Employee Spotlight: Meet Derick | Event Coordinator

If you hadn't noticed, we love our team here at WorkCast and want the world to know how great each member is. We spend so much of our lives at work, so we're really lucky that we get to spend it with fabulous people that make every day a laughathon. 

In our latest Employee Spotlight, we caught up with Derick, one of our Event Coordinators, who spilled the tea on what it's like working at WorkCast and how he's kept busy during lockdown. 

Tell us about your role at WorkCast?

I am an Event Coordinator - that faceless voice our clients hear whenever they log into another webinar! I am responsible, alongside my brilliant teammates, for all the activities encompassed by event delivery: establishing rapport with the clients, assessing what the nature of the webinar is, chasing details and media, and conducting rehearsals and pre-records prior to the main event. Most important of all, my biggest duty is to make sure presenters are comfortable and ready to spend an hour of their day enlightening people from all over the world about different topics!

Describe a typical day for you at WorkCast

This is a constant of sorts here at WorkCast: no two days are the same. But first - and my manager Vicky will 500% agree with me - I need coffee to be fully prepared for my day! After I have had at least two cups you will find me running pre-records, rehearsals or events, chasing media for the events, and planning for the weeks to come (spoiler alert: it's always busy! So lots of preparation involved every week). 

What is your favorite thing about WorkCast?

Without a shadow of a doubt: the people! We have such a good time working together, all of us! We are very good at working as a team and helping each other whenever needed. There is a lot of synergy going on in our office! One of my favorite things to do is to come up with random questions and topics of conversation for us to discuss during our spare time. It always ends with us (mainly me) tearing up a bit due to extreme laughter!

What is your top tip for someone who is planning their first online event?

Take your time to think carefully about what it is you want to do: what message do you want to convey? How do you want to do it? The customer journey at WorkCast is much more than just ticking boxes, we really want to understand what the client needs and how we can transform that into one of our brilliant webinars! From the very start until the very end, there are qualified people to help you throughout the whole journey!

Now for a little bit about 'out-of-office' Derick...

If you had to describe yourself in three words, what would they be?

For those of you who do not know me, I was born and brought up in Brazil so the very first one would be 'Brazilian'. That encompasses a LOT! I am loud, buoyant, and always up for a good laugh. 

The second one would be 'adventurous'. I left Brazil three years ago and embarked on the biggest adventure of my life: living in different places, meeting new people, new cultures, and new languages. I'm a free spirit so there's nothing I like more than that!

The third one is 'friendly'. This is mainly due to my upbringing (Brazilians tend to be very warm towards everyone) but I absolutely love to make new friends and harbor good relationships. I love making people laugh and having a good time. It brings a lot of joy to my day when someone laughs from a joke I told or when a friend sends me a text with a song or memory that made them think of me!

If you could pick one song to be the soundtrack to your life, what would it be?

'Saudosismo' by Gal Costa – the title of this song comes from the Portuguese word 'Saudade' which doesn’t really translate to English but means a state of deep longing for someone, a place, or a situation. I have loved Bossa Nova since I was a little Kid, and Gal Costa is my all-time favorite singer – and this song reminds me of sunny days back in Brazil!

Give it a listen here. 

And if you had to choose someone to narrate your life, who would it be?

It would be Florence Welch from Florence + the Machine – or as I like to call her, God. Or RuPaul, I live for mamma Ru’s witty remarks!

2020 has been at least 36 months long, how have you passed the time during lockdowns?

I feel like I’ve been stuck in 2020 for at least half a decade *cries internally* so basically what I did was: read 70 books since March (my goodreads is living proof of that); I managed to finished my MA thesis (I study the geopolitics of emotions – sounds clever but most times when I read about it I’m like “WUT”); I am a coffee and beer person so I made it my personal objective to try as many different types of coffee and beer as I could during lockdown, and it was 200% WORTH IT! I’ve also binge watched loads of series including all seasons of RuPaul; The Office; Warrior Nun; Grey’s Anatomy *PAGE CARDIO* and Ratched).

If you had the opportunity to broadcast one message to everyone in the world, what would you say?

'If you can't love yourself how the hell are you gonna love somebody else? Can I get an amen in here?'.