A Year into Covid-19: A Look Back at 2020 & What’s Ahead in 2021
WHAT. A. YEAR. While we aren’t at the beginning of an actual new year, here we are, one year since COVID-19 creeped into our community and shifted all aspects of life. The past 12 months have been tainted by tragedies, but also elevated by moments and movements that brought people together and ushered us into a more mindful, intentional perspective.
Overnight, like so many, we flipped from being together daily to working remotely. We cleared our calendars and re-added daily team video meetings and outreach to each client to discuss ripple effects and options. We were hours away from one event, days away from others, and weeks away from even more. It was a wild time, but to honest, it was also our sweet spot. We thrive on working through challenges and gray space by lifting up and approaching solutions from all angles. A pandemic proved to be the ultimate test of our skills as well as our endurance.
Fortunately for us, we 1) have a strong background and vast expertise in production, which propelled many of our live events towards success in the virtual space and 2) we had been rippling out from events and extending our services into other facets of high-touch marketing and creative project management. These two circumstances combined with our tight-knit team, endless pursuit of solutions, and unshakeable optimism set us up for success in even the most impossible climate.
With our clients on new COVID-friendly tracks, we continued to get creative and push innovation farther. Our team bond grew even deeper. We worked hard, but also enjoyed more time outside and “bonus time” with our families and quaran-teams. We created opportunities to be extra introspective together, to share what we were learning, and to continually consider and commit to what we want our lives to look like. While it was a challenging time, it was always a really magical time for our team. I was continually calmed by the endless ideas and sense of abundance.
The pandemic presented an incredible opportunity to learn, grow, and evolve, which also offered a unique lens through which social justice movements like Black Lives Matter gained new traction and momentum. We were heartbroken and captivated by what was happening and what had essentially always happened. We collaborated with Hunter Claire Rogers on a BIPOC vendor list, distributed it throughout the Nashville events industry, and personally pledged to engage and promote even more BIPOC partners through our projects.
Over the summer, Micaela stepped away from the company to enjoy more time with her new daughter and Brooke transitioned into a new role at Google Fiber. Bailey stepped into a more dynamic, managerial role as we added two new team members, Emma and Haylee. Together, we continued to expand and elevate our clients’ virtual events and integrate more varied vehicles for brand activation, including brand boxes, brand partnerships, social media partnerships, and product placements.
In January, Memo Agency entered our 10th year in business! As a founder and the owner of the company, I didn’t think too much about that milestone until I found myself in the moment. After all, we only get so many 10 year spans of life! Despite the challenges, I truly found my stride and my style as a leader in 2020. I doubled down on my purpose, dove even deeper into our company values and how they play out daily, and anchored myself to how I want to spend my time, focus, and energy to elevate the life experience for all - from our team and clients to partners and peers to family and friends.
Here we are now, a year out from COVID-19 turning our worlds upside down and opening our eyes to more of life’s layers and insights. Nashville and the world is slowly, cautiously opening more and more and we’re beginning to explore the increasingly real possibility of live and hybrid events with real life human beings in this calendar year. Though we’re excited for in-person possibilities, we’re thrilled that most of our events and projects will continue to cater to remote audiences as well through virtual platforms as well as at-home and online activations.
We’re wrapping up our strongest first quarter to date and looking ahead to our best year in business. We have so many exciting moments and projects on the horizon - including purchasing a new office space! Owning a space of our own has always been a dream and to achieve it during our 10th year in business, during a pandemic, has been extra special. We’re excited to share more about that adventure and others soon.
Thank you for making it this far into my COVID-19 reflection, HA! And if TLDR, we simply thank you for your ongoing support, encouragement, and trust in us to deliver for you. Cheers, friends!