Getting back to your roots

July 2nd, 2008 by Sharon Harper

I recently moved to Rochester from New York City (a.k.a., “the city”) where I lived for the past four years to advance my career in PR. The transition was relatively seamless, as I grew up in a comparable area nestled in the foothills of the Berkshires and state forest of northwestern Connecticut. In looking back at my “city” experience, one word comes to mind: radical.

Everything was fresh and exciting when I landed in the mecca of communications—I absorbed the flashiness of it all like a sponge. More importantly, it was a privilege working directly with senior executives at my first big PR agency in the heart of Times Square, representing some of the leading companies in their respective industries. We had immediate access to top-tier media based there, and conveniently organized publicity stunts and events in an iconic intersection that attracts countless tourists each day.

Although I had adapted to the state of mind over time without realizing it, I distinctly recall moments when: I was not distracted by the flashing ads on the LED Toshiba jumbotron straight across from my desk window…or when I continued past the Naked Cowboy who was being filmed from MTV’s infamous window…and when I wasn’t surprised after seeing a cabbie drive on the sidewalk to bypass a demolition truck in his way (thankfully he didn’t hit anyone). Would you know I even saw a large cardboard box falling a few hundred feet from the sky? I suppose Patti LuPone made a valid point when she sang “Anything Goes” in the eponymous Broadway show revival.

So maybe it took a crane crash to wipe out an entire block in my former neighborhood to grab my attention. But as thrilling – and sometimes scary – as the Big Apple can be, nothing compares to the serene “country” life. Being in Rochester the past few months has made me realize just how much I missed having fresh air to breathe and living in a playground of wilderness (not to mention paying less for an apartment with a closet that is about the size of my previous city studio).

And much to my friends’ surprise, I have far from sacrificed exposure to the quality of work that is pumped out of a NYC agency. I am thoroughly impressed with the caliber of professionals, and enjoy the diversity of clients I now work with at Martino Flynn. (Hey, New York: these agencies have big things going on too!) For instance, we’re working with CooperVision, a leading contact lens manufacturer, to bring awareness to a prevalent vision condition that will inevitably affect most of us by the age of 40 – and yet 83% of U.S. adults are unaware of it.

All in all, New York has now become a place for me just to visit. I love it here in Rochester, and am happy to be in a place where I can finally begin to call “home.”

This entry was posted by Sharon Harper on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 and is filed under Advertising, Clients, MF, Public Relations, Rants and Raves. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.