Meet Paitra

We’ve all come to Open Eye from diverse backgrounds. What are some of your career or personal highlights to date?

I definitely have a few from different aspects of my life! I have been a social media manager and digital marketer for several businesses and non-profit organizations; I really love when I have the opportunity to spread awareness about something that helps another person. Whether that be useful information for people to use in their businesses, health-related topics, or meaningful causes, it is very empowering for me to be able to do that.

My main career outside of social media is music. A very big highlight of mine is having the opportunity to have worked alongside talented people to record my debut album. I’m currently in the process of putting together a release plan and it has been super exciting for me!

In terms of personal highlights, I have been so much better at practicing self-care and being kinder to myself. This has made a very impactful difference on my mental health and really makes me appreciate the little things in each day.

What does a really good workday look like for you?

I wake up around 7:30am and see the sun peeking through my window, then I love to do a workout first thing so I can start my day with movement. After I shower and get ready, I make a delicious breakfast and coffee then sit at my desk to focus. I like to listen to instrumental music and focus for a few hours while creating meaningful content to share. It is such a bonus for me when I get to talk to people about projects throughout the day, especially when we can hop on a video call and see each other. During my lunchtime, I walk to a cafe near me to work for the rest of the afternoon; it is so nice to be surrounded by other remote workers, it really gets me in the zone! Days like this make me feel so satisfied and fulfilled.

We are big goal-setters here as you know. What is a goal that you have for 2023, and how are you making it happen?

Since I am the social media manager for all of Open Eye’s social accounts, I want to make sure that we are consistently sharing a variety of content. I really love to be on top of things, and I am a very big fan of scheduling ahead of time, so my goal for 2023 is to have content scheduled at least three weeks in advance. To make this happen, I have organized a social media calendar on Asana to follow. I have already managed to be three weeks ahead, and now it is setting myself up for success and maintaining that goal for 2023.

Like so many of our experts who have side passions, we’ve learnt that yours is singing and songwriting. How do you think this skill has made you a better storyteller when telling the brand story of your clients?

Ouh I love this! When I write songs, I want to be able to communicate something specific with each line; whether that be an emotion, a setting, a person, or anything. I want the listener to be able to feel, understand, and visualize what it is I’m singing about.

I use this same type of headspace when telling the brand story of one of my clients. I want the reader to be able to really understand who the brand is and why they are doing what they do. I want the reader to understand the values of the brand so that they feel inclined to connect.

Part of The Open Eye Way is to listen to our clients more than we speak. Why is this important?

I believe that this is very important because we want our clients to be heard. They are people with needs, and we want them to feel understood so that they know that when working with Open Eye, they are in good hands. The client knows their business best and when we listen more than we speak, we’ll be able to create a stronger relationship with them and carry out the tasks needed to meet their goals.

How do you maintain a healthy work-life balance? What do you love to do in your spare time?

I am a very busy person and balancing everything can feel overwhelming sometimes. I find that creating as much structure as I can in my weekly routine is what helps me. I like to devote specific days and time blocks each week to working with my clients instead of working sporadically. In my spare time, I love to do activities that make me reconnect with myself and the people that I care about. I like to go on walks and catch up with friends/family on the phone, paint or draw, see live music, play my piano and sing, meet up with friends for dinner, or cook a meal with my roommate.

Our experts bring their rich experiences to each client engagement. Describe a failure and what you learnt from it.

A failure I experienced early in my social media management career was not speaking up with past clients when I should have. I didn’t have the confidence to express my thoughts on certain strategies, projects, or processes that I didn’t believe in. This avoidant behaviour led to unfulfillment for me stemming from a lack of belief in the work I was doing. Once I started communicating more, I found myself building stronger relationships and understanding more about my strengths and obstacles, and my work output significantly improved and clients were happier in return. This really helped me to grow.

Community building takes time and virality is rare. What other learnings and misconceptions about community building and engagement have you encountered with your clients?

In terms of building community on social media for businesses, I have learned that everybody is different when it comes to the type of content they like to engage with. Some people prefer matter-of-fact information, some want to know the behind-the-scenes, and some just want to feel inspired. It’s so important to share a variety of content because you want to be able to reach as many people as possible. If a wide range of people aren’t connecting with what you are doing, then they won’t join your community. Also spending time to engage with other accounts is crucial to your engagement! You want people to recognize that you are active in your community and are eager to meet everyone.

Last one! What are your latest binge-watches?

I don’t actually watch a lot of television BUT a few months ago I did binge all of ‘House of the Dragon’ and ‘Handmaid’s Tale.’ I spend more time on YouTube binge-watching videos on bands from the ’60s and ’70s, or people renovating houses. I love to watch people accomplish great things!

Thank you, Paitra! We’re so happy you’re here.