I work for Aetna, a healthcare company that builds healthy communities by promoting volunteerism, forming partnerships, and funding initiatives to improve the quality of life for its employees and customers. Here in Community Relations & Urban Marketing we strive to deepen our local market presence in the communities where we live, work, and play. Because of my love of singing, my interest naturally gravitates toward music and arts in the community. So I look for those opportunities where I can contribute my talents to support the company’s mission. What follows are several accounts of my personal experiences with music and the arts in the workplace, all guided and encouraged by the leadership at Aetna. As you’ll see, they were fun, memorable, and unforgettable.

On August 3, 2012, as part of a teambuilding day in New York City, my department visited the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem. Our unforgettable experience included a private, backstage tour of this historic musical landmark by House Historian, Billy Mitchell, aka “Mr. Apollo,” who started in this theater as a young boy running errands for artists like the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, and James Brown. The tour culminated with sitting in the audience, never expecting to be entertained by three of our very own colleagues, including yours truly! Billy invited us up to sing on the very stage on which some of greatest stars of yesterday and today had their beginnings.

Minutes before our “debut” we rubbed our palms on the historical Tree of Hope, an iconic symbol of the hopes and dreams of the theater’s performers, hoping to glean some of the energy from artists of days gone by. My mind went blank, and I almost panicked, but at the last moment, I remembered a song my mother loved to sing around the house. So, I got the audience clapping, and broke into “You are My Sunshine”, and just had fun. We all received books authored and autographed by Billy himself to commemorate the day. But, nothing can top my experience of singing on the Apollo stage, and I have the video for posterity!

On October 2, 2013 my company revived a tradition from the 70s and 80s when we held a non-competitive, fundraising Talent Show to celebrate the halfway point of the annual Giving Campaign in Connecticut. The company is already proud of our employees’ artwork, and musical talents from our volunteer Wind Ensemble, Brass Quintet, Jazz Band and Gospel Choir. But we knew there was more talent out there. So the call went out to the Hartford employee community: “What’s your talent?” And, boy, was it answered! A talent show committee was formed, and yours truly was on it. We were a group of six; most of us had some experience or interest in the arts. We met on a regular basis for eight weeks, planning every aspect of the show: talent auditions, program schedule, charitable cause, t-shirt, playbill and poster design, to audio/visual concerns. Who knew the company had so much talent? We all had so much fun and the show was a great success. We got wonderful feedback from the employees, and at the same time we raised funds for a deserving local cause, Foodshare. A win-win all around!

As part of my company’s community partnership with the Hartford Wolf Pack hockey team, I was invited to sing God Bless America at a home game on April 19, 2014. I’ve sung a cappella plenty of times–even auditioned without accompaniment–but never before a stadium of 5,000 people. It was time to bring my A-game. The great Kate Smith came to mind. She introduced Irving Berlin’s God Bless America to the world on Armistice Day in 1938 over the radio. The song became a sensation, and her signature song. To me, it seemed fitting that I should sing it her way. Over the next few weeks as I prepared and practiced for the big night, I watched the old videos of Kate Smith over and over again, channeling her energy. During my research I found out some interesting sports history about Kate Smith and the Philadelphia Flyers. In 1969 a legend started when the Flyers began playing Kate Smith’s rendition of God Bless America at their hockey games. The result was an uncanny winning streak of games, and so Kate became the team’s lucky charm, even performing live on a couple of occasions. I couldn’t get that story out of my head, and remotely wondered if the Hartford Wolf Pack could be so lucky. On the night of the game, I had my shining moment and belted out God Bless America with gusto. Performing in that enormous arena and looking at my own face on that jumbotron was an incredible adrenaline rush. What’s more, the Wolf Pack won the game! It seems that Kate Smith’s spirit was with all of us that night!

On April 24, 2014, my company held its first employee event to recognize the significance of Pay it Forward Day, which was started in 2007. About 20 employees, together with about 30 local inner-city dance students, formed a flash mob in the busy cafeteria during the lunch hour and hip-hopped en masse to Pharrell Williams’ “Happy”, much to the stunned amusement of munching onlookers. Pulling this off was no small feat. First of all, we had to learn the somewhat complicated dance routine. So we brought in a local, hip-hop dance instructor to teach us. Many of us quickly realized the challenge this presented to us, but we worked hard to learn it, and after four formal practices we nailed, without a hitch, the first ever flash mob in company history. On that day we shared stories of how we paid it forward–bought someone’s coffee; paid for somebody’s lunch; paid for a stranger’s toll; or just went that extra mile to help someone out, and the positive effect it had on us. “Together we can change the world, one good deed at a time.”

Did I mention that I love to sing and perform? Obviously, the arts are important to me, and having access to opportunities to engage in my passion at work is what makes my job so enjoyable and meaningful. The arts bring us beauty and happiness, and we need that everywhere, especially in the places where we work.