A Brush With Celebrity

Coming across famous people in my work is nothing new. The mall where I held my first post-college job was home to the ice rink where Tonya Harding practiced — and she would "hide" from the media in our store. On moving to Florida, I nearly flattened Demi Moore one day at work, because I was carrying large cardboard box and couldn't see where I was going. A week later, I found myself working alongside Corbin Bersen — although I had no idea who he was or why everyone was so excited. Dan and I once shared a boat launch with someone we were convinced was Steven Spielberg. When you work where the world comes to play, these kinds of encounters are bound to happen, and in my case, you kind of quit caring about it.

For the past few months, one of my big work projects has been internal marketing for an in-house conference, featuring some big-name speakers. As a thank-you, I was invited to a private reception last week for the guest speakers and some of our executives (a very pleasant thank-you!). I walked into the room and saw four or five people I know... and Judy Shepard, someone who I greatly admire. Fortunately, all those years of glossing over the notion of celebrity paid off, and I didn't skip a beat. I repated the "smile, greet, don't freak out" scene about 20 minutes later, when Christopher Sieber — a real, live TV/Broadway actor! — walked in.

It was a great reception; I had the chance to chat with all the guest speakers (also including Wes Combs — I suppose somewhat less famous, but no less interesting to talk to). This made listening to their presentations the next day all the more enjoyable. Sometimes, there really can be perks of working here. <GRIN>