17 Dec This was March. How are we feeling now?

See all those smiles? It was March 27. When “Virtual Happy Hours” were still new. We hadn’t yet grown tired of expressions like “you’re on mute,” “social distancing,” or “the new normal,” and we weren’t sure how long we would be adjusting to life during a pandemic. As we sit here 10 months later, reflecting on the year, there are three key words that now come to mind:
grateful, adaptable, and resilient.

2020 has been a year unlike any other we’ve experienced. There’s not a single person at our firm, or throughout the world, who hasn’t been impacted by the challenges of this year. From social justice issues, to polarizing politics, to the virus surging worldwide, it’s been a difficult year. As we’ve reflected as a firm, we have noted that in many ways this unique situation of being fully virtual, has in some ways actually brought us closer together. There are some of us with young children at home, elderly parents in our care, animals around us, or may be living alone. But all of us have done our best to balance life’s most important elements, helped each other through the challenges, and continue doing great work for our clients.

We’re grateful for the amazing group of people we have at K&A. 35 individuals who bring passion to their work every day and know what it means to be professional. It’s harder in 2020 to support each other from afar and to ensure we provide high quality services to our clients, but we have done it. We’re also extremely grateful for the ongoing trust our clients continue to place in us to help them communicate effectively about things that matter.

Being adaptable has become critical this year. In many cases we’ve had almost zero in-person contact with our clients and colleagues, relying on virtual meetings and phone calls to stay connected. Yet, despite these challenges, we’ve made amazing impacts on projects, held successful virtual open houses and events, designed incredible materials, videos and websites, improved some of our internal work practices, and reinforced the idea that while we are physically apart, the impact of public outreach and communications on people’s lives is no less meaningful then when we are face-to-face.

Last comes resilient. What began with this new world of working from home on a short-time basis, has become our current reality. With physical offices in San Diego, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, K&A has been, with only a few exceptions, one-hundred percent remote since March and will be for the foreseeable future. In doing so, we’ve demonstrated that no matter the challenge put before us, we can, and do, find solutions. We can improve during the process, and we promise to always deliver. K&A is a resilient team and after this year, will be adding resilient as one of the core values.

We are so proud to work with such a great team. Thank you to all our clients and friends for their continued support and trust and we wish you nothing but the very best this holiday season. Here’s to a great and slightly more normal 2021!

Cheers!