Wow! What a Month | February 2022
In February we welcomed a few new faces in the form of our new Office Specialist and a pair of interns. We also received a major honor at the American Advertising Awards. As usual, it was a busy month. Let’s dig in.
Welcome Marleny Encarnacion to the Crew
Marleny Encarnacion started at Coal Creative on January 31, which is the perfect day to get missed by the Wow! What a Month — January. So instead, we’ll celebrate Marleny’s first full month as our Office Specialist. She holds a dual role that handles financial and office management responsibilities. Marleny comes from the banking industry so you know she’ll make all the dollars make sense.
Learn more about our newest teammate in her bio.
Welcome our Spring Interns
In February, our two excellent spring interns started their tenure at Coal Creative. Join us in welcoming Alijah Chamberlain, a senior at Penn State Wilkes-Barre, and Donald Ballou, a Wilkes University senior.
“I’m excited to get a good sense of a company’s operations and practices by the end of the semester, as well as learn a whole bunch of skills,” Donald said.
Alijah and Donald have jumped right in helping with several social media and content projects including NEPA Creative and Dress for Success of Luzerne County’s 31 Days of Women in Power campaign.
They’ve also taken over @coalcreativeinterns on Instagram. Give them a follow for regular intern hijinx. By the end of the semester they will also produce a video — one of our standard intern projects. We can’t wait to see what they create.
Learn more about Alijah and Donald on our blog.
Coal Takes Home Gold at AAF Awards
Coal Creative was recognized at the AAF of NEPA American Advertising Awards on February 25. CEO Holly K. Pilcavage and CCO Sam O’Connell proudly accepted the Professional Gold Award for Integrated Brand Identity Campaign for our work with The Bench Project. Our video, web design, social media and content teams all contributed to The Bench Project campaign.
“This is an absolute honor and so exciting knowing our entire team is involved with this one,” Holly said.
National Wear Red Day
February is American Heart Month, when government agencies and nonprofits promote cardiovascular health. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, so added attention to heart-healthy living is crucial.
As part of the initiative, the American Heart Association holds Go Red For Women on the first Friday of Heart Month. While heart disease is often associated with older men, it claims the lives of nearly 500,000 American women annually.
To mark the awareness day, the AHA encouraged everyone to wear red on February 4, 2022. We heard the call and donned red for our team meeting that day.
We were lucky enough to have some special guests from Riggs Asset Management who shared some money management tips with the team. They fit right in in their finest red outfits.
You can support the local Go Red campaign here.
Leadership Northeast Update
The Leadership Northeast core program explored Cultural Perspectives and Emotional Intelligence at their February gathering. Coal Creative’s Operations & Business Development Manager Camaryn Lokuta shared her thoughts.
“What really stood out to me from this program was our presentation on Viewpoint Diversity by Erin McLaughlin,” Camaryn said. “ It was an incredibly powerful and eye-opening presentation where we learned about our perspective of the world and how it differs from others.”
Scranton Chamber Women’s Network Lunch
Coal Creative showed up in force at the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce Women’s Network Luncheon on February 16. All the women that fuel Coal attended the event at the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel in Scranton. Holly K. Pilcavage, Camaryn Lokuta, Samantha Bucher, Marleny Encarnacion, Jay Nguyen and Alijah Chamberlain represented our team.
Lehigh Valley Chamber Snow Ball 2022
Coal Creative’s CEO Holly K. Pilcavage and CCO Sam O’Connell ventured down the tracks to the Lehigh Valley on February 26 for the Snow Ball. The Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce hosts the annual black-tie affair. This year’s beneficiary was the Lehigh County Humane Society.
A Very Coal Valentine’s Day… in Song
The Coal Crew loves a good tune. So, for the official day of love — at least according to the heart-shaped box of chocolate industry — we collaborated on a love song playlist. Check out the playlist, our explanations and some fun GIFs, here.
Coal Milestones and Birthdays
We celebrated one work anniversary and two birthdays in February. Project Manager Jeremy Brown marked two years with Coal Creative on February 3. Coal Creative’s founder Gerard Durling had a birthday on February 4 and Web Developer Travis Antoniello celebrated his birthday on February 23.
I’m not sure what the groundhog had to say back on February 2, but I’m begging for spring to come early. Come rain, snow or sunshine, always remember to stay … Coal.
