On Friday night, the entire JP team took a trip up to Sacramento to celebrate JP Marketing’s 20^th year in business. We hopped on a bus, popped in The Goonies, broke out the road trips games and took off.

Our first stop: the JP Marketing Sacramento office which duals as a home for posters and memorabilia from nearly every musical act to come through Sacramento in the past 40+ years.

Then, we hit the river for a sunset boat ride. If you’ve never been taken a trip down the Sacramento delta, you need to do this at least once. The weather was ideal, the sunset was picturesque, and the company was, of course, warm and engaging.

After the boat docked, we walked 50 feet to our dinner destination – a delicious American restaurant with balcony views of the lit bridge. Then it was speech time. Every year, Jane recognizes one staff member with the S.T.A.R. award – basically our version of Employee of the Year. And this year, it was me.

I spent the last few minutes trying to turn S.T.A.R. into an acronym that described how I felt when it was announced. I’m still stuck on the “shocked” and “thankful” part. (Maybe I’ll move into the “acceptance” stage at some point.)

In fact, I was so shocked that my big speech was: “Thank you. I have no words at the moment, but I’ll write a blog next week.” Eloquent, right?

You could say that “shocked” and “thankful” describe how I’ve felt my entire career. A little more than three years ago I was in my final year of college and had just been awarded the John Reed King Scholarship from the Fresno Advertising Federation. I’m not mentioning this to brag (though I was proud of myself), but because of this award, I met Art Reker and Jeanna Antonino.

In any normal business setting, I would dress-to-the-T and spend at least 45 minutes getting ready after watching two or three YouTube gurus show me the proper way to apply makeup.  On this particular day in early 2012, the Fresno Advertising Foundation was meeting at noon at the Smittcamp Alumni House. Since my kickboxing teacher was a stickler on attendance, I literally ran across campus in my kickboxing gear to thank the Foundation for their support. And yes, my pink boxing gloves came with me.

That day, I met Art. I must have made some sort of impression because a few weeks later, he called me into JP for an interview. Shocked? Yes. Thankful? More than you could imagine.

Hired as a part-time copywriter, two and a half years later, here I am managing the Outreach & New Media Department. To say it’s been a whirlwind is an understatement. I’ve learned so much in the last few years, and have been given opportunities that I would have never had anywhere else. I have so much more to learn and I am excited to do so in an industry that I love endlessly.

With all of that being said, I do have some thank you’s I need to dole out:

Jane & Paul: Thank you for teaching me and trusting me. Congratulations on (almost) 20 years in business! I’m grateful and happy to be a part of this year and more to come.

Art: Thank you for not judging my pink boxing gloves and championing for me to be hired straight out of college.

Tanya Osegueda: Thank you for being a wonderful mentor, friend, and my #1 cheerleader.

The JP Team: You are all so incredibly talented and fun to work with. I’m lucky to be a small part of one of the best teams in the Central Valley.

There are many many more people who have helped me along the way. And you know who you are because I probably say thank you a little too much. Ok… ok…. Just one more time, because I can:

Thank you!

A few more snapshots from the trip:

– Anna Gonzalez, Outreach & New Media Manager