To say Jason Valentino and his bride-to-be Ambar Rieken love the McDonalds McRib is an understatement. The couple included the iconic sandwich in their engagement shoot, with photos by Memories by JP.
More info at McRibRVA.com
Please contact me if you’d like to do a story on this! I would LOVE to talk to you and put you in touch with the couple!
I joined my colleagues and international guests on the panel for the International Business Forum. The topic was “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.” (I talked about the good, of course)
“Looking outside of our own group is really trying to understand people who think differently than us,” she said. “[Social media provides the opportunity] to learn from other people, to talk about what you are hearing around you, what you’re putting out there and what you’re taking in.”
“A lot of people think that we have become a nation of people who are constantly staring down at our phones and not paying attention to the world around us,” Dick said. “But social media is allowing us the capability to reach people not just on the other side of America, but also to spread ideas across the globe.”
Read the full recap from VCU News and The Commonwealth Times.
Local restaurateurs, chefs, and foodies helped us welcome our newest client, The Scottish Salmon Company.
Thank you to Candy Valley Cake Co. for coming through on these themed cake pops. (and thank you to eBay for coming through on this Tartan dress.)
launched instagram – Lochlander Virginia.
Here’s Jacqui, the company’s local account manager.
Nels welcomed guests into the party with traditional Scottish music. (He’s hanging out with Jeff Wilson, our friend from PRSA.)
The TFB Team had a wonderful time at the Virginia PR Awards last night. We celebrated two of our clients: Overcoming Bias Book and The VCU Brandcenter. Their campaigns won in the word-of-mouth and social media categories, respectively. 
Both client teams joined us, along with our clients/friends at James River air and Patient First.
If you find any part of The Month In Social helpful, inspiring or interesting, please let us know here. We’d love to know what you’d like to see more of. Your feedback helps make Tiramisu For Breakfast the best it can be. If you’d like to receive these in your inbox each month, enter your email address below:
Thanks as always,
Renovations to the TFB offices are almost done. Here’s a look at our progress.
It was an honor serving on the selection committee for the Virginia Communications of Fame and to celebrate the inductees.
Thanks to the Network of Enterprising Women for having me at their business summit this morning. For those who are interested, here’s the link to the document I presented on video marketing.
We teamed up with Bobbi Brown, Megan of the Sweet Sauce Blog and former TFB intern Kat Pierre of Beauties Beholder for a blogger event at Nordstrom in Tyson’s Corner. Check it out here.
We went to Tulum! The Yoga Dojo hosted a retreat at Amansala Eco Chic Resort. Check out all of my photos from the trip here. My favorite part by-far was our visit to the Akumal Sanctuary for Rescued Animals.
We are so excited to welcome ChamberRVA to our client list. We’re working to communicate their latest project, FutureRVA, which focuses on studying and developing talent in our region. We brought in our friends at Think to design their annual report. (PS: If this sounds awesome to you, ChamberRVA is hiring. Check out the marketing opening in the jobs section of this post)
McDonald’s of Richmond celebrated the grand re-opening of two of their 68 stores (Chester on Ironbridge Road and Waverly) with their new “Experience of the Future” technology that allows
We’ve also been popping into media outlets and schools on FRY-Days (😉) to surprise folks with tasty treats. (if your office/classroom would like to be considered for a free drop-off, let us know here.)
GO FOR 20’s new site is live! We’re in focus group testing for her six-week program.
JAMES RIVER AIR continues to support the Richmond SPCA, sponsoring both the Valentine’s Day Dog Kissing Booth and the Dog Jog and 5k.
We’re working on an exciting project with our clients at CLEMENTINE(that’s owner Lyn page on the left with Quirk Gallery/Hotel owner Katie Ukrop) giving a behind-the-scenes look at the interesting women of Richmond. Stay tuned!
Brittany Mullins of Eating Bird Food launched her five-ingredient cookbook. 
Hawley Smyth of the VCU BRANDCENTER was featured by WE ARE NEXT telling the story of alums who used the school to shift into a career in advertising. 
GRETCHEN RUBIN | The Four Tendencies: As a marketer, I’m fascinated by learning how other people think. This book has an interesting perspective on the ways different types of people are motivated. I also love Gretchen’s podcast.
I start out with a lot of books on audible (listening to them with these comfy and handy “sleeping headphones.”). If I really like the book, I’ll get a hard copy to read over my favorite sections and take notes.
