I had a My BBB Story scheduled, so I left early in the afternoon and headed over to a local Accredited Businesses and recorded their My BBB Story – which is just a short commercial telling us about their business and what it means to be BBB Accredited.
After 4:00 pm: Work ends at 4:45, but I usually stay until about 5 or I will take my laptop home and work from home.
Before I leave every day though I check the to-do list and see what absolutely has to be done that day or the next day and star it so that I know what my priorities are.
I then head home and have a glass of wine 🙂
Want to be featured in this series? Tell us what you do in a typical day as a nonprofit communications pro.
