Premier Social Media is moving to Albany! and I am excited about the new opportunities this will bring.  Exploring new lands, living new adventures, building new partnerships are all things that make me jump up and down.  However all this excitement is shadowed by the sadness of leaving my beloved Rochester.

We’re moving for personal reasons since my husband became the Director of Emergency Preparedness for the New York Department of Health.  Otherwise I would have never left this community.  Rochester welcomed me with warm and open arms in a moment of great transition in my life.  Those of you who know my story, remember that I came here on a sabbatical from the United Nations and here I am now, three years later running a fun business.  I am extremely grateful to High Tech Rochester (HTR) who believed in my first social media projects before even I thought they were worth a penny.  The support and the coaching I received from Terry Gronwall, Rami Katz, David Hessler and later Jim Senall got me to where I am now.  I also thank the entrepreneur community, specially the Simone Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at RIT.  Jerry Mahoney and Richard DeMartino taught me the true passion of entrepreneurship.  To NAWBO and my dear entrepreneur friends and often crying shoulders July Klie, Kelly Mullaney, Jonna Martin, Sitima Flower, and so many others who have made this city a home for me and my business.

After a lot of discussions, negotiations and team work, I am proud to report that all 17 engineers will be able to stay with the company.  Ten colleagues will be moving with me to Albany where partnerships are being built with the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the New York’s Tech Valley.  The other seven will telecommute from Rochester and come to our monthly meetings.  Slowly we will try to move specific projects to the group that will stay in Rochester in order to have better synergies concentrated in the area.  The group will decide its direction and of course, I will keep you informed.

On a practical level, I will move closer to many clients from New York City and Boston.  However, the Rochester Airport made it so easy to travel to my largest clients in Arkansas, Orlando and Washington.  I still have to study the flight schedules at the Albany Airport, just hope that it has such a dynamic schedule.

Please pray for Premier Social Media, this small company with big dreams. So that we can bring the best of ourselves in this moment of transition.