SOCIAL MEDIA TODAY | CarMax’s Britt Farrar on how they took advantage of a viral moment to flex their real-time social media muscle
ESPN | UMBC’s epic NCAA tournament upset through the eyes of its Twitter handle
YOUNG HOUSE LOVE | The couple talks about the setbacks and serendipity that led to were they are today. (One of my favorite episodes and such a nice reminder that
NPR |How Social Media Can Reveal Overlooked Drug Reactions
CO.DESIGN |Are Your Job Skills Hot Or Not? This Chart Will Tell You
INSTAGRAM | The New Type Mode In Stories
ADWEEK | Social Media Is Not a Customer Experience Solution Take the intimacy, connectivity and conversational experience from the offline world and inject it into the digital world. Thay’s where customer experience excellence is born.
CMO |Study Finds Investments In Customer Experience Are Paying Off (file under: duh)
MINIMA | The life-changing science of photographing your clutter
JUNAID MUBEEN |Why ‘Sleep on It’ is the Most Useful Advice for Learning — and Also the Most Neglected
NY TIMES | Classical Music In Advertising
SOCIAL MEDIA TODAY |Keeping Up with the Algorithms: What You Need to Know About Each Platform’s Sorting System
INC. | Instagram Marketing Tricks
THE HUSTLE | Edit any website like it’s a word doc, directly from your browser
“Society rewards strengths that school doesn’t.” Garret Westlake, Ph.D., Executive Director of VCU da Vinci Center, shared his story of working with students with autism, turning their special skills into a competitive advantage in the labor market at Mindful Mornings.(via Anika Horn)
We’re looking forward to the annual Richmond Advertising awards this Friday.
We just added an events calendar. to the site. We’re always updating it with events we find interesting. If you know of one you’d like us to add, let us know here. 
These are some jobs that I’ve either heard about from friends or come across online. I don’t have a personal connection to all of them, but feel free to contact me if you’re interested and I’ll do anything I can to help. If you’re hiring, feel free to send that info along for me to include too.
JAMES RIVER AIR CONDITIONING | Customer Care Representative
CHAMBER RVA | Marketing and Communications Manager
3NORTH | Marketing Manager
VA HOUSING DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY | Communications Manager
BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB | Marketing & Communications Manager
HAMILTON BEACH | Public Relations Specialist
VCU MASSEY CANCER CENTER | Development Communications Manager
VCU | Public Relations Coordinator
HUNTON & WILLIAMS | Marketing & Communications Manager
UMFS | Marketing Manager
ALLIANZ | Digital Marketing Specialist
VIRGINIA FARM BUREAU | Marketing & Sales Support Specialist
ELEPHANT AUTO INSURANCE | Digital Marketing Specialist
SHELTERING ARMS | Marketing Communications Specialist
DUPONT | Communications and Digital Marketing Specialist
CITY OF RICHMOND | Marketing & Public Relations Specialist
KALEO | Director of Corporate Brand And Communications
PADILLA | Assistant Account Executive, Corporate Communications
VIRGINIA FARM BUREAU | Marketing Coordinator
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND | Marketing Adjunct Faculty
VIRGINIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE SYSTEM | Digital Media Specialist
WORKSHOP DIGITAL | Senior Paid Digital Marketing/Pay Per Click (PPC) Analyst
PS: our smart friend Molly Szkotak, former Head of Community of Ledbury, is available for hire.
Ad/Marketing/PR folks: Are you looking an intern? I’ve had some people reach out and I’m going to compile a list of all the internships I know about to share with students. Fill you as much or as little info as you want to here.
Happy New Year, everyone!
This month has been full of excitement for TFB and I hope for you too.
We cannot wait to welcome you all into the new space. We’ll be in the Superior Production Exchange building at 1901 East Franklin Street, Suite 119.
I also hope you’ll join me next week on January 17th at the Say What Business Summit. I’ll be sharing about the impact of video on communications.
JMU Student Page Nuckols did such an awesome job for us on this moving announcement illustration:
We’re grateful to Jonathan Spiers of Richmond Biz Sense for the writeup. He was kind enough to share these outtakes with us.
We’re thrilled to announce our newest clients, McDonald’s and The Clementine Group. We’ll be handling PR for McDonald’s Richmond region restaurants and doing communications and social media consulting with Clementine’s group of companies, including Clementine, Clover, Ashby and Made: A Carytown Pop Up.
To prepare for the launch campaign for our clients to Go For 20, we worked with Profound Productions and photographers Kegham Hovsepian and Wing On on a promotional video and photo shoot.
Health coach and Personal Trainer Brittany Mullins of Eating Bird Food took Cheryl Miller how-to with Cheryl Miller on mason jar salads and worked out with Jessica Noll on CBS Virginia This Morning. Check out the clips:
Havana 59 opened their west end location. My former student Megan Craig did an awesome job with a media preview. The new spot is near the original Gelati Celesti location. Make sure to check it out!
