Social media guru Gaby Indellini: ‘I have more confidence in my work now than ever’

Greater Wilmington Convention & Visitors Bureau social media specialist Gaby Indellini has to keep everything organized both online and offline. Indellini recently taught a workshop with Girl Develop It on how she handles the online portion of her work life, but here’s a little about how the ex-reality TV casting agent handles the real-life portion of her days.

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(Transcript has been edited for clarity.)
What’s the first thing you do every day before doing any job-related work?
I’m up and out of the house by 6:15 a.m. almost every morning to go to the gym. I do Crossfit about twice a week, and then a regular gym workout twice a week. It’s been tremendously helpful for my mental health. I can get overwhelmed and stressed out with all the work I take on, both in and out of my office, and working out in the morning really helps me get an energized and productive start to my day.
How often do you check your email and do you use any program to get to ‘Inbox Zero’?
Inbox Zero doesn’t exist in my world, I check my email pretty regularly. I use Outlook at work and Gmail at home. I do, however, have everything separated into folders. I’m a known email-hoarder, but I refer to old emails often especially for my freelance work, so I will probably never know what Inbox Zero is – which, really, is fine. I don’t think it interferes with my productivity.
What’s a unique aspect of your work style?
I’ve had a few jobs where I could work from home and I’ve always preferred to be in my office. Especially working downtown at the Visitors Bureau, there’s information I’d miss if I wasn’t in the office or events I wouldn’t have known about if I hadn’t bumped into someone in Rodney Square or walking down the street. I like the collective hive mind that comes from being in a group of people. I also really dislike “productivity tools.” I get more done with calendar reminders, a purple Sharpie and pad of paper than I ever do with any kind of app.
What’s your gear?
For work at the Visitors Bureau, I have your basic Windows computer with three giant monitors that make up my Wilmington command center. At home, I’ve got a MacBook Air. I also often use my iPhone 6 and CamRah iPhone camera lenses, and of course, my Wilmington & The Brandywine Valley-branded selfie-stick. Holding your phone up for an entire press conference is exhausting, and the selfie stick is clutch for my 5’3 self. As far as programs I use – Hootsuite for Twitter, Later.com for Instagram and do all my Facebook work natively in the platform.
What’s one way in which you believe your day-to-day work is better now than it has been? Is there something you do now (or don’t do) that you didn’t do before (or did) that has made a big difference?
I think I have more confidence in my work now than ever. I’ve worked really hard to get to a point where I feel like I genuinely know what I’m talking about and don’t have to fake it. Having this confidence allows me to take on bigger projects that take a lot more planning – whereas before, I would have shied away from the big stuff and preferred to keep it simple, to be sure I was doing everything right.