Deborah Zuniga Goldberg
Here is the latest submission for our Day in the Life of a Nonprofit Communicator series. This series lets you describe your workday in your own words. Want to be be featured? Keep reading to learn how you can submit your day.
Deborah’s Bio:
Deborah is a Bay Area-based nonprofit consultant who helps organizations improve their visibility and impact through ethical storytelling and strategic communications. As a writer, she helps organizations create fresh, compelling content for use across all their communication platforms. As a communications strategist, she develops digital strategies related to storytelling, website development, social media engagement, and messaging. She is passionate about international human rights, refugee and immigrant rights, gender justice, climate justice, racial justice, and youth development. A deep commitment to movement building guides her consulting practice.
She is working from home and this is her typical day:
Before 8:00 am: My two-year-old just learned how to climb out of his crib. I’m woken up at around 6 am when he bursts into the bedroom and enthusiastically shouts, “Wake up time!” Who needs an alarm clock?
8:00 am to 10:00 am: After packing lunches and scrambling out the door for school drop offs, I’m back home and it’s blissfully quiet. After two years of distance learning, school closures, and COVID-related disruptions, I’m grateful every day when both my kids actually make it to school!
I grab my second or third cup of coffee of the day (see toddler wake-up call above) and fire up my laptop.
I’m a nonprofit writer and communications consultant. Most of my clients are social justice organizations in the Bay Area. Today, I’m prepping an email newsletter for one of my main clients and managing social media for a collaborative of communication consultants I’m a part of.
10:00 am to 12:00 pm: I eat lunch by 11. I usually cobble together something edible with leftovers I find in the fridge. I’ll also clean up the morning mess and throw in a load of laundry between work sprints.
After eight years of consulting, I’d like to think I’ve mastered remote working, but to be honest, it’s not always easy to stay on task! Another thing about consulting that isn’t my favorite is all the business-related responsibilities that come with being self-employed, but I’ve become better at managing that side of things.
I’ve also become way better at setting my rates. It’s important to know what you’re worth and charge accordingly (and also account for all those taxes).
12:00pm – 2:00 pm: One thing I do love about consulting is the relative lack of meetings! Still, I have the occasional client call via Zoom or phone. If I don’t have a meeting, and it’s nice out, I like to take a walk, go on a bike ride, or run errands.
We moved last year from San Francisco to the island community of Alameda near Oakland. It’s a quieter lifestyle but we love it here. I still can’t believe my luck in being able to walk to the beach in ten minutes.
2:00pm – 4:00 pm: I do my best focused writing in the afternoon. Lately, I’ve been writing a lot of blog posts and content for email campaigns. My husband also works from home, but his office is a converted shed in the backyard, so we barely see each other during the day. But sometimes like today, if it’s nice out, I take my laptop into the backyard to get some fresh air and we can take a quick break to catch up.
After 4:00 pm: My workday usually ends around 4ish or so and that’s when I prepare dinner (or call for take out, let’s be honest) and my husband picks up the kids. We eat early, go to bed early, wake up early! It’s just that season of life right now.
If I have time after the kids have gone to sleep, I might do some relaxing self-care ie. catch up on my favorite shows.
Thanks for sharing your day, Deborah!
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