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JJN Team Reflections

Hi, readers! 

We hope your 2022 is off to a happy and healthy start! It’s been a while since we’ve checked in, so we’ll catch you up to speed. Last year was a whirlwind for the JJN Multimedia crew as we traveled to new places, welcomed new clients and staff, and expanded our repertoire of skills. 

We work hard to tell others’ stories for a living. This year, we’re going to make more strides to share ours with you. As of today, our team will be revamping our monthly blog to share insight into our projects, personal victories, and professional developments. (You can follow us on social media to stay in the loop!) 

Despite the challenges we all faced in 2021, it was a year full of growth, learning and expansion of our capabilities (and staff!). Our team made the bittersweet move from our first JJN location in Pineville, West Virginia, and into our newly renovated office in Oak Hill. We gained new clients across Appalachia and beyond, and in July, brought on our newest staffer and one heck of a digital designer, Megan Taylor! 

Each team member devoted time to honing our existing skills and branched out to learn new ones through our quarterly “rocks” (goals). J.D. Belcher established our team’s insurance policy, and as a group, we finished assembling our new team handbook. We also celebrated the marriages of two team members, Lexi and Lindsay!

Needless to say, it was an eventful year, and we hit our stride. But it wouldn’t have been possible without our wonderful clients, who continue to trust us with creating and managing their brands, creative content, and web presences. To kick off 2022, we’re recapping 2021 and sharing some of our favorite experiences. Onward!

New job titles and a new full-time staffer

In 2021, several team members took on new roles and positions, like Hannah Craig, who transitioned from graphic designer to a web developer. Hannah uses her skills to create fresh, innovative websites that align with our clients’ visions. Page Clay was also promoted to web development director, where she leads one-of-a-kind site creation efforts and delegates web-related responsibilities to our web team. 

Lexi Browning, director of communications and operations, earned the latter half of her new title as she took over managing internal operations, video production logistics, and podcast editing. Cory Frazier also transitioned from art and web development to full-time art director, where now he spends his time creating and illustrating incredible content for clients.

Nice to meet you (in person)!

Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, remote work has become more accessible for many professions, but at JJN, it’s been our norm for a while. Since the entire JJN crew is based across the southern part of our state, the majority of us work in remote roles across six counties. Currently, our seven-member squad is based across Monroe, Fayette, Mercer, Kanawha, Raleigh, and Wyoming counties!

Working as a partially-remote staff has enabled us to reshape our communication and connections with our colleagues and our clients. Not only have we built meaningful working relationships with our colleagues, we’ve also built friendships. In December, we met in-person for our office holiday party, and for several of us, it was the first time we’d seen our work pals off-screen. It was such a refreshing experience and a highlight for all of us. 

Individual highlights

For our first dispatch of 2022, each JJN team member has shared their 2021 highlights, with each list representing their favorite projects and undertakings.

