Becki & Bonnie: Media Mavens and BEST Friends For Life

A note from Natalie: Becki & Bonnie are two of the most incredible ladies we know, and we are so honored to be their personal photographers for life - I met Becki when she booked me to photograph her Finger Lakes wedding in 2012 (the Efing-Hunter wedding, and yes they realize how hilarious that is). A couple of short years later, Whitney photographed Bonnie's gorgeous wedding in the 1000 Islands. Every time they drop by the studio they are the bright (and well dressed) spot in our day. We couldn't be more thankful to count them as friends!

I took the elevator up to the seventeenth floor of a sleek building in downtown Rochester. The doors slid open to iHeartMedia’s modern, minimalistic office space. Becki and Bonnie greeted me with firm handshakes,  completely in sync and wearing some of the most stylish, professional outfits I’ve ever laid eyes on. The powerful pair led me to a conference room to chat about everything from their incredible jobs to their enviable friendship.

Becki and Bonnie’s lives revolve around their jobs – “In this business, your social world and your professional world are the same thing. You do everything with your coworkers. It’s different than other places where you leave at 5:00 and don’t see each other until you’re back together at the office,” Bonnie said.

As General Sales Managers for iHeartMedia, Rochester - the two share a joint responsibility overseeing advertising sales for the 7 local radio stations and digital properties of this global media juggernaut.  “In the beginning, Bonnie and I worked in different sectors of the same company. I’d take my staff over to do an event at Bonnie’s client’s location and we’d end up doing a lot of work activities together.” continued Becki.

“When we were younger, we’d both go out all the time with groups of people. Then the two of us started hanging out all the time,” Bonnie revealed. “There’s no other business like this one. These people really do become your family,” she added. “Becki and I are always together. When we're out alone, people don’t ask where our husbands are - they ask where the other one of us is. We get called the wrong names all the time. I had Becki’s business card for months and didn’t even realize until someone pointed it out. I said, ‘call her; you’ll find me there anyway.’” That’s how it works when your offices are next to one another and you’re each other’s most recent call, text and email. 

And yes, these ladies do realize how lucky they are – “We don’t ever stop and think about it, but I guess it is a unique situation. Not many places have two people who do absolutely everything together not only as coworkers but as best friends,” said Bonnie while Becki nodded in solidarity.

The dynamic duo agrees that their different personalities are what create the perfect balance between them – “I’m louder, she’s much more quiet; I swear a lot more,” Becki divulged. At the same rate, the dynamic duo is incredibly similar: “We have the exact same sense of humor. We can find something funny in any situation, no matter how stupid it is,” Bonnie admitted. When you have your best friend by your side, life and work are a whole lot better. Becki sweetly confessed, “It sounds cliché, but it doesn’t feel like coming to work everyday. It doesn’t feel like a job.”

This interview was conducted by our Marketing/Communications intern, Hannah McCarthy, a rising sophomore at Elon University in North Carolina.