So, on the 5th of September 2014, I started my Graduate Certificate in Social Media at Seneca College. I can’t even begin to describe the thoughts, fears, excitement and apprehension that went through my head. Having graduated from a UK University 17 years prior to beginning my Program at Seneca, it had been a while since I had been in a classroom environment…

Before the beginning of September, we had all been introducing ourselves via Facebook (which was fine) and had also been asked to register our domains and set up WordPress (this is where my heart palpitations began!). The Facebook group was totally awesome (and remains a great source of strength and support to me).

The 5th of September arrived, and whilst I had met some colleagues during Orientation on the 2nd of September, I was feeling nervous and excited. Armed with my beautiful new Mac (thanks for your advice, Bhupesh), and a million teabags (no surprises there), I was ready to begin. We had pizza on the first day, which was a great way to network and put social media profiles, faces, voices and nationalities together. With a very happy tummy, I took my first steps into the brave new world of Social Media (‘brave’ because that was what I needed to be, and ‘new’ to me as I had a very traditional marketing background).

As soon as we began, I realised that this is it. This is where I am meant to be and this is the direction I want the rest of my career to take!

The generosity of the discussions, information, dynamics and knowledge shared has been nothing short of phenomenal. I learnt how to take what I know from life and work experience, and put it to use in the context of social media.

Within what felt like moments, I had an active Twitter account (yes, it had been dormant for a while), an about.me profile (check it out here ) and a Diigo account. I was suddenly on Instagram , Tumblr (not my favourite thing in the world), and had a Klout score (I have mixed feeings about that one!)  In addition, I was using Kumu, Quadrigram and Piktochart, and completing my HTML Code Academy Training (which is now done). That was all in my spare time.

During class, I was being transported into the world of Social Media Strategy, learning all about SEO Techniques as well as practising and mastering Technical Skills in Social Media including Sprout Social, Sysomos, Optimizely, Balsamiq, Talkwalker and Social Mention. If that wasn’t enough, I had the privilege of opening my mind and contributing to insightful dialogue about Social Engagement in Public and Private. Then there was the ‘creative’ side…Whilst I had dabbled with Photoshop Elements, here I was learning all about Photoshop and Illustrator as well as the fundamentals of photography and logo creation. WOW!

So here I am, a few weeks later, now Code Academy and Hootsuite Certified, preparing for my Midterms and reflecting on my journey, the knowledge I have gained so far, and the amazing people I can now call my colleagues and friends…

Thank you for joining me on my journey.  Stay tuned!