Going to the Pillow is like coming home

I’ve just spent the last few days at Jacob’s Pillow…

…listening to choreographers and dance scholars share about their work and watching a dizzying number of performances.

Going to the Pillow is like coming home.

I imagine most dancers feel this way, because of the festival’s 90+ year history. It’s hallowed ground.

But it’s also the place where I lived for an entire summer in 2008. This is where I started my career 👇

This tiny desk, and that boxy computer. A cramped, overheated space in an attic office next to the Ted Shawn Theatre.

In my press and editorial internship, I wrote performance programs and edited historical and contextual program notes. I drafted press releases and weighed in on poster designs. I proofread fliers and bickered over word choice and greeted the press and manned phones in the box office.

I sorted physical copies of newspaper mentions. (Old school.)

I also made lifelong friendships and joined an incredible community that has supported and cheered me on in every career move since.

​At Jacob’s Pillow, I began to understand what I wanted to do professionally—I wanted to help connect audiences with passionate and thoughtful creative work. I wanted to create inspirational and educational content that could break down barriers and set expectations and introduce new experiences.

I honestly didn’t even know the word for it at the time, but it turns out, I wanted to be a marketer.

Now, many years later, I’m thrilled to be doing just that. And to have a continued relationship with Jacob’s Pillow consulting on digital strategy and managing social media.

Do you ever look back at one moment in your life and say: “That’s when it started”??

Not: “That’s when I figured it out.” Because I’m not sure we ever do. We grow, we evolve, we learn, adapt and swerve in new directions…

But when it started. My summer at Jacob’s Pillow is when it started for me.

When did it start for you?