From Titletown to Beantown

Green Bay-to-Boston is about a four-hour flight but for Ashley Beine, it was the blink of an eye.

After earning a COMM degree from UWGB, Ashley Beine expected to find work in Green Bay or, maybe, Chicago. That all changed when her then-fiancé-now husband got a job offer at the Liberty Mutual office in Boston. They both decided that after almost four years of a long-distance relationship during college, living in the same city was a must. They decided Boston was going to be their home, but they had a LOT to learn.

“We don’t own a car,” she said. “We walk and take The “T” (the subway) everywhere. We even carry our groceries home every week.” About the adjustment from living in Wisconsin compared to Massachusetts she said, “They don’t handle snow well. I’ve never had so many snow/work from home days. There isn’t place to put the snow – except into the ocean – so they have to try to keep people off the roads.”

They’re not as nice? (FEW are.)
The weather and transportation are not the only things Ashley has had to adjust to. Both the work and social culture are entirely different. “People aren’t as ‘nice’ as in the Midwest,” she said, “and the locals don’t have a very good idea of what’s going on outside their own, local zip code.” She’s constantly asked if she knows how to make cheese, or if she’s ever helped birth a calf.

Ashley landed a job as an associate account executive at Lois Paul & Partners (Healthcare and Technology Public Relations). She works with healthcare clients on patient monitoring, healthcare informatics, healthcare artificial intelligence and transforming hospitals using “design thinking” (a way to solve complex problems). She’s also working with a technology client – and helping to find new business for the agency.

Weekends start Thursday!
One of the differences in work culture that might cause a lot of Wisconsinites to look at moving to Boston: Many companies have a Thursday Happy Hour when the company pays for employees to get drinks together! The work atmosphere is relatively relaxed when compared to the experiences Ashley had in Green Bay. “Company culture is huge out here,” she said, “and my husband and I spend a lot of weeknights attending happy hours with co-workers.”

Ashley has some advice when making a huge, life-altering decision: “You’re only young once, and it’s important to take risks in order to grow and learn.”

A great learning experience, Ashley loves where she is today; she and her husband have experienced so much in her time in Boston. Other than immediately being outed that she’s from the Midwest when she says the word, ‘bag’ – and having to deal with the overabundance of New England Patriots fans – it has been the experience of a lifetime.

Sara Darr, Cal DeRosier, Alex Koprowski, & Devin Willems make up the 4Digits. 4Digits is our name; original digital content is our game.

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