Photo: Bonnie snaps a selfie after hiking to the top of El Capitan in Yosemite.
Senior public information officer, Bonnie Dickson Mettler, is part of Yuba Water Agency's Communications and Public Affairs group. She plays a key role in developing strategies and campaigns, building relationships and creating content for the agency’s internal and external communication efforts, including social media, newsletters, press releases, graphics and more. Scroll to learn more about Bonnie’s background, her career journey and where you can find her outside of the office.
What is your background/formal education that led to where you are in your career today?
I have a bachelor’s degree in history from San Diego State University (Go Aztecs!) and a master’s degree in emerging media studies from Boston University (Go Terriers!). I’ve always loved reading, writing and people, which naturally lends itself to a career in public relations and communications.
How did you get involved in your current career path?
The semester before I graduated from college, I took an internship with the U.S. Geological Survey’s California Water Science Center in San Diego as an administrative and outreach assistant. That’s where I discovered my passion for science communication.
A few years later, California was in a really serious drought. Suddenly, our small but mighty team of two was fielding daily media calls from local to national media (I’ll never forget helping set up an interview with Lesley Stahl for "60 Minutes") and prepping Congressional briefs on the drought. It was an exciting time to be an early-career communicator. The experience helped me understand the complexities of California water and the critical need for clear, timely science communication.
Photo: Bonnie and Brandon soak in the views on recent trip to Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
What do you do for Yuba Water Agency? Tell us about some of your essential duties.
As a public information officer, my job is to make sure the right people have the right information at the right time so they can make informed decisions or understand something.
Our team works closely on nearly everything, so we check in regularly to make sure we're aligned and then divide and conquer work on various projects. I also regularly meet with different teams and managers to make sure we’re in the know with what’s happening around the agency, so that we can appropriately communicate about it.
Our internal staff are arguably our most important audience, so I spend a lot of time on internal communication. This includes overseeing our internal communications strategy and committee, writing and creating much of our monthly internal staff newsletter and keeping a pulse on what’s happening around the agency. The “public” side of being a public information officer involves pitching media and responding to media questions, managing our social media strategy and developing content to tell the story of our agency. I also maintain our agency’s Crisis Communications Plan to ensure we’re prepared for any potential emergencies if and when they arise.
Another key aspect of my role is staying current with trends and strategies. We live in a world with a lot of noise, so understanding what works and what doesn’t work to cut through some of the noise to effectively reach people is SO important. This means reading lots of industry blogs, testing new types of content and creating a monthly analytics report to see where we’re doing well and where we can potentially improve.
What do you enjoy most about working for Yuba Water Agency?
The people here are truly exceptional. I feel like a lot of our staff say this, but that’s because it’s true. Everyone here is genuinely motivated by the work they do and believes in the agency’s missions. It’s really special to be a part of that.
Before working here, what was the most interesting job you had?
During graduate school, I worked part-time as a communications researcher. That job largely entailed looking at large datasets for trends, but I also had the opportunity to participate in a few research studies myself. One study sought to understand how binge-watching violent content can affect our view of the world. Sitting in the basement of Boston University’s Communications research lab for six to eight hour stretches binge watching Netflix and coding each instance of violence was…interesting. And not something I’d sign up to do again anytime soon.
What do you like to do in your free time?
I really enjoy being active and being with friends and family. I have a close-knit group at my local gym that I’ve been doing weekly indoor cycle classes with for nearly a decade and good friends from college and living in Sacramento who I see regularly. I enjoy walking, hiking, biking and, in the summer, being out on the water somewhere. One of the perks of living in Northern California is having access to so much outdoor recreation!
My husband and I both love live music and go to a lot of shows. We got married last year and decided to count the number of live shows we had seen during the first three years of our relationship and use them as our seating chart – we ended up with more than 30 bands! And of course, we love to travel when we can. Whether it’s a weekend in Southern California visiting friends or jetting off to explore a new national park or country, we’re always planning our next adventure.
What’s the most recent app you downloaded on your phone?
The Wall Street Journal – they had a killer Black Friday deal on an annual subscription!
What are three words you would use to describe Yuba Water Agency?
Passionate, transformative, progressive.