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21 Questions with Terri Carlson, Bluetrain’s Digital Marketing Strategist

Terri Carlson

I was fortunate enough to sit down with the newest addition to the team, Terri Carlson. We are excited to have Terri on board as our Digital Marketing Specialist. Learn more about her below!

1. RB: Where did you grow up?
TC: I grew up in a tiny community in BC called Paul Lake. It’s about 30 mins outside Kamloops – which isn’t the prettiest but Paul Lake is pretty. Kamloops is like a desert but Paul Lake is this gorgeous lake in the middle of nowhere.

2. RB: What did you like most about growing up in Paul Lake?
TC: We were kind of like free-range kids because my parents were giant hippies. When I was a kid I wanted to live in the suburbs where all my friends lived but now that I’m older I appreciate that we got kicked out of the house on weekend and got told to come back for dinner – whereas a lot of kids these days can’t even walk to school.

3. RB: Any siblings?
TC: Yes, one older sister named Paula. She is an assistant speech therapist for children with disabilities.

4. RB: What words would your family use to describe you?
TC: Loud. Pretty outgoing. Talks too much. Haha!
RB: That’s not a bad thing.
TC: Sometimes it is.
RB: If your foot ends up in your mouth I think it can be a bad thing.
TC: That is my constant state of being.
(Both laugh)

5. RB: What is your family like?
TC: They’re a bunch of hippies.
RB: Haha!
TC: My dad is a big hippy and is very opinionated. He totally wanted a boy when I was first born so he kind of taught me how to be a boy – he taught me how to do all the work on my car and I’d always go skiing with him. He’s a very obsessive guy where he’ll get an idea in his head – like years ago it was trees (he’s a carpenter) so one year it took us like nine hours to get from Vancouver to Kamloops because we’d have to stop and look at all the trees.
RB: Haha! So he’s quite outdoorsy?
TC: Oh yes, he’s super outdoorsy! And my mom is crazy. She loves a good gin and tonic. She’s been retired for the last 10 years so that’s been enjoyable for her. If you come over, she’s one of those people who will ask you 4,000 times if you’re hungry and she’ll just want to feed you.
RB: Awesome!

6. RB: How would you describe your family’s heritage?
TC: Norwegian and French but none of us can speak the languages. We’d like to get over to Norway in the next couples years though.
RB: You’ve never been?
TC: No. We’ve been to France but have no relatives over there and have heaps of relatives in Norway.

7. RB: What were your career aspirations when you were a kid?
TC: I was always good at writing and always wanted to write so that’s why I’ve sort of morphed a bit – I still do a lot of writing which is good and I started my career in content creation and writing so it’s kind of worked out.

8. RB: What made you decide to apply to Bluetrain?
TC: I had previously been working in-house for startups and charities so I felt like I had an okay range of experience in terms of industries, but Bluetrain represented the ability to jump around in different industries, get experience everywhere and then also a brand new/good amount of skills that I’ve learned here so far.

9. RB: What do you think about the world of digital marketing?
TC: I think it’s a bit of good and a bit of bad. There’s a lot of opportunity and a lot of  potential to do some really cool things. But with that, I think there are also a lot of people out there who leverage their digital knowledge and try to take advantage of other ‘not so tech-savvy’ people. That’s one of the reasons why I chose to work with Bluetrain: Bryan and Shauna were upfront very early on that they take the Bluetrain value of ‘integrity’ seriously — I love that.

10. RB: What do you take away from your past work experience that you’ll apply to your current position at Bluetrain?
TC: Working in startups and charities with limited budgets meant that I had to be a ‘jack of all trades’; I had to learn new skills quickly and not be afraid to try new things or platforms. So far, that’s been really useful with my clients at Bluetrain – I love tossing around new ideas with clients. It’s another opportunity for us to learn more and discover something that could be really great.

11. RB: Do you have your own personal blog?
TC: I do! I spent last summer working in a remote Northern BC provincial park, so I wrote all about that. While I was there, we got stuck in the middle of fire season and had to evacuate 350 people out by foot from this massive park over three days. So the video and the story that I wrote about the evacuation and the fires ended up on CBC.ca which was pretty cool. The blog was all about being living outside of my element since I went from working in the city in marketing to then living in a cabin in the middle of the woods without internet or cell phone reception – it was definitely a learning experience. I’d also like to start another one that is all about moving to Edmonton. I feel like there are so many cool things that people don’t know about when they think about Edmonton.
RB: Very cool! Let us know when you get that going.

12. RB: Favourite food?
TC: Anything Indian.
RB: Any favourite Indian restaurants?
TC: Khazana downtown!

13. RB: Apparently the office is divided on the next question… Mushrooms or olives?
TC: I like both! Love me a lot of mushrooms and a lot of olives. I am the opposite of a picky eater. I will inhale most foods!
RB: There’s just so much good food out there!

14. RB: What do you do for fun?
TC: Working in BC last summer reminded me how much I love being outdoors. After five years of working in offices, it was an awesome reminder to balance it out. I love hiking and canoeing. My dad and I are planning a week-long canoe trip this summer.
RB: Fun!
TC: So yeah, outdoor stuff when I can afford it.
(Both laugh)

15. RB: What do you do to relax?
TC: Yoga, meditation – heaps of meditation nowadays. When I travelled for a year around southeast Asia and did a lot of meditation courses and a silent meditation course for 10 day which is crazy for someone who is so loud and fast and talks all the time.
RB: You did a vipassana?
TC: Yeah!
RB: You did the full 10 days?!
TC: Well, I’ve actually done 30 days because I’ve done three altogether. It was crazy.
RB: Could you also not write, listen to music, or anything?
TC: You can’t write, can’t listen to music, can’t read, can’t do nothing.
RB: You did the full shebang!
TC: Yeah, the full shebang.

16. RB: What is your guilty pleasure?
TC: True Crime. Which is terrible and a very old lady thing to do but that’s what makes it funny.
RB: Oh yeah?
TC: Yeah, I actually made the mistake of sharing all my books with my mom and all her friends and realized it’s a very middle aged white lady thing to indulge in. It’s funny because they’re so cute and innocent and they’ll all obsess over my Ted Bundy book which is super weird.
RB: Well that’s nice you have something to share with your mom now…
TC: Yeah, serial killers. Haha!

17. RB: Favourite book or movie?
TC: On the lighter side, one of my favourite movies is Stranger Than Fiction with Will Ferrell. The other one is Silence of the Lambs.
RB: Crazy! That’s a cult classic but you’re braver than I am.

18. RB: Summer or winter?
TC: Used to be winter but then I moved to New Zealand and got spoiled so now I’m a summer baby.
RB: So you’ll be very happy when it warms up here!
TC: Plus, everyone keeps saying, “YOU WILL LOVE EDMONTON IN THE SUMMER!”
RB: This is true!

19. RB: Tea or Coffee?
TC: Coffee! Always. When I was in Australia I only drank tea for like a year but then when I went to New Zealand and worked in a coffee shop, I’d drink like seven piccolos, which are like tiny little lattes, a day.
RB: That’s awesome you can handle so much caffeine! Do you sleep okay?
TC: I go to sleep at like 9 pm.
RB: Amazing!

20. RB: Another important question – cupcakes or cookies?
TC: Neither!
RB: What do you like instead?
TC: Just give me a mound of curry or cheese.
RB: Haha!
TC: I’m not much for a sweet tooth. I can appreciate good baking but I’m mostly not interested.

21. RB: Speaking of cupcakes or cookies – when is your birthday?
TC: Same day as Bryan’s! July 13th.

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