Herd Highlight is a blog series highlighting the outstanding members of our Herd. From PR pros to digital marketing masterminds, each Buffalo has a unique story. Learn more about our team each month.
This month we’re happy to introduce Ethan Zimman, Buffalo Agency Manager by day and freelance golf writer by night. He’s an avid golfer who started playing basically the Monday after Tiger Woods’ 1997 Masters victory by chipping golf balls in his grandfather’s backyard and maintains delusions of grandeur to lower his 6.5 handicap index.
When did you start working at Buffalo Agency?
April 1, 2019 – Thankfully it wasn’t an April Fool’s joke!
What do you do?
My primary job functions are public relations, marketing, and strategy for the USGA with a healthy dose of SEO writing for a couple other clients.
What is your favorite part about working at Buffalo Agency?
The people and getting to eat, sleep, and breathe golf; the sport I’ve loved since I was a kid.
What’s the coolest thing you’re working on or have worked on?
Did you know that a USGA GPS product, which was designed to help analyze and improve pace of play, has been used by a public golf course in Florida to remove turf and reduce their water consumption by half a million dollars? Probably not. But getting to work with the USGA and help tell stories about some of their
work that isn’t at the center of most golfers’ radar is both very cool (especially for the #GolfNerd in me) and professionally gratifying.
What are your favorite hobbies?
In my (non-golf-related) spare time, I enjoy visiting all the great NoVA wineries and breweries with my wife, son, daughter and our fluffy goldendoodle, Bodie. Other favorite things include movies, binge-watching TV shows, and getting lost in my Discover Weekly Spotify playlist.
Looking back at 2020, we know there were a lot of negatives. What can you reflect on as a positive? 
While having two small kids is at the same time exhausting, thrilling, worrisome, and gratifying without a global pandemic, the challenges of 2020 provided exponentially more lessons in patience, tolerance, kindness, and being thankful for many privileges (e.g. a wonderful spouse, the ability to work from home, and my family’s general good health).
What are you most looking forward to in 2021?
Getting our COVID-19 vaccinations and immediately taking time off work to visit my parents whom we haven’t seen in more than a year…and, of course, hopefully playing some golf that’s more than a couple hours’ drive from our house.
