Hard work pays off

If there’s one thing I’ve learned after four years in college it’s this:

Hard work pays off.

As I approach my final months of being a college student, I’ve been looking back a lot lately at the past four years, evaluating my experience, identifying what went right and what went wrong. But one thing that remains constant throughout those experiences is that the harder I worked, the more I achieved, and the happier I was in the long run.

If you know me, you know I’m a big fan of goals, a la Rachel Berry from Glee. I am a strong believer of following your dreams, but an even bigger advocate of hard work.

I found a quote a few weeks ago that I really identify with:

"Some people dream of success, while others wake up and work hard at it." --Author unknown


We all have dreams, and we all want to believe we can achieve anything we set our mind to do. But the reality is, that’s not enough—it takes a lot of time, a ton of effort, and probably a few sacrifices along the way.

One of the best decisions in my college career was joining the student PR firm, ImPRessions. Never in my life have I met so many hard-working and dedicated people in one group. I was reminded of how lucky I am to be a part of it today, when we announced that our firm has been honored with national affiliation status through PRSSA National.

In the past few months I’ve found it harder and harder to motivate myself as senioritis and anxiety of life after graduation have taken their toll, but then I remember to take a step back and remember that slacking off isn’t going to get me anywhere.

If I could offer any advice to younger students or my peers in general, it’s find something you want in life and work harder than you could have ever imagined to get there.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this…do you agree? Disagree? What advice do you have?

A senior's guide to surviving and thriving in college

Senior year. It’s hard to believe that three years have gone by so quickly. It seems like just yesterday that I was moving into the dorms without a clue as to what college was all about. I can say that it was everything that I expected and nothing at all like I thought it would be. I’ve had lots of ups and downs, make lots of mistakes and enjoyed lots of successes.

While I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I will attempt to savor these last nine months at Ohio University. Despite the expense of attending an out of state school, I have never regretted my decision to come here. I cannot image being anywhere else, and I will be a Bobcat for life.

For those of you who haven’t started college yet or those of you who still have a couple years left, I hope the following advice will help you make the most of your college experience.

1. Get involved. I know it’s intimidating to join an organization in which you don’t know anyone or know anything about, but it will be worth it. If I hadn’t gone to my first PRSSA meeting in fall 2007, I would have never gotten the chance to network with professionals, meet other PR students or even join ImPRessions. Not only have I met some amazing people, but I’ve had the opportunity to gain leadership experience that has been vital to my success.

2. Work hard. The workload in college is extremely intimidating at first, but if you stay on top of things you’ll be fine. I’m not saying you need to get a 4.0 or study 24/7, but establishing a killer work ethic early on in your college career will not only make the next few years seem easier (because you’ve realized you can handle the work) but it will show future employers that you have what it takes to shine. My secret to long nights of studying: energy drinks, studying in groups and taking breaks so you don’t get too burnt out.

3. Save time for fun. This may seem contrary to my previous tip, and it is the lesson I’ve had the most difficult time with. I get so caught up in school work, meetings and my organizations that I forget to let myself have some free time. Take time away from your stressors and go see a movie, go to the gym, hang out with friends or simply do nothing at all. Nobody expects you to work 100 percent of the time, so you shouldn’t expect that of yourself either.

4. Try something new. While I’m not exactly adventurous, I have taken opportunities to try new things in college. I’ve gone to a Latin dance night and attempted to keep up with the authentic dancers, played intramural softball (a sport I’ve never played in my life) and flew to Chicago, my first flight without a chaperone.

There’s no doubt that I will be sad to leave Athens in the spring. I’ve made a lot of good memories in my time here and have made amazing friendships that I hope will last a lifetime. Even so, I am looking forward to what the future brings. People say that college is the best four years of your life, and while I agree that it is a unique period of time like which you will never again experience, I don’t think it’s a completely true statement. My belief is that these four years will be my gateway into fulfilling my dreams and is a foundation upon which I can build my future.

The power of collaboration

This quarter I have learned the power of collaboration. While I have worked with many student organizations in the past and still do, my organizations have never done a large-scale collaboration with another organization.

