Meeting the Team Behind Medium

Photo by Trang Nguyen on Unsplash

Here I Go, Feet First

As I entered the old and iconic hotel located in Downtown Portland, my heart was racing, and my mind was begging my feet not to trip over themselves. The adrenaline wasn’t helping my nerves either. I couldn’t help but notice the awkward, nervous half-smile on my face. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t straighten it out. My nerves were locked and loaded, ready to betray any semblance of professionalism I had.

My invitation had been simple: to attend a panel discussion and enjoy a coffee and donut mixer afterward. Perfect, right up my alley-ish. The whole “in-person” thing made my nerves tingle. I’m great in a crowd and with strangers. But this crowd? This crowd’s accomplished and important. 

My Goal

My dad’s advice is to always walk into the room like you own the place or like you are the one everyone wants to talk to. Maybe that isn’t exactly how I wanted to make my entrance. My goal was to be myself, break the ice, and take the plunge into whatever this was going to be.

After all, I chickened out of the online pub crawl. Damn, Imposter Syndrome. I had to show up for this.

It’s just that I am new. Taking this step to become a writer has only been a dream until recently. It has been an enormous life turn, and I’ve barely touched my toes in the pool yet. I am nervous, but I’m also excited. 

I only want to produce something worth reading for people who love words that change—words that change our minds or compel us to reach farther, harder, smarter, and wiser. It’s a good challenge—one that will push me closer to my Dharma, as I understand it. Will others find value in my work?

No matter what elevation of that journey I have yet to reach, I’m climbing. We all are. Here I go, then.

The Big Time

The room was full of pockets of people talking and laughing as if they had all known each other forever. Am I somehow the one writer here who’s not in some club or guild? Have I missed something? I knew no one. A friendly smile invited me to take a seat wherever I wanted. Copy that.

Everyone seemed deeply engaged with one another. My scant ability picked up on French spoken in a group beside me. I have got to be out of my league here. There are people from all over the world, how beautiful. This is Big Time. How on Earth did I get invited to this room? 

I sat in a big, comfortable armchair beside another person sitting alone. Thank goodness for her willingness to chit-chat.

Little Bee, Big Hive

The panel was great. Scott Lamb, Medium’s VP of Content, started by asking the writers in the room to raise a hand. Writers? Like writers for the platform, or…? The rows of people in front of me simultaneously turned around, none raising hands. I turned around, too, seeing one hand raised in the back. Was I supposed to raise my hand? What the hell am I doing? 

I loved how Debra Harman, MEd, EIC of Parasol Publications, brought genuine laughs and invaluable insight. She made the room feel much smaller as if we were all sitting at a table enjoying a drink and eating good food amongst friends. What a gift. 

It turns out the event was for the Medium team—talented people from all over the planet collaborating at this event. I was lucky enough to be a bee on the wall of something much bigger than I imagined.

And come on with those donuts…only in Portland—total works of art.

Before I knew it, the event was over. The few people I had been lucky enough to meet made me wish I had had more time to meet everyone. Each person presented the face of the company with such grace and class. I left feeling legitimately star-struck and empowered.

My Take-Away

What spoke to me the most is that this is a group of working people—intelligent, hard-working people who have the same goals as we writers: to create an impact on others. 

Many of us writers are putting everything out there—our most intimate pieces of our souls, lives, and work—stories and articles that accumulate years and years of our life educations, heartaches, and triumphs. This is not to be taken lightly. 

They are doing the same without the spotlight or the claps, humbly from behind the scenes. How lucky are we to have a whole team of talented, qualified people creating a platform for us to achieve our goals and success? 

You know what, all my fellow writers on Medium? We are in excellent hands.

Thank you, Medium Team, for your generous hospitality. I’m grateful I was in the same place on the planet at the same time as you, if only for a moment. Please stay the course. You have done much more than you may know for us out here in the great, wide world of human expression through written language.

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Find out more about my journey on my About Me page.

You can also join me and other brilliant authors on Medium.