Darya Minovi
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 want to hear from you too! Don’t be shy – tell us what you do in a typical day as a nonprofit communications pro. ~Kristina
As the Communications and Outreach Manager for Health In Harmony, an international nonprofit in Portland, OR, Darya works to tell the story about HIH’s unique solution to human and environmental health problems. Darya came to Health In Harmony after graduating from the College of William and Mary in Virginia and is incredibly passionate about sustainable development. In addition to being obsessed with her job (no but really), you can find Darya hiking around Oregon with her boyfriend, learning how to bake bread, or watching live music.
And this is her typical day:
Before 8:00 a.m. – My alarm goes off promptly at 7:45am, but I usually grab my phone, lay back in bed, and browse through my work email while my cat sleeps nestled around my head.
I’ll usually get out of bed once my boyfriend puts breakfast on the table (Living the dream, right?).
8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m – I usually spend my 15-minute walk to work with a strict no-phone policy because a) I don’t want to get hit by a car and b) I find that I’m the most creative when I’m strolling outside without other distractions.
Once I get to work I’ll grab my morning cup of tea, scroll through our social media accounts to see if I need to respond to anything, and open up Trello to review my tasks for the day.
10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. – At 10am, we have our weekly staff meetings using Google Hangouts, since 3 of our 9-person staff work remotely.
We’ll spend an hour catching each other up on latest happenings, and as the official meeting note-taker, I email everyone a list of “action items” after it’s over.
12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. – Around noon, I’ll bust out my home-cooked meal (last night’s dinner) and eat it at my desk.
I usually spend this time going through my Google Alerts on Indonesia, deforestation, global health – this is where I get most of the articles I share on Health In Harmony’s Twitter account, it’s a great resource!
2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. – In the afternoon I’ll touch base with Trina, the Senior Development Manager and brainstorm our next fundraising email.
I think it’s really important to have development and communications in collaboration because we bring totally different perspectives to the table. Trina and I also make a great team and we certainly make use of our whiteboards while we brainstorm.
After 4:00 p.m. – Around the end of the day, I’ll respond to the non-urgent emails sitting in my inbox and set about scheduling our social media posts for the following day using Hootsuite.
I’ll head home around 5pm and go on a run since I’m training for a half marathon!
I try not to check my email too much after work, but we just launched a new website so this month I’m more available in case any glitches come up.
Thanks for sharing your day, Darya!
Want to be featured in this series? Tell us what you do in a typical day as a nonprofit communications pro.
