When I am asked, “What does a Community Manager do?”, I get stumped because I haven’t perfected my elevator pitch for this role. It is multifaceted and changes daily so it is hard to describe. My canned response is, “I do fun things for people and deal with the internet….and stuff.” Not. Very. Eloquent. It’s much more than that.
Being a pep rally coach for Bardel means posting to social media, planning events, writing blogs, organizing digital content, meeting after meeting after meeting, running to the dollar store to grab a ton of chocolate, planning budgets, leading the social committee, telling everybody that they are awesome, filming/editing videos, assisting in job fairs, attending and capturing events, graphic design, working with website developers, taking pictures and finding the perfect GIF to announce Cereal Monday to the whole company. It takes a certain kind of will power to juggle all that, ESPECIALLY since you have to be holding pompoms while you do it. Some would say it is like riding a bike while playing ukelele and singing at the same time.
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(Drawing by Alberto Gomez)
Like a circus juggling act, it’s best to put a smile on your face while you are hurling pins through the air hoping that they don’t fall. It’s not a forced smile. I genuinely love what I do, particularly at Bardel. Bardelians are so nice, supportive and super talented. So it’s easy to go to work everyday knowing that I will likely run into a fellow co-worker who is just as stoked to be there as I am. It just so happens that sometimes, they are dressed in onesies.
There are many types of Community Managers. Some work within the tangled web to ensure synergy amongst fans, some post furiously to social media and some walk around their studios with chocolates and cameras, infusing a culture that would make Google jealous. Here at Bardel, a Community Manager accomplishes all of these things. But it is the culture that surrounds and exists at Bardel that really makes it shine. We are a big family of adults living the dream of producing animation for a living and feel lucky to be able to do so. I just get to witness it, be in awe of it and shout it from the rooftops, “I AM BARDELIAN!”
