My PR Story Part1
HOW I Got Into Public Relations:
The Greatest FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) Story of All Time
I often get asked how I got into the field of Public Relations. It is actually kind of a crazy story. I attended college at the American University in Washington, DC. After growing up in a really small town, going to college in the big city was a huge adventure for me. I didn’t know what I wanted to major in when I chose American University. I really picked it for the experiences that I was sure to find in the nation’s capital. I loved all of the museums, the National Zoo, the parks, and all of the history that was infused into the buildings and monuments around me. It was nothing like home. My favorite class at AU was a class called “Washington DC: Life in a Monument.” Through weekly field trips, we learned about the city by studying its monuments and hearing the wonderful stories that my professor told. On the weekends, I would subject my friends to “tours” and tell them what I had learned…you know “tour guide style.” To me, it was the adventure of a lifetime in a whole new world!
During the fall of my sophomore year, my two best friends started talking about studying abroad the following semester. This thought had never even crossed my mind. I was perfectly content with the big city adventures I was having and had no desire to leave my family and go live on a whole new continent. But the “fear of missing out” had gotten to me and the next thing I knew I was going to meetings and signing papers to join my friends for a semester abroad in London, England. I was getting my passport and shopping for a London Fog raincoat, and talking myself into the fact that THIS was actually the adventure of a lifetime.
I was just weeks away from my new adventure, when my advisor called. “Amy, I’m sorry but there is a problem with your paperwork for your study abroad next semester,” he said. It was just after Thanksgiving, finals were in a week, and we were scheduled to leave for London just after the New Year. “Well, you need to declare a major before you can go. And since we’re closing in on the end of this semester and finalizing things for next semester, I need you to come in and fill out the paperwork tomorrow.” Now, I was nowhere closer to deciding what I wanted to be when I grew up than when I walked across the stage at my high school graduation. But, my college roommate who was now also my new travel companion, was a Public Communications major and so I picked that. It is just that simple. I needed something for the form ASAP and so…I copied. I was sure I’d change it or take time to rethink it or something at some point in the near future. But I never did. The fear of being left behind and missing out on my besties’ study abroad adventures is how I got into PR. Crazy right?
Want to read what happened next? About WHY I stayed in PR? Spoiler Alert. It wasn’t the Internship in London.
