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‘I should have gotten an extra large coffee this morning.’ I thought, taking a huge sip from the Starbucks takeout cup in my right hand while trying to manoeuvre my carry-on suitcase with my left. I swallowed the swig of coffee and grimaced. I had forgotten to add sugar. Regardless, I had been up until 2:00 A.M. packing, so I was in no place to be picky. My flight left at 9:00 A.M., and I had arrived at the Nashville airport around 7:00 A.M. to pick up my boarding pass, make it through security, and check my one huge suitcase. Things had moved surprisingly quickly and I now had almost an hour to wait before I could even board the plane. I debated using the time to take a quick nap, but I figured that I might as well go over my assignment expectations one more time.

I had decided to take Hannah’s advice. I was going to try to think positively about the upcoming experience. I had started working for Ground(ctrl)’s Nashville office as a Junior Project Manager a little over a year and a half ago. I had spent the past year working as part of the team that was assigned to Taylor Swift’s fan club. For the most part, I had composed and edited official blog posts, moderated her fan community message boards, and coordinated VIP experiences for her appearances across Tennessee. Although Taylor wasn’t my ideal artist of choice, I had loved the assignment. The majority of her fans were sweet, my blog posts were always met with enthusiasm, and there was very rarely any conflict within her online fan community. The VIP experiences were run smoothly, and on the few occasions that I had been able to spend time with Taylor she had been nothing but gracious and welcoming.

I had never expressed any desire to leave Team Taylor. When the internal positing came up to replace Eddie and work with the Backstreet Boys on an “exciting new venture”, I hadn’t even bothered to apply. I had no craving to leave my newly purchased condo in Nashville to live out of a suitcase for four months. I didn’t want to be at the forefront of Ground(ctrl)’s new initiative that was designed to create a stronger connection between artists and their fans. Above all, I definitely didn’t want to be involved with the BSB fan community. Although Team Backstreet was based out of the Sacramento office, rumours consistently circulated that some of their fans were a bit over the top. I had heard nightmarish stories of VIP and ticket presales gone wrong, of over-sold VIP events, of bullying on the message boards, and of overzealous fans ruining After Party experiences. Of course, I had also heard the opposite; that the guys were incredibly sweet and fun to work with and that the majority of their maturing fan base was respectful to both the event staff and each other.

Even though I hadn’t put my name forward for the position, the senior member of my team had. Apparently, he thought that I would be a perfect fit and he had hyped up my potential to Eddie. I had been hired after only one phone interview, even though I had explicitly stated that I didn’t think I was right for the job. I had even tried to use the fact that I didn’t have an iPhone as an excuse. Two weeks later, the phone that was currently stuffed in my purse had appeared on my desk accompanied by Eddie’s explicit instructions that I was to begin using it immediately.

Did I mention that I missed my BlackBerry?

The whole thing had happened so quickly. I still wasn’t sure if I was ready for the responsibility, the long nights, and the pressure of connecting fans with the world’s biggest boy band. If things went well, Eddie had said that I would be heading up the team in charge of setting up the same “fan connection” experience with all of Ground(ctrl)’s major artists. That meant getting the opportunity to work with The Eagles, Linkin Park, and Surgarland. The perks were amazing, but I knew that the challenges were going be even greater.

I was a young, single, female who would be working closely with the Backstreet Boys. I knew that some members of their fan base were going to hate me. I knew that some of their wives were not going to be overly thrilled with me blogging, tweeting, and posting pictures detailing their husbands’ lives. Above all, I knew that Ground(ctrl) had a lot riding on this initiative and I did not want to be the one to screw it up.

I pulled the assignment expectations out of my bag and quickly skimmed the words that I had already read hundreds of times. It wasn’t the overall expectations that I was nervous about. It was the fine print. Somehow, I was supposed to use social media to bring the fans “on tour” with the band. I had to provide the true Backstreet experience without betraying the band’s trust or revealing too much of their personal information. Eddie had made it known that he would be monitoring my every post, and that I would immediately know if I had crossed the line.