The Gong Blog

Topic: HodgePodge

Brendan King, Eric Kolenich and Ian Stewart play Publish or Pass during HodgesCon 2023.

HodgesCon 2023 recap: Enneagram, innovation, creative thinking – oh my! 

Our annual agency day of learning returned this fall and, wow, it was a good one. HodgesCon was born last year as a result of our teammates sharing their desire to learn, but without the time to focus on expanding their knowledge base. This year, the HodgesCon planning committee reviewed topic areas and feedback from last year’s event to come up with this amazing line-up:  We’re left with fuzzy pink monster ball and a handful of post-it notes that we’ll probably never remove from light…

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Building Confidence in Your First Internship: Five Tips to Tackle Imposter Syndrome

Have you ever experienced that gnawing, anxious voice in your head – a voice that continuously doubts your abilities despite all your hard work and triumphs? You aren’t alone. If you haven’t had the sorrow of being acquainted yet, let me introduce you to a sneaky little concept called imposter syndrome. Merriam-Webster defines imposter syndrome as “a psychological condition that is characterized by persistent doubt concerning one’s abilities or accomplishments accompanied by the fear of being exposed as a fraud despite evidence of one’s ongoing…

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Basket of baseballs with Gong mallet laying on top

A lesson in perseverance: Gil Hodges is in the Hall of Fame

By the time you are reading this, Gil Hodges – our agency namesake – will have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. The old saying “good things come to those who wait” seems especially appropriate. Gil’s 18-season playing career ended on May 5, 1963 at the Polo Grounds. Gil trotted out to his familiar territory at first base, starting the second game of a Sunday doubleheader against the Giants. He would go 1-4 in his valedictory game, driving in what turned…

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Basket of baseballs with Gong mallet laying on top

Hodges is hiring a digital strategist; are you looking for a new career?

If you looked for “digital strategist” jobs on LinkedIn this morning, you probably saw listings more than 16,000 positions across the country. Well, we’ve added one new job listing to that total as we look to expand our social media marketing and content marketing within our agency. Here is the link to the job description with details on how to apply. That tells you everything you really need to know, but as the account director who is helping shape the digital direction at Hodges, here’s…

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Pastel-colored balloons

Our nonprofit storytelling platform, The Phil, turns one

When I was a new dad, a popular book among neophyte parents was Heidi Murkoff’s What to Expect Your First Year, a monthly guidepost that alternatively provided bouts of pride and anxiety, depending on how our babies fared against what was generally anticipated to be the norm. The truth was, there was really no preparing us for that scary, exhausting and magical year. As we celebrate the one-year anniversary of The Phil, the same can be said of those of us who have been along…

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Anna Freisen headshot

Meet A Hodger: Anna Friesen

Creative whiz. Francophone. Bibliophile. Foodie. These are just a few words that describe one of our newest Hodgers, and as you’ve probably already guessed, she fits right in. When she isn’t switching careers and moving cities, you can find this Hokie alumna exploring her new neighborhood (looks like Cam isn’t the only Hodger representing Carytown these days), reading a good book or chowing down on all things buffalo chicken. Yep, you heard that right. Whether it’s in the form of wings, pizza or the ever-iconic…

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Headshot of Michaela Mishoe

Meet a Hodger: Michaela Mishoe

Today we welcome one of THP’s newest account coordinators, Michaela Mishoe. Michaela hails from NoVa – Springfield, to be specific – and is adding to our contingent of VCU Rams. After earning her degree in public relations, she went to the Big Apple to start her career. Lucky for us, she decided to come back to take her next career step. We sat down with Michaela Mishoe to learn a little bit more about one of our newest teammates. Why did you choose a career…

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Morgan Edwards headshot

Meet a Hodger: Morgan Edwards

Although he was born and raised in Goochland County to the west of the city, Morgan Edwards  considers himself a Richmonder at heart. Growing up on a farm brings some serenity, but around the time he turned 10, he and his family relocated and left farm life behind. He came to the city to become a Ram, and now he’s bringing that same spitfire VCU spirit to our agency. If you haven’t already, meet Morgan Edwards. Why did you decide on a career in PR?…

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Inc. Best Workplaces 2021 text over a transparent blue background with a table at Hodges with T, H, P in brand letters aligned in a row

Inc.’s 2021 Best Workplaces honors

When Josh Dare and I started The Hodges Partnership, it’s not like we said to ourselves, “Hey let’s create one of the best workplaces in America.” But 19 years later, the email came in from Inc. Magazine congratulating us for just that. We’re proud to announce that our public relations/marketing firm of 16 Hodgers is included in this year’s list of Best Workplaces from Inc., sort of the bible of small companies, start-ups, innovators and entrepreneurs. We are one of 23 Virginia-based companies, in the…

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close-up of a sparkler

Keeping the cultural spark alive, one year after the pandemic

The office culture at The Hodges Partnership is our secret sauce that keeps retention – and spirits – high. For many of us, our roles at Hodges take up the largest chunk of our resumes. And if you were to ask those of us who have a splattering of other positions elsewhere, I bet we would tell you that cultural issues were a big reason for us not being there anymore. March 16, 2020 was Hannah’s first day at Hodges. We had a delicious lunch…

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Josh Dare in D.C. with a I love PBS button

Meet A Hodger: Josh Dare

After graduating from Gettysburg College, Hodges co-founder Josh Dare used a one-way ticket to Europe, happily backpacking through a dozen countries, until one day, he realized it was time to go home:  the Orioles were going to the World Series. Everyone knows you can’t miss the World Series. Starting his career in the FBI, Josh got his first communications hits in the Bureau’s public affairs office.  But that was only the first inning. He’d go on to work as a Capitol Hill press secretary for…

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Anderson wearing a suit smiling slightly off camera

Meet a Hodger: Anderson Hayes

When we first met Anderson Hayes during his interview to be a Hodges intern, we knew he was going to be a rockstar from day one. Come on, if he can lead a classroom of high school physics students for over three years, he can handle anything, right? And that wasn’t a typo. Anderson has his degree in physics, and he taught the subject in Chesterfield County Schools before he realized some of his greatest passions were met through his side projects. At the time,…

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