Two Years at the G6: The Story of a “Social Media Guy”

January 12, 2012

Culture

Lad Makinde

The other day as I was quietly sitting in my bedroom it dawned on me that in a few months I will officially have been at Gate6 for two years, and while this may not matter to you, it is somewhat of a big deal for me. You see for those of you who don’t know, (pretty much everyone) I never wanted to have a 9 to 5 “office” job. And while I am aware that a lot of people say similar things all the time, for me this has always been the definitive truth. Having a 9 to 5 was not even an option, I mean seriously, I would rather have gone to a Bristol Palin autograph signing than succumb to the demise of a 9 to 5.

This mentality had been further cemented by the people I was surrounded by during my internship experiences both during and after college (Shouts out to the old sports crew at CBS 5). However, there’s something about not having any money that changes a person’s perspective on things. With that said, after interning for more companies than one should ever be allowed to and briefly working for another digital agency, I found myself at Gate6, somewhat over confident and a bit naive.

I was by far the youngest on the staff and only a few years removed from college and, as I stated before, a majority of my work experience had been gained through internships. The truth is, I spent my first year at Gate6 doing a lot of reading, failing, learning, and repeating. It’s funny now to look back on that time, even though it’s only been a couple years, because I truly feel as though I’ve grown so much as a marketer and as a creative thinker. I have to give credit for that to the freedom I’m given at Gate6 and to my immediate boss, Rebecca Heft (You got a shout out).

Being allowed to roam freely and come up with ideas and concepts that can impact the company posivitely is really one of the coolest things about working at Gate6. As a result the company is filled with a plethora of multifaceted and multitalented individuals. We have sales directors with years of professional video shooting experience (Gabriel Gasca), we have project managers who can edit video and also own their own video cranes (John Moss), we have marketing directors who have professional dance backgrounds (Sudhir Subbaiah), former college baskeball players (Ryan Holmes and yours truly), and others who are talented comedians, musicians, and singers etc. My point is not merely to boast but to point out that many companies do not have the depth of multi talented people that we have here at Gate6 and I can truly say that if you were to pull virtually anyone from any department into a creative brainstorming meeting, they would feel very comfortable.

In closing, all of these individuals have impacted me on a personal level in one way or another and now that I’m entering my third year at the G6, I feel like I have a firm grasp and appreciation for the madness that comes with working in this industry. Over the next few months I’m excited to continue down this journey and ultimately to the realization that I can now be the one who imparts knowledge that will hopefully help and inspire others. Stay tuned…