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Teamwork, surprises and other reflections from four years at Gard

Teamwork, surprises and other reflections from four years at Gard

After four-plus years at Gard Communications, Associate Director of Public Relations Natalie Bennon bid us farewell on Friday. She's on her way to Sustainable Northwest for the next step in her communications career. Before she left, she penned us a final goodbye with some of her reflections from her time here.

Today, Friday, March 3, is my last day at Gard. My Inbox is at zero (!), which has only ever happened once in the four-plus years I’ve been here. My client work has all been passed on to other folks. I filled out my last time sheet. And I successfully pranked Scott Gallagher one last time.

It’s time to be reflective before I cut out early on a wet and cold Friday afternoon. So, here are five things I learned from working at Gard:

  1. As a PR professional, there is no better way to learn many things very quickly than to work at an agency.
  2. You never know which clients you’re going to enjoy working with, but it usually comes down to the people and not the topic.
  3. People surprise you. Or at least they often surprise me. Maybe that means I’m not a good judge of character on first encounter, or maybe that means you really can’t judge a book by its cover. Either way, those surprises kept my days at Gard interesting and (usually) fulfilling.
  4. Teamwork is valuable. And at Gard, it is valued. I always appreciated that.
  5. It’s a gift to leave a job the way I’ve been able to leave this one. Everyone has been supportive but also sad (thank you) about my departure. I am also sad. But I am grateful for my time here, for all that I’ve learned, for the relationships, and to end on a high note.
  6. #PRetzels forever. This is not necessarily a lesson – unless loyalty, good humor and camaraderie are lessons. Maybe they are.

When I came here, I said I joined because I wanted to work with a team, I wanted to work on big projects with real impact, and I wanted to work at a place where female leadership was valued. This remains true for me, and Gard followed through on all of these promises.

Thank you all!