Lights, Camera, Action!

You hear the crew moving around cameras, you hear construction going on outside, you hear students rehearsing what they're going to say, and then you hear the joy & excitement of alumna blogger Lyndsay, getting ready to be put in front of the green screen, nerves in full effect & all. (I had to get my makeup done first though!)

A few short days ago on Friday, May 17th, I was preparing to be involved with in an alumni web commercial project. Throughout my student days, I was heavily involved in promoting the school through the use of my blog, as well as participating in some video projects with some students outside of the classroom. So when this opportunity arose for me to be involved in the alumni world, I was way to excited to pass the opportunity up!



Ok so step one, would my boss let me take off work to go back to school? Seems silly right, but no, he was totally excited for me and had no problem with it. Sweet....Step two, what do I have to do? Just show up and be myself? Double check! And for step three, get in front of that green screen & kill it! Done, done, and DONE!

I usually let me nerves get the best of me, but being that I was surrounded by really enthusiastic people and people who put me at ease, it made the experience really enjoyable and comfortable. In the beginning, I felt stiff and trying to be as natural as possible was difficult, but with some boost from the crew, I came out of my shell & just let it flow. By the end, they were telling me to calm down a bit because at this point I was totally into it! LOL....who knew you could be too punchy & energetic on film.

Overall, it was a fantastic day & we have plans for the crew to come to my job & film me in my work environment. My co-workers are going to think I found a new calling. Even when I mentioned it to my boss he said "What are you a movie star or something?"




AND.....many of you will recognize this young lady, Angela Freeman, another student blogger who recently just graduated from Berkeley! She also took part in the web commercial & of course we had to have a photo-op as she got her makeup done!




If you couldn't tell, I had a really awesome time & I'm looking forward to bringing a little fame into my work life too! Once the video is ready to rock & roll, I shall share it, but until then, keep smiling and I'll catch you guys later!

Recovering From A Week of Agony!

And it was true agony at it's best! Just a week ago, last Saturday, I was awaking not feeling so very Lyndsay-ish, and feeling more like I was hit by a ton of bricks...True story! Each and every one of us have those morning when we wake up and just feel like garbage, so I assumed, maybe it's that one time thing, but boy was I wrong! I started to feel progressively worse throughout the weekend, and being the over-achiever I am, I awoke Monday morning and sent myself to work. Well, I lasted a half day and needless to say, my visit to the doctor on Tuesday, resulted in news that I am battling a really bad case of......BRONCHITIS! The coughing, the fever, the aches, the pains, and yes THE AGONY! After sounding like an old man for a week and being miserable confined to my bed, I am relieved to share with you that I am feeling about 85% better! As my image states above, I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired!

Not exactly a good way to start off the New Year, but I am hoping this is it for me this whole entire year! I'm just getting it over with early! I still am blaming my brother for this since he & my mom were just as sick, and it started with him, but shhhhh, don't tell him I ratted him out on the internet!

So what is the point of telling you I was suffering, well, simply because I wouldn't want ANY of you to go through what I went through. The flu epidemic in the United States is out of control this year and while I didn't have the flu, I was on a prescription to prevent my bronchitis from advancing to the flu. It's a very serious matter and by doing a few simple things in your everyday life, you can protect you and your family from this epidemic. I heard just last night that there are 29 children who have passed away from the flu epidemic this year. 29!! Currently, 48 states are suffering from the flu outbreak and thousands of people are being hospitalized for it. It's not a joke, so please take this very seriously.

From the CDC, here are some actions to fight the flu and protect your loved ones!
(Source: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/preventing.htm)

Remember, if you are an on-site student at one of our Berkeley campuses, there are hand sanitizer devices outside the bathrooms and all over campus for you to use when your on your way to class! Take advantage of them as they are there to help you stay germ-free or at least avoid picking up those unwanted germs around campus! My best advice, if you know a friend or family member is sick, stay as far away as you can. In my scenario, my mom, brother and I were all sick at the same time, so no one had to be quarantined or locked up to avoid all the unwanted germs!

