back with new skin

Today was a pretty cool day (and I don't mean the weather as it's hot and humid in LA today, bla!). I got to speak in front of a group of HR professionals all within the advertising industry -- one of the targets I'm pursuing for the leadership coaching side of my business. A former advertising colleague and now coaching colleague offered to host it at her company and have me as the speaker. So not only was it a great opportunity for me to get additional exposure, but it was also a great excuse to go back to the place where my LA experience first started, Trailer Park, the agency in Hollywood where I landed my first job out here.

I'll never forget walking off the elevator onto the top floor to see a majestic view of LA back in August of 2009. I thought to myself -- wow, this feels like LA, if only I could get a job here. Fast forward through one seamless meeting with the CEO -- someone who I instantly felt saw the value I could add and I instantly saw the group he was trying to build and what he needed-- and a few meetings and weeks later, I was hired.

So not only do the walls of Trailer Park remind me of the days where I became officially employed in the state of CA, but it also happens to be the walls where I received the phone call from my Dad, "they found multiple lesions on your mom's CT scan, things don't look good." I will never forget tearing out of there, not really sure where I was gonna go b/c I was 3000 miles away from anyone I wanted to see, but I just knew I couldn't stay at work. Fast forward a few weeks later when I'm back in Phila trying to figure out what's going on with my Mom I'm getting weekly emails from the CEO reminding me that I have a place to return to, my job is not at risk and to do what I need to do back home and not to worry about all that was going on in LA (including a major acquisition of an agency that I was going be working with and leading!).

I'll never forget how that felt to know that only a few short months into my new job in this new (daunting) city that I had support -- real support. Ultimately a few weeks after that I had to make the call back to the office that my Mom didn't make it so I would be back to work on March 1. And there I was, back at an office which was virtually all new again as the newly acquired agency had come on board and there were new faces and new roles and new accounts. And I was a mess, a mess still in shock -- so even more of a mess. And I always struggled with the fact that ultimately I decided a couple months later it was best for me to take some time off and deal with all the aftermath of the 6 week war of my mom's diagnosis and death -- because I always wished I had the chance to show that team what I was really made of and to kick some real ass together.

So that leads me back today -- when once again I walked back to the walls of Trailer Park but this time in "new skin." I carry a few less pounds of stress and a smile as bright and wide as can be. I'm truly happy -- and as a result, I'm night and day from the girl who left there 2.5 years ago. And how great it felt to be able to re-connect with people as the person who I hadn't yet discovered back when we all first met, to stand proud knowing I'm a better version of myself. And to spend time with the CEO who gave me that first chance back in 2009 and who's been a great support ever since -- I loved giving him my card, swapping stories and being reminded of why I went to work for him in the first place.

And so after giving a presentation earlier today about creating change, it sure wasn't lost on me how much I've changed and evolved in the last 2 years. And so I'm left reminded once again of the power of reflection and taking the time to look back and recognize how far you've come, and that change truly is possible.