Quick update. :) Layla turns 5 today and could not be more excited. She honestly has been counting down the days since February. She is such a cutie. She woke up early this morning and came in with a big grin on her face and said, "I don't feel any bigger - but I am!" She got a little vanity and "grown-up makeup" which is play makeup. She also got a fake cell-phone and an Elsa dress up. Danielle got her dressed in her Elsa costume with a little Elsa braid and crown. Danielle patted her head and said, "Oh Layla -- I love you!" Layla responded: "Don't ruin my hair! And my name is Elsa!" We love that little girl and her fiery personality. :)
Danielle and her Mom took Ani to Matilda at the new Hale Theatre last night and Ani loved it. It was LONG! They didn't get home until close to 11PM. They said the props and the theater was amazing and very professional. The content of this play was maybe a little rough for little ones (I remember that from Roald Dahl - lots of very mean adults and smart children). It was fun for them to go though!
I mentioned in my last update some uncertainty around my job. The department that I was in desperately needed female leaders and my role was one of the only roles where we had many qualified women who could do the job. I suggested it and provided some names -- even though I didn't have something else lined up. It was very scary, but I hoped and felt that I would be helped out since I had done this for the good of the organization. During that time, I contacted my network (inside and outside of the Church) about possible roles. I was contacted immediately by a colleague of mine (who I respect a lot and would like to work for), and he recruited me over to the newly formed Church Communications Department (which was created by merging Public Affairs and Communications Services). My education and experience is in Public Relations, Communications and Product Management so this was a great fit. Incidentally, Rick Turley (who I think used to babysit you older Westras) is my Managing Director. My job is the Director of Online Experience. Here's my basic job description: This team helps people worldwide to have positive experiences with the Church online, through: search engine optimization (ensuring truthful and positive search results), community management (engaging in important and helpful online conversations), and promotion of transparent, authentic, and accurate content created by the Church, its partners, and members.
I know that is still vague -- but this will clarify it a bit. The role used to be called Online Reputation Management. Most large companies have either an internal reputation management group, or hire it externally. In a nutshell, the Church is controversial and there is a lot of negative content and conversation online about the Church. My job is to help ensure that truthful (not necessarily positive, but at least accurate) results are shown when people search for keywords about the Church on the web, YouTube and on social media. It's been fascinating so far, and there is so much work to be done. There are two types of departments here - those who report to the Bishopric and those who report to the Twelve. I'm moving from the Bishopric-side to the Twelve-side, and it's interesting. I used to only meet with the Bishopric every month or so, while this team meets with the Twelve much more frequently (Elders Rasband, Stevenson, Gong, and Christofferson), and the Seventy several times weekly (Elders Gerard, Funk and Haynie, and Sisters Eubank, and Jones). I'm excited about the new role.
One interesting thing associated with all of this change is that when my future was very uncertain (for just a couple weeks), I sent my information to my network outside of the Church, and that has led to several conversations (with Ancestry, Vivint, Zions Bank, and Divvy). One of the companies, Divvy, is a financial tech start-up that has grown from about 40 employees last year, to 200 this year. They are looking to build out a product marketing team, and seem pretty interested in my experience. The workforce there is VERY young. Here at my current work, I'm considered young (I'm still the youngest Director in this new department, and very much was in my last role) - but I feel like a dinosaur when I talk with the team at Divvy. I've had three interviews so far, and I have two more next week at their headquarters in Lehi. I have a lot of security and benefits (retirement and health) at my current job so it would probably take a lot for me to leave - but I've heard great things about the company and if they really do take off (like they and every other tech-startup is convinced they will - haha) it could be interesting.
I just finished my first semester at UVU. It was good and went really well -- there are a ton of things I learned though, and I'll do it a lot differently next time. It was great to see you all at the Easter party, and we hope you're all doing well!
Love,
D&D&A&L&N and Roxy dog
Email sent April 25, 2019
Email sent April 25, 2019
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