So please, take my advice & stay healthy while we battle one of the worst flu seasons ever!!

It's The Holiday Season...

Hello Berkeley Family, Friends, Staff, & random visitors! How is it going?!

I'm still trying to shake the fact that Christmas is only 9 days away. Yes, 9 days! So for all of you who have been stalling and not noticing how quickly the calendar is changing, you better get your boots on and get out there to battle the mall crowd! I jynxed myself at the end of last month because I ended up taking my last two vacation days for the year at work and went Christmas shopping. Well, after I "thought" I finished, I really hadn't. The talk of Secret Santa came up at work & then I realized I hadn't picked up some gifts for another family member, so it was back to the starting board! I think I can at least say now, that I am CLOSE to finished, so thank goodness for that!

I'm getting super excited because this is my last week of work for the year! Since I work for a European company, we shutdown between Christmas & New Years! This year we actually get 12 whole days off, which is so awesome! So with time counting down, it's definitely going to be a little hectic before we leave the office for those 12 days, but I can't deny that I am truly looking forward to it!

I bet the Berkeley student body is ready for their vacation as well! Berkeley College will be closed from December 17th to January 1st. All classes will resume on Thursday, January 2nd, 2013, so be sure to get enough sleep during this time & be ready for a fresh start come the new year! Make your resolutions now & if they include improving your current status at Berkeley College (which if you're asking yourself now, "Is she serious?" YES, I am), then I send my best wishes your way!

Since you will have ALL that time off, I URGE each and every one of you to check out Berkeley College's newly launched website, Berkeley Knightline! Have you seen it yet?!

If not, take a look at: http://berkeleyknightline.com/

Be sure to add Berkeley Knightline to your favorites so you can stay "in the know!" with all of our social media updates and all the great blogs out there from our student bloggers at Berkeley College. You can also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, & LinkedIn! There is always a way to know what's going on, so get connected!

I also want to send my prayers out to all of the families who lost their children & loved ones during the recent tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School. It's very unfortunate & my deepest sympathies are with each and every one of those families. Please join me in sending prayers their way as they will need it during their long road to recovery.

Check Me Out...

Alumna Uses Skills Learned at Berkeley College to Advance in the Workplace

^^CLICK ME!!^^

Hey, that's me! A few weeks ago, I was interviewed about my skills learned at Berkeley College and how I applied them to my full time job.Above is the final article that I wanted to share with everyone regarding my current employment. Taking a brief moment to reflect on this article, I did use a lot of my skills learned at Berkeley College to advance in the work place. One of the many things I've learned over the course of my college education was to always "Think Outside The Box...." Do something you have NEVER done before and see what the results are. This is basically what I did when I first began at my new job. (Well, it's not so new anymore, but you know what I'm saying!)

As I've mentioned in my blogs when I first started my job, I was put in a predicament with this company who was so set on doing the same things each and every month. The promotions didn't vary much & it was more repetitive than anything else. Being that this was my first time in charge of a marketing department, I wanted to branch away for doing the same things, and try something new and fun! One of the many things I think about when I think about different companies is: Have they done any charity work or asked their customers to make purchases that will result in a donation towards a charity? What it comes down to is social responsibility. Since it was approaching Spring time when I began working at Lantek, I decided, why not do something in honor of Earth Day and branch away from the repetitiveness in the company? Here I was, thinking outside of the box!

It was an honor to be selected for this article & I'm in the works on working with the media relations team on an internship story. I hope everyone finds inspiration in my words and can relate to my journey in some type of way as well. You may not realize it now, but later on down the road, you're going to reflect on your college education and see all these skills learned at Berkeley that you utilize in everyday life!

Let me know what your thoughts are about my article! Would love to hear any feedback and/or comments about what skills you utilize daily that were learned from your time at Berkeley College!

My Holiday Mail For Heroes!

Hello everyone!

