"CONGRATULATIONS"
9:22am // Monday morning // late July
I'm seated at my makeshift desk in my tiny home office, which is really my bedroom. I procrastinate through my morning social media posts as I sip my coffee. Quite the normal morning, until I glance at my lit up phone and see a Gmail notification with the subject line: "CONGRATULATIONS"
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Yesterday morning, I got the email notification that I've been selected as the first ever White Claw Best Life Ambassador. What all that means is that White Claw – a large US based Spiked-Seltzer brand– is giving me $60,000 to travel for 6 months around the US. They just want me to provide adventurous, lifestyle content associated with their brand. Below I'm going to outline the timeline of how this came to be but first I will just reflect on how I've been feeling since I found out.
So, after seeing the subject line and that the email was from White Claw, my heart immediately started racing. I opened the email as fast as I could and the first line read something like, "We're thrilled to inform you that you've been selected as our first-ever White Claw Ambassador!" I initially couldn't believe it (and still am processing it) because I was honestly so prepared to not get it. I didn't want to get my hopes up before hearing because I always do that and get let down. However, this time, It went my way! Following the realization that I had really won, I put on loud music (the song "Drive" by Ben Rector) and jumped around for a bit– during which I ripped my shorts due to the jumping. I then drove over to my parents and told them, told my friends and siblings, and then posted an Instagram live video sharing the news with everyone else.
I'm still processing how I feel and what this will mean for my life. I'm hoping it will set me up to do more sponsorship/influencer work in the future but who knows? I'm also thinking a lot about the actual reality of what I need to plan out – all the flights, trips, etc. I'm very excited, but that excitement has given way to feeling slightly overwhelmed. I'm going to take tomorrow to really think everything out, get the paperwork in order and start to plan.
Anyway, I will definitely share so much more about this as it progresses, but for now, I'll just post a general timeline of when this all started to now:
TIMELINE:
March-ish 2018 (i think...?): I somehow hear about this White Claw Contest for a ton of money to travel, and apply. To apply, I just needed to share links to my social presence, a photo of myself, and a 250 word blurb about what my Best Life would look like/how I'm living my best life. I vaguely remember writing a bit about my philosophy on life – how many of my friends went the corporate route but that wasn't for me and how I think our society is really off balance with all the wrong things prioritized.
June 2018: I get an email notification that I've been selected as one of 5 male finalists out of thousands for the White Claw Best Life Contest. I read all about it and then remember having applied months before. I share the news with my family (since we were on family vacation) and buy a bunch of White Claw to try (raspberry was the unanimous favorite flavor. I submitted some paperwork for a background check and releases, etc. and then was told I'd be notified about a skype interview.
Mid-July 2018: I have my skype interview and am asked about a variety of things related to travel and my life. Had a nice time talking to the great people running the contest, but wasn't sure how the interview went. I felt like I said most of what I wanted to but was certainly not sure if I had won them over.
Yesterday (last Monday of July 2018): I received word that I was chosen!