Our team’s summer 2020 recap

Our summers usually are jam-packed with covering clients events, team fun and new client projects, of course! This summer has been a little different, but our team hasn’t let a little quarantine get in the way of kicking butt for our clients and having some fun along the way. 

Check out some of our summer 2020 highlights and how our team has made the best of this pandemic.

Kristelle

Like many others, Kristelle added to her list of hobbies by taking on a new sport. Who wouldn’t want an excuse to take frustrations out Happy Gilmore-style? This summer, golf has taught her patience and a new appreciation for hot New Mexico days. While cooling off, she kept her hands busy by learning how to embroider.

Her real accomplishments this… unique… summer been keeping up with all the business owners, encouraging the community to keep pushing through and focusing on advancing her business. We’re so happy to have a CEO who has everyone’s back when the going gets tough. 

Donyelle

In June, our team was beyond excited for Donyelle, her husband Brandon, and big brother Nic to welcome little Charli! Donyelle is our super woman, and she had our team prepped and ready to go before her special delivery. (She even cleared out her entire inbox! Beast, right?!) As if all of that wasn’t amazing enough, Donyelle took home the “Make ‘Em Look Good” Public Relations Award as one of Burque’s Best from the American Advertising Federation.

Before Charli’s arrival, her family was busy creating a little backyard oasis that we all can’t wait to celebrate in when quarantine is long gone.

Simon

If anyone knows our resident creative lead, you know that his summer has brought about his finest nerd moments. When he was not designing awesome websites, branding new clients, creating stunning billboards, catchy ads, or endless memes, Simon used this summer’s quarantine to catch up on some reading, including Space at the Speed of Light by Dr. Becky Smethurst and Obvious? by Jack Summerford. Also, we can’t forget about his proudest builds of the summer: Lego Saturn V and Apollo 11.

Simon’s also created an oasis of sorts, filling his space with myriad succulents that we all have affectionate pet names for. Who knew he had such a green thumb?
Our creative lead uses his custom-built gaming PC for more than work, too. He has spent the remainder of his free time gaming, and the entire team felt for him when Cyberpunk 2077 was pushed back once again. “Stupid ‘rona.”

Julia

To stay sane and on task this summer, Julia broke out the running shoes and got the dogs moving. It totally worked, since Elle Woods said it best. “Exercise creates endorphins. Endorphins make you happy, and happy people don’t just kill their husbands.” (We’re all relieved for her husband Marcos.)

When she wasn’t hopping off client Zoom calls, Julia turned Barkley and ZoZo into TikTok influencers, knitted a few fun things and became an Instapot master! She hopes Gordon Ramsey would be somewhat proud.

River

No one ever really knows what’s going on with River. He doesn’t even know what’s going on with him. One week, he was challenging Kristelle and Donyelle to a bake-off. There was a period when he was making a lot of cocktails–quarantinis, if you will. Even some on Zoom for the Public Relations Society of America, New Mexico Chapter, for which he is a chapter officer. We think he finished a couple books and video games. We think he decorated his apartment, finished painting artwork, made some space for home workouts and started an herb garden. We are almost positive he won a gift card on social media, learned how to longboard and re-learned how to ride a bicycle. He might have furthered his education in Spanish? There may have been some late-night walks through an empty, rainy downtown? He definitely finally replaced his laptop’s battery, though, so now it functions as an actual laptop! He also definitely rescued a cat from a tree near his apartment. They’re pals now, and we get the occasional update when he reports on her safety.

We asked him to verify some of this, and all he had were vague recollections. Except for the longboarding and bike riding. He’s still healing from those.

Marisa

In the words of Marisa, “A cocktail a day keeps the ‘rona away.” (This is obviously anecdotal, and we are NOT saying that alcohol is a coronavirus treatment. Our lawyers made us add this disclaimer.)
Our team is pretty creative. Marisa has also enjoyed a bit of baking, which seemed delicious. She got to finish some tie-dye products, which we loved, while she was hanging out with her dogs, who did occasionally make a cameo on our Zoom meetings.
Most impressively, though, might be that she finished 13 books! She’s got the rest of us beat in that department. She’s also turned her dining room into a greenhouse, and it’s a running joke in her family that she can’t leave the house without coming back home with some kind of plant. Her favorite plant purchase has to be her Fiddle Leaf Fig, or as she likes to call him Notorious F.I.G..