I think dinosaurs were still roaming Oakland when I got my first office job. This was back when phones rang off the hook, we sent letters and contracts by snail mail, and if we wanted to order food for a staff meeting we actually had to go out and pick it up. My first boss called me “the girl,” and I spent a lot of time reminding him of my name and typing up invoices on a manual typewriter. I remember being thrilled when WordPerfect first came out, but I had soooo much trouble memorizing all of those irritating keyboard shortcuts. Thank the universe for those color-coded cardboard cutouts that went over the keyboard! I was overjoyed when the mouse finally made an appearance and Microsoft Word became the word processing program of choice. If you remember floppy disks, dot matrix printers, and fax machines with those weird waxy rolls of paper then you are probably from my generation.

Remember these?

Now, my phone rings maybe once a month; communication with colleagues and clients flows rapidly via email, chat apps, and text messages; and not only do we order food and drink via smart phone apps, but we use them to make flight and hotel arrangements; summons rides via YoTaxi, Uber, and Lyft; and access our calendars and project management tools. Now, I use my super light laptop to record minutes and action items on a document that lives in the cloud and can be easily shared and edited by the team in real time. Now we can conduct meetings with colleagues and clients from all over the world via video conferencing and virtual white boards. Virtual reality is really becoming a reality!

It’s clear that times have changed, and administrative professionals must continually evolve our professional repertoire. Our roles have expanded way beyond typing letters and getting coffee. Some of us still do those things, but we are also project managers, event planners, client service providers, and technology evangelists.

Some people don’t think of admin roles as career positions. They still think of us as “the girl” who gets everyone coffee. But we Admin Unicorns know better. We know that we are the creators of office magic. We know that there is always something new to discover, so we keep our hearts and minds open to innovation while continuing to improve upon the tried and true. While we do tend to thrive on order and efficiency, we are definitely not afraid to be creative and open-minded to tools and techniques that allow us to be at the top of our professional game.

I will mostly be writing about topics that interest me professionally: tech tools, productivity, editing, copyediting, writing, grammar, mindfulness, diversity, event planning, time management, working remotely, work styles, culture, glitter, etc. I will also be signal-boosting other awesome blogs such as OfficeNinjas, The Cubicle Chick, Office Dynamics, and several other blogs that I look forward to sharing with you.

So, welcome to my blog! I hope you enjoy your time here. Feel free to contact me or follow me on social media.

Love,

The Admin Unicorn

#AdminLoveforLife #AdminUnicorn #OfficeMagic