Ring My Bell

So this morning the CEO and President of the non-profit that I work for, Girls Incorporated, rang the bell at NASDAQ. Everyone in the office was invited to attend.

It was a pretty cool way to begin the morning! NASDAQ is located at 43rd and Broadway and when we arrived they had us step into their "photo booth" one by one. Then they gave us each our photo, which was a picture of us superimposed on top of the NASDAQ tower. Everyone posed the same way, standing straight with their arms at their side - in the picture the effect you get from that pose is one of a giant amazon woman as tall as a skyscraper in NYC. We all had a good laugh on that one - watch out NYC - here we come!

Those of you that know me well, know how much I love "small world" occurences! When I was living in Boston I used to run into Holy Cross grads all the time (yeah CRUSADERS!) My boss one day asked me why I continued to act surprise every time I ran into a fellow HC grad? It's because I love how "small" the world is!

On that note, this morning I had one of those "small world" occurences! I walked into NASDAQ and who is standing right outside the photo booth manning a name tag station but a friend from Boston, Julia (who happens to also be a fellow HC grad!) Turns out she was in town on business. It was really great to see her and chat for a little bit this morning.

OK - back to the "ring my bell" experience. After the photo booth we headed into the NASDAQ studio and hung out for awhile until it was time to ring the bell. They show a little NASDAQ video, said a few words of introduction about Girls Inc., our President and CEO said a few words of thanks and then we all paraded onto the stage for the live event. They played some stock market music and we all started cheering and clapping and then Joyce pushed the button, signed her name and we all waved to everyone out on Times Square.

It was a pretty neat experience and if you ever have the opportunity to participate in the ringing of the NASDAQ bell - DO IT!