Small Business Life

  • anya-office-tour
    Small Business Life

    Expectations vs Reality (and a little office tour)

    On Wednesday night last week, an ice storm hit the wider Denver area. It was a small potatoes storm when compared to what you might see in the northeastern part of the U.S., but it was enough to glaze over the sidewalks, cars, windshields and—this will be important to our story—the roads with a slick sheet of icy chaos. I had two assignments lined up for the following day. Both for the same publication, but different in nature and location. One was at a school in Longmont (about an hour north of Denver), the other at a government facility in Aurora (thirty minutes due east). I was expected in Longmont at 9:15…

  • A snowstorm in Denver in January 2016
    Small Business Life

    The Doldrums of January

    You all feel that right? The subtle, yet quite noticeable presence of the doldrums of January. It’s an affliction that arrives somewhere in between the packing up of holiday decorations and the realization that the new year ahead very much exists in uncharted territory. Here be dragons, as it were. January, February, March, these first few months always throw me for a loop. I find myself rather torn wanting to be both optimistic—resolute you might say—toward making the new year a smashing success, and experiencing the often more present feelings of overwhelm, ennui, and indecisiveness. Your 2017 planner is shiny, new, unfilled and demanding; your to-do list is staring at you waiting to…

  • the newsroom
    Small Business Life,  Video

    Video: Farewell to the newsroom

    Today I’m going to tell you a small story. It involves my photography career to this point. And spoiler alert, it ends with me leaving my job. I was only 22 years old when I walked into The Denver Post newsroom on my first day of work. I was there as the newest editorial assistant. What did I do in that capacity? Answered thousands of phone calls, directed emails, made a lot of coffee and fought many a battle against the aging copy machine. It triumphed in general, but I won the war. Sometimes I took dictation over the phone from reporters in the field. On election night in 2012, I helped produce a live…