This spring was different. My ImPRessions team and our client, Backdrop Magazine, decided to produce a huge outdoor event to celebrate the release of Backdrop’s latest issue. We couldn’t fund it ourselves, so we looked to two major student organizations on campus, University Programs Council and the Black Student Cultural Programming Board, got funding from Vision Ohio, and the rest is history.

Collaborating is such a unique experience because it allows everyone to bring their most valuable talents to the table to produce something amazing. It also proves difficult at times trying to make sure everyone’s goals are met and that communication is optimal.

Through this event I also learned a lesson or two in crisis communication. The artist canceled 16 days before the event, which is arguably the worst problem that could come up in planning and implementing a huge concert. However, we were not daunted. The team was incredible and acted quickly in searching for a new artist. I was very impressed with UPC and BSCPB in their experience and poise in such a difficult situation, and am very grateful Backdrop and ImPRessions (the rookies in implementing huge concerts), had “seasoned professionals” working with us.

We were very nervous about publicly disclosing the fact that we had no artist two weeks before the event, but we made a statement on our Facebook group and, to my amazement, received nearly zero criticism from students. In fact, many tried to offer solutions to us. This to me is a testament to the power and importance of being open and honest and communicating effectively 100 percent.

Once we found a new artist (two actually: Clipse and Consequence), everything else came together seamlessly. There was not a cloud in the sky on the day of the event and I think people really enjoyed the concert.

I have learned so much from working on this event and throughout the year with my client in general, and I’m actually going to miss it all next year, but I have the utmost confidence in my successors and look forward to seeing what they come up with for 2010-2011.

Communication is the best policy

Communication is such a vital part of life, especially in the world of PR. This is easy to forget when going through the everyday motions in a PR firm of event planning, media contacting, tweeting, crisis management and other client needs.

This quarter has been a whirlwind for the Backdrop account. Between collecting survey results to measure awareness of the magazine on campus and helping to promote the launch of the latest issue, my team and I have been going non-stop.

But even with the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it is important to take as step back and remember that communication is the number one ingredient to a successful PR campaign.

Not only is it imperative to keep open doors of communication with your client, but with your team as well. If everyone is not on the same page with the campaign, then it will ultimately be doomed for failure.

To make sure we are communicating effectively, we have created individual positions for each member of the account so that tasks are divided up and each person can focus on a specific specialty. At each weekly meeting, each position is responsible for bringing up any issues or concerns regarding his or her assignments.

To further our organizational and communication skills, we are implementing the use of Google Docs to create our PR plan and to keep track of the details of all of our jobs and deadlines. We keep in close contact throughout the week when we have a lot going on and support our client in any way we can.

While the mediums of communication have multiplied in recent years, I still find that the best medium is face to face. Your words simply cannot make the same impact in a tweet or text or e-mail or even phone conversation as they can in person.

In a 2.0 world, my advice is this: take the time to really, truly communicate, whether it’s with a friend, a boss, a colleague or a client. There is so much to gain from effective communication, and it should be a priority for all aspiring public relations professionals.

From my post for the ImPRessions blog

Bob Evans event

Today we had our first event for the Bob Evans ImPRessions account. Three of us from the account went to Chillicothe to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Bob Evans in town.

It was such a neat experience. All day we helped hand out prizes to those who attempted a game of corn hole and we gave away a gift card every hour. The local country station, 94.3, was at Bob Evans and I had my first experience doing a radio spot to draw people to our event.

I got to meet the VP of the marketing department for the company and I was very impressed with her. She seemed really excited about the event and passionate about her company.

We also got our picture taken with Biscuit and Gravy, Bob Evan's mascot dogs. The event was mostly outside and the wind was freezing but we kept warm with coffee and hot chocolate.

We learned some great tips about the correct way to give out promotional items and the importance of wording when publicizing an event. I am so excited to keep working on this account. We're even going to get to present to the Marketing department in Columbus sometime soon. Overall this is turning out to be a great experience.