Seven years ago, I was fresh faced out of school and eager to take the world by storm.
Then, I slowed down.
At no exact moment, I decided to put off my career for a year and give back. I was selected to serve in a Richmond chapter of Amercorps, and devoted the next ten months to reading intervention initiatives in the inner city schools.
The response from others, was nothing short of panic, and their arguments were sound. I’d be poor ($9,000 a year doesn’t stretch very far) and officially one year behind in my career endeavors. But, being a typical 22 year old, I ignored the naysayers and moved forward.
Life hasn’t always been easy. I’ve made big decisions that pointed me in the right direction, and smaller, bad decisions that steered me off course. But the best choices have been the ones that I’ve made with my own personal convictions. So I took a leap a year and half ago, against most odds, and made OFD happen. And I haven’t looked back.
So it’s with that, that it’s a privilege to announce that I’ve been selected as one of Style Weekly’s Top 40 under 40 for 2010. It’s sincerely an honor and I’m grateful to my amazing support network who keep me inspired, sane and on my toes.
And for those who thought I’d fall too far behind donating a year of my life to community service?
Welp, I told you so.
Until next time,
Meghan Ely is the owner of wedding marketing and wedding pr firm OFD Consulting. She is the exclusive wedding pr columnist to wedding marketing journal WedLock magazine and is a highly sought after speaker in the wedding industry. She loves ruffle table runners and Royal Wedding Tchotchkes. To learn how OFD Consulting can assist you with your wedding marketing and wedding pr, please contact us today.
PS. Now what most don’t know is that I jumped off the plane from Wedding MBA two weeks ago, and stayed up until 4am cleaning up after my two cats who protested my time away by refusing to use the litter box. I then woke up at 7:30am with a car that wouldn’t start, got rescued by my dear friend Heather who lent me a car- only to be thrown into a chair at Salon Vivace (shout out for Randi!) for a quick ‘do to make me look fresh. So I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank the extremely talented staff at Style Weekly for making it look like none of that had just happened. 🙂