In my last post, I mentioned that I would be teaming up on the Holiday Mail for Heroes with Berkeley College, and I stuck to my word! I have to announce that from the generous support of my friends, family, and co-workers, I was able to collect 104 Holiday cards to send to the troops this holiday season! As soon as I found out about this project, I knew a lot of my friends & family would be more than happy to help out.

We all either know someone or have a family member currently serving our country. Many of these individuals don't get to come home for the holidays, which is why it's so important to make them feel special and honored during the holiday season. I mentioned this project at work a few weeks ago and everyone was excited to become involved. I'm going to share this information in an upcoming newsletter at work as well that goes out to our customers. Lately, I've been doing a lot of charity work with my job. In October we honored Breast Cancer Awareness Month. In November, we honored the Hurricane Sandy victims, and now we can expand our charity work by sharing our Holiday mail for the heroes involvement.

Not only do all these projects make us feel good about ourselves, it shows our customers and the community that we are dedicated to changing lives and making generous donations to those in need and those, much like the service members, who are unable to make it home to their families for the holidays.

Being that I'm Miss Marketing & creativity over here, I took the initiative to make my own holiday cards. Give me a pair of scissors, colorful paper, and all other artsy products and I will let my imagination run wild. You can see my progress below, as I was sure to snap many photos during this project. I also bought a box of cards and had members of my family sign them as well.

I know that if I were a service member, I would love getting these holiday cards in the mail. It makes me smile knowing that in a few weeks, these cards will be received and a smile will be returned on their end. I made sure in every card to thank them for their service & that I wish for them to get home safely & soon!

Below, check out a slideshow of my photos from my Holiday Mail for Heroes journey...(make sure you turn your volume on too for some holiday music!)

Holiday Mail for Heroes - picture slideshow

Thank you everyone who became involved in this project this holiday season! Myself and the service members appreciate it!

Also, how many of you saw snow yesterday? It snowed in my area ALL DAY and getting

out of my town was ridiculous. No one believed me when I said it was bad up by me....but I have the proof! Luckily the ride home was much better after work! Hope everyone enjoyed it, as it was very beautiful. West Milford even made the news for getting 6 inches of snow...which was suppose to only be 1-3 inches! I don't know weatherman....LOL

Please, feel free to leave your feedback on my Holiday Mail for Heroes involvement & Happy Holidays to all!

Join Us This Holiday Season: Holiday Mail for Heroes

The holidays are rapidly approaching and we have so much to appreciate and give thanks for! Many of us have family and/or friends who are members in the service and while we give our thanks to them every day, we want to brighten up their holiday season a little bit more. These men and women are actively serving our country and will not be able to make it home for the holidays with their families. Everyone deserves to have some holiday cheer in their life, which is why Berkeley College will be participating in an event called “Holiday Mail for Heroes!” We can’t do this alone, so won’t you help us this holiday season and bring joy to our dedicated men and women all over the world?

I came across this event from a post on our “Berkeley Cares” Facebook page and I knew right away I wanted to help out, so I reached out to Nicole Tumbull, the coordinator of student development and campus life, and asked how to become involved! There is still time, so let me tell you all about it!

From now until November 29th, Berkeley College will be collecting holiday cards for the troops! You should visit your student center on campus, in which you will find collection boxes for these cards. There are a few guidelines for the cards, so please be sure to read them very carefully and please follow them accordingly. To make it a little easier for you, please see the guidelines listed below (you may also find more information at: http://www.redcross.org/support/get-involved/holiday-mail-for-heroes)

Card Guidelines:

•Ensure that all cards are signed.

•Use generic salutations such as “Dear Service Member.” Cards addressed to specific individuals can not be delivered through this program.

•Only cards are being accepted. Do not send or include letters.

•Do not include email or home addresses on the cards: the program is not meant to foster pen pal relationships.

•Do not include inserts of any kind, including photos: these items will be removed during the reviewing process.

•Please refrain from choosing cards with glitter or using loose glitter as it can aggravate health issues of ill and injured warriors.