Page Clay, Director of Web Development 
  • WVONL Site Launch with Memberships: The West Virginia Organization for Nursing Leadership (WVONL) site launch was the first time our team set up a site with paid memberships, so we had to navigate the challenges of getting that together and working.
  • The Ives Site Launch: With The Ives website, we utilized full-screen navigation with jump links which made for a beautiful site.
  • Tazewell Commissioner of Revenue Site Launch: We created entirely new branding and logo for the Tazewell County Commissioner of Revenue to utilize along with their amazing new site!
  • Mountain People’s Co-op & Mountain Mindful Shopify Launch: We created successful Shopify stores.
  • WV Hub Revamp: This was a huge undertaking of a revamp of a site. Shortly after its launch, we released the Redefined campaign.
Hannah Craig, Web Developer
  • WVONL Conference It was really rewarding to see the conference come together and have such a successful outcome. Creating the page for the attendees to go to during the conference felt really important because it showcased a lot of information that was talked about during the conference. Also, creating the feedback survey was awesome because it allowed us to see just how pleased everyone was with the conference. We got tons of positive feedback to share with the WVONL team!
  • JJN Christmas Party — I really enjoyed being able to have our whole team in the same place to celebrate our amazing year and spend time together. It’s really cool to see what we can accomplish together from different parts of the state. I felt really inspired after getting to spend quality time with my like-minded, talented coworkers.
  • New Job Position — Transitioning from Graphic Designer to Web Developer was another very rewarding moment from 2021. I was eager to learn new processes and pursue them to the best of my abilities, and it has been such a fun learning experience for me.
Lexi Browning, Director of Communications and Operations
  • Celebrated one year of employment with JJN Working with other like-minded creatives at JJN keeps me motivated, optimistic, and laughing. There’s no other group of folks I’d rather spend all my virtual time with. I’ve gotten to know our clients well over the last year too, which helps me understand their needs and create content that best supports them. 
  • Photographing various inspiring efforts across West Virginia through the “Redefined” project Creating visuals for the WV Community Development Hub’s “Redefined” project was incredibly rewarding. There are so many wonderful stories to be told across the Mountain State, and this project amplified the stories of five powerful initiatives that may not have received the same level of attention or support otherwise. 
  • Creating helpful documents, guides, and processes to streamline internal operations — I’ve invested time in writing templates, How To guides, and process overviews for our handbook, which can assist us in helping colleagues in a pinch. 
  • Using old skills and taking up new ones — I love audio editing, so taking over the podcast production aspect of our business has been very therapeutic and enjoyable. Thanks to WVONL’s fall conference, I’ve also learned the ins and outs of hosting Zoom Webinars. 
Cory Frazier, Art Director
  • Promotion to Art Director Being promoted to art director was more about moving into a position where I get to do more of what I love as opposed to a title upgrade. Getting to be more hands on in developing creative is my happy place and having an incredible team of dedicated folks made this possible.
  • Having folks you can count on — In August, I tested positive for COVID and faced severe symptoms that inhibited me from working my regular schedule. I was out for over a week and being a small company with big goals, we each tend to wear many hats to meet the needs of our clients. I was afraid things would fall behind due to my absence, but this was definitely a life-lesson learned. As cliche as it sounds, I can honestly say that I have never worked with a better bunch of folks. During my recovery, team members immediately filled the gaps and I realized that I didn’t have to feel like things were all on me all of the time. It amazes me how we work together as a cohesive, well-oiled machine being miles away most of the time. And knowing that you have a group of folks that will back you up at a moment’s notice is humbling and truly incredible when so much of today’s society is dog eat dog.
  • Mountain Mindful — We have worked with Coalfield Development for many years. They are an organization that took a chance on an up-and-coming company in Southern West Virginia and we are still fortunate to work with their great team today! Coalfield’s Mountain Mindful launched as a social enterprise offering socially and environmentally sustainable products in Appalachia. I designed their logo and brand aesthetic. Watching this social enterprise continue to grow and bring opportunities for people in the Mountain State has definitely been rewarding knowing that I played a small and yet vital role in its initial development.
J.D. Belcher, Owner and Video Production Director
  • Establishing team health insurance — This was a huge deal for us to be able to offer this in a quality way. Not many small businesses take this leap.
  • “Redefined” project with The WV Community Development Hub — “Redefined” was a massive documentary project that was a big (and equally rewarding) undertaking for the JJN team. Through video, photo, social, media strategy, and web efforts, this project highlighted five amazing initiatives across West Virginia, and it required talent from the entire team.
  • Traveling again — Taking our trip to Atlanta, Georgia for The Conservation Fund was motivating, and it was enjoyable to (safely) venture out for our first out-of-state shoot since COVID began.
  • Developing a system of six total weeks off with pay — It was very important to establish a balanced work/life culture.
  • We all worked for months, some a year, with never meeting each other in person until last Christmas — This is a testament to technology and how like-minded folks can create something special without even being in the same room.
Megan Taylor, Digital Designer
  • Celebrating one half-year at JJN Multimedia I started my job as the Digital Designer July 1st of 2021 so granted, I only have half a year of accomplishments, but they are accomplishments I’m very proud of and thankful for, as they have helped me grow exponentially as a designer and person.
  • Started and finished a website In December, I finished creating my first website with the JJN team for our client, KEYS4HealthyKids. Right now, I’m now working on developing my second site!
  • Working on virtual conferences I designed assets for several virtual conferences and learned how to record those conferences.
  • Got acquainted with animations — Last year, I learned how to convert animations to use interactively on websites.
  • I’ve found my niche — It’s been a privilege to have accepted this amazing job and work alongside wonderful and talented people!!!
Lindsay Crance, Content Director
  • Celebrated two years at JJN — My first day was December 26, 2019, which feels like it was yesterday and a lifetime ago at the same time. 
  • Redefined Project — This was probably our most ambitious project in 2021! I handled social media strategy and messaging along with digital ad placements. This was my first big digital ad campaign, and it was really cool to see people responding positively to it. With this project I also learned to pay attention to the nitty gritty details. 
  • Took on the role of digital ad manager and became more familiar with digital ad buying — I had dabbled in social media advertising before, but this year I was able to learn more about Google and YouTube ads and the different components of a fleshed out ad strategy. 
  • New office — We moved locations from Pineville to Oak Hill and J.D. worked hard on creating a wonderful office space for us! I personally love the new space because there’s plenty of room for new plants – it’s the perfect spot for creativity. 
  • Continuing to grow our clients’ social media — We added a couple new social media clients in 2021 – getting to craft creative social strategies for our clients was a highlight of the year for me and working with clients across multiple different industries always keeps things interesting!
Thanks so much for your continued support, readers! Be on the lookout for next month’s blog.

— JJN Multimedia

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