The beginning of the year certainly started off with great promise as we got set with exuberance to celebrate 20 years of Goodnewsforpets.com and the spate of travel to conferences. My last conference was Global Pet Expo with my son Joe Germinder.
We launched the first of the Goodnewsforpets 20th Anniversary Charmed by the Love contests and while we’ve had to make some pandemic modifications, I’m thrilled it’s still going strong with the able assistance of Abby Crotty. In fact, the latest contest with Thunderworks is now open until July 14th. We thank Sleepypod, Fetchforpets, Purina, Melissa & Doug and ACVB for their participation and look forward to conducting the rest of the contests and providing winner designated donations to shelters.
Prior to Global Pet Expo we attended the AVMA Leadership Rally, VMX in Orlando, Western Veterinary Conference, Westminster Kennel Club Show and sponsored an award at the Dog Writers Association of America Awards Banquet. And then, it stopped.
Zoom took over our lives and that of everyone else. And thank goodness! While it’s been a technical challenge sometimes its connected us in ways we never imagined. Speaking of Abby Crotty, she is one of two University of Dayton interns hired this summer. Zinaejah Ozier is our other intern working on Germinder + Associates projects and occasionally lends a hand with writing and video interview assignments that are posted on Goodnewsforpets.com like the Courtney Campbell interview. They are both from my alma mater, the University of Dayton.
Why am I writing about this? Because after 40 years in public relations and thinking that I would focus the year on celebrating 20 years of goodnewsforpets.com, the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement has given me great pause. What can I do better. For one, I know I need to listen more, and that’s why I’ve put their voices and other voices front and center. I’m considering for that matter how many other voices I still want to shine a spotlight on, how much talent I’ve been surrounded with all these years and in fact celebrating those that have helped make our New York experience in particular a success.
In my view, the future has never been brighter for public relations. We need communicators to help address the serious issues our world is facing. It seems like a great way to celebrate, so as we celebrate our 20th anniversary in New York City, and Goodnewsforpets has been a part of that for the same 20 years and the upcoming Fourth of July, here’s to the resilience and remarkable upcoming generation.