I was recently told I am not a “PR person.” What makes a PR person? How can someone that doesn’t know me determine by looking at a piece of paper if I am a PR person? I realize first impressions are very important, but I am not sure if I agree with a statement that someone at a junior level is not a certain thing.
I have been very proud of my internships and experiences throughout my college career. Unlike many people my age, I did not stick to one particular path. I made sure I got as much experience as possible in as many fields as possible.
The summer after my freshman year of college I did an internship in the Washington D.C. bureau of The British Broadcasting Company and then moved on to a short stint at Levick Strategic Communications. Once back at Purdue University my sophomore year, I was a marketing coordinator for Potbelly sandwiches, which involved me doing grass root marketing around campus, creating events and getting the word out about the restaurant. The summer after my sophomore year I worked at GolinHarris in Chicago on the McDonald’s account. I was fortunate to have a supervisor that didn’t just have me do media monitoring and media lists but gave me the opportunity to get involved with the team and participate in every aspect from weekly meetings to building press kits and pitching national news outlets.
After these four experiences I did take another path and focus my skills on sales and fashion but I never lost my passion for PR.
Since I have interned the PR industry has changed dramatically. We didn’t reach out to our final customer on social media like Facebook or Twitter. I learned the fundamentals of writing a press release, of research and of finding creative ways to get our message out. Things may have changed over the past few years, but I feel I have inherited media skills from growing up in a media focused home with my father, David Henderson, and my internships.
