You know how, when the holidays start to come around, you start to get completely stressed about getting your holiday cards out? Sometimes, so much so that they don’t go out at all?!

That happened to me several years ago. 

Happy New Year in 2014

But I really really wanted to send a greeting out, so we ended up sending out a New Year’s e-card.

It featured “Sonja” (a cartoon version of me), “Birdie” (that you see in the SBC branding) and imagery/language that captured my dominant theme for that year.

Which people LOVED, b/c they were so over the holidays (LOL!). So I started doing this every year.

This past year, what with a ton of work + personal stuff going on, not even the NY card got sent out.

But I really really wanted to send a greeting out… so this year, we decided to instead do a Valentine’s Day e-card.

It’s still relatively early in the year, the weather outside is still pretty frightful (unless you’re in Hawai’i in which case talk to the hand ‘cos the face ain’t listenin’), and if V’Day isn’t a good time to send you some virtual love, I don’t know when is.

This year’s theme is… you.

Because to me, community is everything (which is why I don’t practice “PR” but strategize and teach pros about “Social PR“).

We can do really cool things on our own – yes. 

But to move from “good to great,” as it were, we need friends, we need colleagues, we need family, we need cheerleaders, we need mentors, we need teachers, we need students… and who are all those people if not community?

I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you are my community. And I hope you know that I am yours.

So with love from “Birdie” and me …

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Valentine's Day e-card from Shonali and the Birdie