And our friend and fellow P.O.W.E.R. member Noelle Parent officially launched Gifted RVA with a celebration at 804RVA.
I’m also happy to announce I’ve joined the board of CelebrateRVA, an organization committed to throwing birthday parties for disadvantaged children. Some of the children touched by this group have never celebrated a birthday before and had to have the act of blowing out candles shown and explained to them. I’m so excited to work with CelebrateRVA and be a small part of bringing them joy. I encourage you to read up on what they’re doing and volunteer to attend a party if you can.
TIM FERRIS: Tribe of Mentors: Brene Brown, Jimmy Fallon I love this book and have given away several copies already. It’s so awesome to peek inside the lives of others.
BEING BOSS: Becoming an Enthusiastic Leader
In every single market, the people who are at the top, the people who are wielding the most power – whether that means they have the biggest fan base or whether that just means that they wield influence in that market in some way – they’re incredibly enthusiastic. And every single day they show up with that enthusiasm. They don’t let making an end run around the Facebook algorithm bleed into what they’re trying to do because they do because they know that the ultimate hack of the Facebook algorithm is enthusiasm. we all know that when we make that post that’s coming out of our fingertips because we’re just so we just need to say it. those are the ones that go viral – those are the ones that get traction. those are the ones that get the comments that get the clicks., so if that’s where that kind of influence come from, why aren’t we focusing more on bringing enthusiasm into our brands every single day instead of reading about how I need to format that link to make sure that the Facebook algorithm plays nicely with it. It’s the same thing in email marketing, webinars, anything. If you show up with enthusiasm, people pay attention…
CBS 6: The Ten Most-Clicked Positive New Stories of 2017
DIGIDAY: Facebook is emphasizing groups and publishers are following suit
ADWEEK: Facebook Is Testing a Separate Destination for Local News in Its Mobile Apps
B SIDE COLLECTIVE: Entrepreneurial Guide for the Hustlers of Richmond’s inaugural issue
TFB: How to Make A Shareable Custom Facebook Profile Frame
BUILT VISIBLE: How To Use Talkwalker Alerts for Journalism / PR outreach
SEARCH ENGINE JOURNAL: A Beginner’s Guide To ADA Compliance For Websites
HOOTSUITE: What it Takes to Create a Great Social Video: A 10-Step Guide
1/14 THE BYRD THEATRE FOUNDATION Screening Of Hidden Figures
1/17 NETWORK OF ENTERPRISING WOMEN Say What Business Summit
1/18 AMA RICHMOND Authenticity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
1/30 VCU MASSEY CANCER CENTER Appetizers and Advocacy
1/31 PRSA RICHMOND January Luncheon: The Home Depot Warehouse – Best Practices In Internal Social Media
2/6 | VCU MASSEY CANCER CENTER Women & Wellness Forum Series – Keynote speaker Joan Lunden
2/24 | VISUAL ARTS CENTER OF RICHMOND The Nuts and Bolts of Freelance Writing with Marissa Hermanson Moomaw
2/24 | HOUSING FAMILIES FIRST A Night In Old Havana
3/15 AMA RICHMOND March Signature Speaker Series – Roberto Blake – How to Crush It On YouTube
3/16 | TIFFANY HADDISH #SheReady
These are some jobs that I’ve either heard about from friends or come across online. I don’t have a personal connection to all of them, but feel free to contact me if you’re interested and I’ll do anything I can to help. If you’re hiring, feel free to send that info along for me to include too.
WORK LABS | Studio Designer
HEALTH WARRIOR | Marketing Manager
VIRGINIA LOTTERY | Digital Customer Acquisition Manager
HUNTON & WILLIAMS | Marketing & Communications Manager
UMFS | Marketing Manager
NDP | Senior Media Buyer/Planner
KALEO | Director of Corporate Brand And Communications
PADILLA | Assistant Account Executive, Corporate Communications
VIRGINIA HOUSING DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY | Communications Manager
VIRGINIA FARM BUREAU | Marketing Coordinator
THE KING AGENCY | Senior Art Director
WWBT | Marketing Content Producer
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND | Marketing Adjunct Faculty
CARMAX | Manager, Digital Marketing Technology
VIRGINIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE SYSTEM | Digital Media Specialist
WORKSHOP DIGITAL | Senior Paid Digital Marketing/Pay Per Click (PPC) Analyst
HHHUNT | Marketing Manager
VICE NEWS | Motion Designer
SNAGAJOB | Client Executive, On-Demand and Growth – Richmond