•If you are mailing a large quantity of cards, please bundle them and place them in large mailing envelopes or flat rate postal shipping boxes. Each card does not need its own envelope, as envelopes will be removed from all cards before distribution.

Tis’ the season to make a difference and brighten up someone’s day…so won’t you join me and the rest of the Berkeley College family to create & send cards to our everyday heroes? You can even include your friends & family outside of school so everyone becomes involved.


Questions? Feel free to contact us:

If you have any further questions or would like to learn more about how you can become involved, please feel free to email myself at Lyndsay.wright@yahoo.com or you can reach out to Nicole Turnbull at nll@berkeleycollege.edu

Let’s all come together to brighten up our heroes holiday season!

And there was light!

My oh my, it's been one heck of a journey these past 2 weeks. I finally got my power back late Monday night & I've never been so happy! I know many of you are still in the dark & my heart truly does go out to all of you. I feel very fortunate that the only thing I lost was power for a week. Those of you who lost everything, please know I will be personally making donations to help restore and rebuild our communities.

Mother nature certainly has it out for us...Driving home tonight was quite a journey as we are now dealing with this snowfall. Took me well over an hour and a half to get home, from a commute that is only suppose to take a half hour. Thankfully, I am home safe & don't plan on going anywhere else for the night!

Since my last post, I've been busy at work as we are preparing for a big electronics trade show called Electronica, which takes place in Munich, Germany. Unfortunately, I do not get to go, but I have been heavily involved in marketing it to our customers and setting up appointments for companies to meet up with us to discuss future business opportunities with one another! I'll be sure to have the individuals going to take lots of pictures that I can share with all of you!

Due to the weather last week, my job was without power until Friday morning. Our big boss from the United Kingdom was visiting and we figured he brought the bad weather over with him, so it was ironic that once he boarded his plane to head back home, that our power at the office came back. Being out of work for 4 days last week was really tough because as I said, the electronics trade show is coming up and we still had lots of preparations to make. Catching up is always the hardest, especially with a million things going on at once, but I am managing. I was able to send out over 40+ emails confirming appointments for our Germany visit, so luckily that has been going smoothly. Aside from confirming, I need to make sure everything is photocopied and organized to be sent over. Once the sales people head over, that is it! Of course I'll be over here on the US side in the event they need something, but I feel confident that we are ready to rock and roll.

Since I wasn't able to meet with our big boss from the United Kingdom, I wasn't able to share all of my marketing over the past couple of months. I've now been on board with my job as head of marketing for 8 months! 8 months!! I still can't believe it. You work hard, and while it certainly pays off, the time just flies by WAY too fast. Being able to look back on my marketing 8 months ago till now, I can already see a mass amount of improvements. Each month I find something new I can do and it's a great feeling.

Our promotion last month was in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month. For every order placed with us during the month of October, we would make a donation in the customers name on behalf of Breast Cancer Awareness month. So far we are donating over $2,000 to the Susan G. Komen society. Below is a team photo we took with our pink t-shirts in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month.

My next project at work is going to be targeted around the current devastation from Hurricane Sandy. As a way of giving back to the community, I decided to involve my company in making donations and a difference for those who lost everything from Hurricane Sandy. We all need to be in this together and help restore/rebuild all of our communities. Much like my Breast Cancer promotion, we are going to donate a percentage to the American Red Cross in honor of the Hurricane Sandy victims.

We feel very strongly about our community involvement and also our involvement with global charities. It's so rewarding to hear back from customers that what we are doing is really sweet and touches their hearts. We are also giving them the opportunity to help us out in our efforts and in return, rewards us as well.

I really wish you all the best and if you are still without power, please know there are many of us out here, willing to make donations and help everyone in need as soon as we can. We will come back stronger than ever, but we all need to take one step at a time!

As my promotion gets underway, I will certainly be sharing the results! If you have ways you are getting involved in the community, please share them with me! I would love to hear how you are making a difference!