Elizabeth Christian & Associates Public Relations Blog

ECPR Welcomes Summer Interns!

We have recently welcomed three new interns who are studying to be communications professionals to the ECPR team for the summer.

Ask any communications or public relations professional about one of the most invaluable experiences you can have in order to land a job in this field, and they will undoubtedly say – an internship.

We applaud these students for taking time this summer to learn more about our industry, and hopefully have fun along the way!

For interns, it is our hope that they will leave here with valuable public relations skills that they can use to build their careers. We work to expose them to a variety of necessary industry skills from writing press releases and observing media interviews, to building media lists and monitoring for media coverage. 

I look back at my PR internship experiences and I am thankful for the learning opportunities that these agencies and organizations gave to me. I know for a fact it is one of the reasons that I was able to land my first public relations job out of college.

Classroom learning is, of course, vital to learning the necessary skills of our industry; however, hands-on experience through an internship provides important insights that cannot be gained by taking college courses alone.

Help us welcome our wonderful summer interns - Amy, Michelle and Rachel! We look forward to working with you this summer!

Passing the Baton!

ECPR typically distributes news on behalf of our clients. Today, we have our own news to share!

Andre Lenartowicz has been a valued member of the team for more than two years. During that time, he has progressed from intern to account associate and finally, social media coordinator.

Andre has played a key role in developing ECPR’s social media presence. (Check out our Facebook and Twitter accounts, below!)

www.echristianpr.com/socialmedia/facebook.php

http://twitter.com/ECPRAustin

With his interest in technology and social media, it makes sense that Andre has taken a position doing public relations for a San Antonio-based tech company. This is a terrific opportunity and we are very happy for Andre.

We are also pleased to announce the addition of Account Associate Krysten Kim to the ECPR team!

As well as serving as an intern at ECPR, Krysten has experience in public relations at Austin-based Ciarla Designs and event coordination at Nuriel Fellowship Church in Carrollton, Texas.

In addition to her strengths in public relations and media outreach, Krysten brings a new skillset to the firm—she is fluent in Korean.

So as we wish Andre the best in his new endeavor, we welcome Krysten to ECPR!

-Kristin Marcum

A Change is Gonna Come

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines adaptation as an adjustment to environmental conditions, or the act or process of adapting. It’s also a fairly good movie directed by Spike Jonze and starring Nicolas Cage. I view it as a complete necessity in this technology-heavy world and in my role as a public relations professional.

No matter what we say, change can be difficult—especially if it requires ridding yourself of some old habits. Regularly in my job, I have to be adaptable. Meetings change, rentals aren’t delivered or setup in the proper place, and media commitments change with the day’s news. Through all of it, I’ve learned to make the most out of every situation.

I have found myself moving and setting up 60-inch round tables at an event in heels. I’ve even directed the movement of a large tent being carried across a parking lot by seven extremely kind volunteers. I have also created my own photo opportunities with ECPR’s digital camera at an event that the media couldn’t attend (there’s always potential for post-event coverage). I am in constant adaptation mode.

Recently, our office began a migration into the Mac world, and it has been a(n) fun challenging interesting one. In my previous blogs, I’ve often provided tips or insight into being a public relations professional, but I wanted to use this blog to thank an extremely patient and very smart man—Nathan Toups, our Mac-transition guru.

We are certainly excited to move into this new era, and I am loving moving my work life into the Mac world, but it’s definitely required some adaptation on my part.

Again, thank you to Nathan for answering every question that we’ve thrown at you!

Levente