Each month, we spotlight one of our amazing team members who work hard to bring you great results. Today, we interviewed Celeste Gomez from our Strategy team. Let's get started!
1. What’s your role at Mediacurrent, both internally and client-related?
Digital Strategist
2. Give us an idea of what professional path brought you here.
Four important experiences that have impacted my life in a way that carries over into my work today.
- My first job at Disneyland (at 15 years old) taught me the value of customer service.
- My 10 years working in high school special ed refined my communication skills, as I taught complex concepts to those needing to hear it in simple, clear terms.
- My Spanglish t-shirt design side-hustle that I transformed into a brand and small business, teaching myself to do grassroots and creative content marketing (due to lack of funding during the banking crash of 2008).
- My 5 years at an Iowa web agency that took a chance on me as a web development PM, mainly because I knew design and Magento (thanks to my t-shirt site)!
3. How did you first get involved with Drupal?
During my time as a PM I learned Drupal because a few of my clients were government agencies. I also helped build several ecommerce Magento sites, Laravel intranets and web apps, and good ol’ Wordpress sites.
4. Do you have any recommended reading or books that you would suggest to others?
I don’t get time to read books very often because my eyes are dead after a long day’s computer work which includes reading tons of blogs. I use this time to garden or play outside with my dogs.
5. Any mobile apps that you use regularly?
I play “Words with Friends,” a scrabble-like app. Weirdly enough I play it to decompress at night.
6. What do you like to do in your spare time?
I like to cook and have been learning about medicinal foods for a couple of years. I also have raised garden beds and grow a good amount of veggies and herbs. Iowa winters cut that short, so I also grow some herbs and microgreens indoors. I dehydrated over 10lbs of oregano harvest from last summer, and I’m still using it today! I also dehydrated lemon balm for tea - it’s a stress and sleep aid but also helps cognitive function.
7. What do you like about Mediacurrent?
I appreciate the positive, collaborative vibe among such a talented group! I also really appreciate the medical benefits. The level of responsibility when advising these large entities is heavy, but very rewarding and feels impactful.