a personal rambling by @brysonwhite. While I’ve tried to keep my posts as much about you (and Utah) and as little about me as possible, today I can’t resist.
Yesterday, my wife (@misskristywhite) and I made a pretty big decision. We will be moving to New York City this fall while she attends graduate school at New York University (yeah, she’s kind of a smart girl). This decision has been a long time in the making.
In May 2010 we both graduated from Utah State University (she studied social work, I studied entrepreneurship and economics). It was always her plan to pursue a master’s degree right after school. She applied to 7 different graduate programs and was accepted at six of those including Columbia University, NYU, and a bunch of other fancy schools. The only school she did not get into was the University of Washington in Seattle.
Somehow, through a crazy chain of events (some might call it fate) we ended up scratching all of our plans and moving to Seattle anyway. I took a job with a rapidly growing startup called Banyan Branch. Banyan Branch is a pure social media agency. We develop and implement social media strategies on behalf of some of the largest brands in the world, including FOX, Viacom, Gilt Groupe, and a host of other household names that I’m not permitted to tell you about due to confidentiality clauses 🙂 Needless to say, it has been a fantastic experience and I have learned a hell of a lot.
Meanwhile, my brilliant wife has been slaving away at a clothing store making just over minimum wage. Our big plan was that she would reapply to the University of Washington with a much stronger resume and essay due to a summer gig we had in Kenya right after graduation (before moving to Seattle, we spent summer 2010 in the Kenyan bush while she conducted research on AIDS and women’s rights. I worked on a few microfinance projects). But that still wasn’t enough for the old UW and she was ultimately not offered admission to the program. Fortunately, we had already braced ourselves for this news by keeping her NYU admission active. And as disappointing as it was to not get in at the University of Washington, we are absolutely stoked to move to Manhattan (sorry Seattle, it’s been great).
Some more good news is that we’re looking at spending the summer in Utah before moving to New York! School doesn’t start for my lovely lady until September so we’d like to save some $$ before the big move and also reacquaint ourselves with some family and friends in Utah (not to mention the fact that my wife LOVES her current retail job and would LOVE to continue working evenings and weekends all summer #sarcasm). Our other option is to spend the summer in Jackson Hole, where I previously worked as a whitewater raft guide for five glorious years. It pays good money and is obviously a fantastic way to spend a summer. But right now, we’re really hoping to make it to Utah for the summer.
Either way, I’ll at least be making a few visits to Utah and can’t wait to meet you all through tweet-ups, lunches, and other events (missing Mark Zuckerberg’s appearance at BYU – and the ensuing breakfast meetup – remains one of the biggest disappointments of my life).
And now for the self-promotion: if we do end up in Utah, I’ll be looking for a temporary job/ contract work (I wish I would have applied for the #tigerblood internship with @charliesheen and @scottcowley). If you have any leads, openings, connections, or even funny jokes, please send them my way. They don’t even have to pay all that well. I’m interested in anything social media, marketing, or startup related (find me on Linkedin if you have anything you’d like to share. You can also reach me by email here).
So my friends, I hope to see you shortly. Thanks for reading and for making social media happen in the great state of Utah. Here’s to the summer of 2011!
the hungry hive 
Posted on April 16, 2011 by brysonwhite
0