{"id":1789,"date":"2016-08-15T19:47:45","date_gmt":"2016-08-15T19:47:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/life\/the-post-talks-about-going-viral-with-benita-abraham-long-beach-s-most-famous-employed-professional\/"},"modified":"2016-08-15T19:47:45","modified_gmt":"2016-08-15T19:47:45","slug":"the-post-talks-about-going-viral-with-benita-abraham-long-beach-s-most-famous-employed-professional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/the-post-talks-about-going-viral-with-benita-abraham-long-beach-s-most-famous-employed-professional","title":{"rendered":"Q&#038;A: The POST Talks to Benita Abraham, Long Beach&#8217;s Most Famous Employed Professional"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>\u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-full wp-image-50061\" src=\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Job_Offer.jpg\" alt=\"Job Offer\" width=\"620\" height=\"465\" \/><\/p>\n<p>At the time the <em>Post<\/em> wrote about Benita Abraham\u2019s tongue-in-cheek, \u201cromantic\u201d Facebook job offer post last week, she\u2019d already spoken to local TV news outlets, <em>The Huffington Post<\/em> and<em> Good Morning America<\/em>. Over the weekend, she added<em> On Air with Ryan Seacrest<\/em> and <a href=\"http:\/\/nytlive.nytimes.com\/womenintheworld\/2016\/08\/11\/california-woman-shares-romantic-photoshoot-of-herself-with-her-new-job-offer\/\"><em>The New York Times<\/em><\/a> to her list.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s safe to say that Abraham, with her viral post, is possibly Long Beach\u2019s most famous recently employed person. And\u2014according to her\u2014she just wanted to amuse a few of her Facebook friends.<\/p>\n<p>Now starting her second official week at her job, Abraham said a few of her coworkers in the healthcare administration field have posted her photo outside her office, and that more of them were becoming aware of her <a href=\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/life\/long-beach-woman-s-romantic-job-announcement-facebook-post-goes-viral\/\">viral post.<\/a><\/p>\n<hr style=\"width:100%; float:left;\" \/>\n<div style=\"width: 100%; float: left;\">\n<div style=\"width: 100px; height: 100px; background-image: url('images\/keeley\/BenitaAbraham\/Job_Offer.jpg'); background-size: cover; background-position: center center; float: left; margin-right: 30px; display:none;\">\u00a0<\/div>\n<p> <small style=\"font-weight: lighter;\">RELATED<\/small> <\/p>\n<h2 ><a onclick=\"ga('send', 'event', 'Related Link', 'click', 'Realted Link v1');\" href=\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/life\/long-beach-woman-s-romantic-job-announcement-facebook-post-goes-viral\/\">Long Beach Woman\u2019s Romantic \u201cJob Announcement\u201d Facebook Post Goes Viral<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 100%; height: 0;\">\u00a0<\/div>\n<hr style=\"width:100%; float:left;\" \/><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fkaren.erren%2Fposts%2F10210151640964355&amp;width=500\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"500\" height=\"688\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" style=\"border: none; overflow: hidden;\"><\/iframe><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>The<em> Post<\/em> sat down with Abraham on Friday evening to discuss her recent fame, and what went into putting together a viral photo shoot.<\/p>\n<p><em>Editor\u2019s note: Interview has been edited for content and clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Long Beach Post: Tell us a little bit about why you wanted to create this photo shoot, and what you had planned?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Benita Abraham:<\/strong><\/em> Well, I was unemployed for seven months\u2014I was laid off in December of last year. Also, I\u2019m single and I don\u2019t have children, so I can be pickier\u2026<\/p>\n<p>In June, I had a phone interview that lasted for about two hours, and I was really excited about it. I really liked my boss and the coworker I talked to.<\/p>\n<p>When I got the job, I really wanted to celebrate it in a way that was true to me and my sense of humor. So last Friday [one week before the <em>Post<\/em> spoke with Abraham]\u2014it was just one week ago!\u2014I had some pictures in mind.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>So what actually went into the photo shoot?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>In reality, it only took one hour. With hair and makeup, it probably added 30 minutes. People think it was professional, but I just used my iPhone and a few supplies from The Dollar Tree.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>And that was Long Beach in the background of those beach pics?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Yes it was! I love this city. I\u2019ve been in Long Beach for four years\u2014I live in Belmont Shore\u2014and I don\u2019t ever want to leave. It has such a community feel, and you can walk everywhere.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>And did you expect the response you got for your post, worldwide?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>I will say that we definitely expected a response from my friends. We took a few more pictures on Sunday, and all day Sunday, I was like \u201cOh my God people are going to die.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I had posted a teaser post\u2026 and my hashtags may have led people to believe that I had found a significant other. We posed it like they were actually going to see who it was for the first time&#8230;I was really excited to see their reaction.<\/p>\n<p>I have around 1,000 Facebook friends, and we estimated about 30 percent would like it&#8230;my friends were saying \u201cyou\u2019re gonna get like 300 likes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>What was it like, getting the response you got?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Well Monday was my first day. I got to the office really early, and I had turned off the notifications for the posts. I checked and thought \u201cOh, wow. There are 150 shares.\u201d Then there were 1,500 by the time I was out of work. By Monday afternoon, there were all these messages from reporters and random people\u2026<\/p>\n<p>I got so many great messages from so many wonderful woman. One lady offered to bake me a cake! She offered to bake me a one-year-anniversary smash cake<\/p>\n<p>I heard from women in Slovenia, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, India and Saudi Arabia&#8230;foreign journalists have contacted me too.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve gotten friendship proposals and other proposals&#8230; it&#8217;s run the gamut. It&#8217;s been very interesting.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Did you mean to make a statement on the choice of career as being just as relevant as getting married and having children?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>It wasn&#8217;t like I was trying to make a statement on marriage, babies or careers. It was unintentional, but I absolutely have embraced it. I\u2019ve always been independent, not of the mold, if you will. The response has been great. I\u2019ve just really been loving the responses I\u2019ve been getting.<\/p>\n<p>The bottom line is you should feel great about everything you want to do. My motto is, \u201cyou do you, boo.\u201d At the end of the day, that should be what really matters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the time the <em>Post<\/em> wrote about Benita Abraham\u2019s tongue-in-cheek, \u201cromantic\u201d Facebook job offer post last week, she\u2019d already spoken to local TV news outlets, <em>The Huffington Post<\/em> and <em>Good Morning America<\/em>. Over the weekend, she added <em>On Air with Ryan Seacrest<\/em> and <a href=\"http:\/\/nytlive.nytimes.com\/womenintheworld\/2016\/08\/11\/california-woman-shares-romantic-photoshoot-of-herself-with-her-new-job-offer\/\"><em>The New York Times<\/em><\/a> to her list.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":154,"featured_media":67169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[904],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-1789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hi-lo","tag-viral-long-beach-posts","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/154"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1789"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=1789"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}