Name: Amber Naslund
Age: 33
Current City: Chicago, IL
Job Title: Director of Community
Company Name: Radian6
Length of Time in this Role: 6 months-ish
Web Site: Radian 6
Blog: Altitude Branding
Twitter : @ambercadabra

Mopwater escribe your path to PR. How did you wind up in this field?
AN: Accidental! I was a music performance major (flute) in college, and have worked in non-profit fund development, corporate marketing, and as an independent consultant. I’m not a formally trained marketer, rather I’d like to think I’m a communicator and connector.

Mopwater: What aspects of the industry are you most excited about?
AN: The potential for social media to break down internal boundaries within companies, and bring out the best of marketing, PR, customer service and product management. I’m excited about how it gives the community a voice, but I think it’s really bringing businesses back to the tenets of doing good work that’s based in very basic principles.

Mopwater: Describe a typical workday including your work hours. What do you do all day?
AN: Woo. Well, I work on average 9 to 12 hours a day, but that’s often split up into chunks. I spend my days creating content, engaging with our customers on social sites (mostly Twitter and blogs), creating ideas to better support our community, and traveling all over to events to meet all these people face to face.

Mopwater: Describe your office setting and workplace.
AN: My favorite new term for how I work: “workshifting”. I work remotely for my Canadian-based company out of my home office in Chicago, and from hotels, airports, and events wherever I happen to be.

Mopwater: What are your favorite and least favorite PR tasks and why? Do you love to pitch? Dread writing releases? Adore blogging for your brands?
AN: I can’t really answer this like a PR pro, because I’m not. I love creating great media and great content. It’s exciting when we can develop something
that’s really useful for our community. But my favorite part of my job by FAR is the people connection. That’s what it’s all for, after all.

Mopwater: Who are some of your (or your organization’s) clients, and what kind of projects do you take on for these clients?
AN: Our company works with corporate and enterprise brands as well as advertising, marketing and PR agencies. We not only provide them with our listening platform, but we try and help them embrace best practices in social media strategy, listening, and engagement with their communities.

Mopwater: What is your favorite thing about this job?
AN: Meeting amazing people, and the fact that my relationships, friendships, and business are no longer bound by geography.

Mopwater: Do you think you’ll be in this position in 5 years?
AN: I sure hope so, or doing something similar. This kind of job was tailor-made for me.

Mopwater: If you could work on any PR or marketing project of your choosing, what would it be?
AN: I can’t wait to really dig into building a destination community for our users, fans, and customers. Not just “another” site where you park a profile, but really a place that’s rich with in-depth information and resources for people, both that we provide and that our community creates. I’m a big fan of giving stuff away relentlessly, and I love seeing the excitement of people collaborating on creating really rich, worthwhile information to share.