I have returned to my beginnings, professionally speaking. We have recently moved our offices to downtown Bridgeport, where I landed my first professional design gig (barring my internship with Alexander Isley, Inc… yes, I’m name dropping). I love The Park City and have sorely missed it since I left that job many moons ago.
There are several things that are important to me professionally & personally and what I’ve been reminded of in my 360º journey is that, professionally speaking, those necessities weren’t always present for me in past jobs/locations.
In no particular order: I need food, friends, and to be in a place that feels like home. I’m sure most of you feel the same way and the epiphany for me was how much I needed it in my professional life. I’m very happy to say that with our new spot I am rich in all three areas.
Food
Anthony Bourdain said, “You learn a lot about someone when you share a meal together.”
I think that this is very true about a city as well. Some spots in BPT where I used to eat are still open, making fantastic food, and have only gotten better with time. On the plus side, there are tons more options that I have been joyfully exploring much to the dismay of my scale. At MM, we pretty much take lunch together every day and having a host of more solid eateries around that are kinder on the wallet have only seemed to increase the lunchtime joy.
Friends
Being back in Bridgeport I’m running into friends and family that I normally wouldn’t bump into and that is definitely a perk that I didn’t know I was missing from my daily professional life. Another great benefit of Bridgeport is that it is the home of professional affiliates like The Bananland and The b:Hive. Collaboration is key and it’s great to be able to have impromptu critiques and see what other people are creating. This is something fuels my creativity in a very real way.
Location
Our new space is gonna be dope, custom built, and outfitted exactly to our liking. I may not be able to ride a bike like Mr. Moonhead, but I do now live 10 minutes away, door-to-door, and this may or may not mean that I am in the market for a badass scooter… I’m thinking matte black with some flames. It’s also in stark contrast to former jobs that were amazing, but too far away. I’m still licking the wounds of hour-long commutes by car… one way.
The future looks very bright for MadisonMott. It’s great to be home and I’m extremely excited for the start of this new chapter as I help lead the creative charge surrounded by friends and stuffing my face with tasty eats. In fact, I’m pretty hungry. Talk to you later, I gotta go snag a Bayou Beast.