My Journey to a Career in Public Relations

And the signs along the road that led me to where I am today

There are those fortunate to know their life calling from an early age. They’re curious about science, infections and how the human body works and have perfected signing Dr. before their last name at the age of five. Yet, for the majority of us, finding our career calling (not to be mistaken with life calling) can have many interesting turns. Many shake their head at this notion, citing the fact that the majority of people do not end up in a career that is the same as their major. I’m not sure that’s all that bad. There are numerous stories of those whose path to success includes instances of chance and circumstance. At my graduation speech from Miami, a professor referred to an individual who discovered optometry later in life and how it perfectly blended his background in science with his love for art as he carefully repaired eyes to their former condition.

For me personally, public relations and marketing speak to many things I am naturally curious about and what I believe I am naturally gifted at. Below are a few of my “A-ha” moments:

My journey begins early as my first grade teacher wrote in a note to my mother that that I would be signing books at Barnes & Noble someday. I also received perfect scores on writing proficiency tests, an award in the fifth grade for my rendering of a peacock and was told by my high school art teacher that I have an “eye for design.”

In high school, I was all over the place about where I wanted to go to college. I started corresponding with college coaches early, writing introduction letters and sending them highlight tapes. Oddly enough, I really enjoyed that process and thought to myself “Wouldn’t it be cool to be the person who writes these kinds of letters on behalf of a company?”

Fast forward to my freshman year at Miami during my English comp classes where I had  a few more “a-ha” moments. Our first assignment when I arrived on campus was to write an ethnography, another exercise I got a kick out of. I loved taking notes on a place and putting into words what made it unique. During another exercise we were asked to describe the experience of eating an orange and upon reading my work, a classmate told me I should be a marketing major. We also had to create a Facebook profile for a character we were reading about and I couldn’t help but think to myself “Wouldn’t it be cool to be the person who manages social media for an organization?”

That year, I lived across the hall from a student who was a communication major who informed me of what you could do with the degree and what kinds of internships her friends had. I read more about these internship experiences in the Miami Quarterly and changed my major from “Undecided” to pre-communication.

Sophomore year I began living with one of my good friends Emilie Bowman who just so happens to be the niece of PR all-star Ron Culp. She told me about her uncle’s experiences at Sears and our senior year we did an agency tour of Ketchum in Chicago when he worked there. That year I also took an introduction to public relations course. The oh-so-influential professor Bill Brewer told us the three skills we needed to succeed in public relations were good writing, the ability to “play well with others” and to be a problem solver. I believe I am above average in all three of those traits and loved the idea of a career path where I could continue developing them. In another introduction course, seniors presented their capstone PR campaign for the Office of the Diversity on campus. I was intrigued by the research they conducted that revealed the office needed to be relocated and the strategies they used to communicate the move.

I haven’t looked back since I decided in college to pursue a career in marketing and public relations and it’s fun to look back at my education and experiences that pointed me towards that selection. That being said, I don’t think any career will fit you perfectly as we are complex individuals who are continually evolving (and I don’t think a career should fit you perfectly, but that’s for another day). How did you figure out what you wanted to do for a living? What were some of the twists and turns along that journey? I’d love to hear that story and how you got to where you are today.