Earlier this month I had the unique opportunity to attend a holiday event hosted by U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, held at the Department of State in Washington, D.C.

Certainly the Secretary of State herself was the draw to this prestigious event, but so too was the purpose of the event titled, “Diplomacy At Home For The Holidays.” More than 150 people toured the Blair House — also referred to as “The President’s Guest House” — in addition to attending a reception at the Department of State honoring the families of U.S. State Department employees who could not be with their respective spouse or parent due to geopolitical conditions in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

As the Media Director at gkv, I was pleasantly surprised when I received the invitation to attend such a prestigious event by the publisher of Better Homes & Gardens that provided the holiday decorations at the Blair House and at the reception. Traditional Home and Martha Stewart Living also contributed to the evening’s holiday decorations. (And just in case you were wondering, Martha Stewart was in attendance.)

It was a night to remember as Secretary Clinton acknowledged those in the Foreign Service who, like many in the Armed Services, serve the U.S. sometimes in difficult circumstances and with great personal sacrifice. At the event, all attendees honored those who are assigned duties thousands of miles away from the nation’s capital.

And while most of the night focused on the men and women in the Foreign Service, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention what caught my professional eye — the power of the Digital Age that I quickly became a part of that night.

As each attendee approached the entrance of the Department of State building, each person was scanned prior to walking through the doors (that data has to be somewhere).  Most of us had some type of portable device that would allow us to take pictures, send messages and transmit information to basically anyone. In addition to communication devices such as my iPhone, there also were attendees who carried large cameras from television outlets that would later broadcast the image and voice of Secretary Clinton to millions of people.

In other words, each one of the 150+ attendees, in our own unique way, was a content provider. Only the size and type of audience we have — and how we are known to disseminate our content  — determines if we’re classified as someone such as Martha Stewart or Oprah, or a national news network like CBS. Or even a leading social media content provider via outlets such as Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, among others.

Each one of us at the event, regardless of our role in society, acted as both the medium and the message in our own way.

P.S. And yes, Martha Stewart and Hillary Clinton look the same in real life. (Check out the photos from the event on The Washington Post’s Web site.)