[Due to unforeseen circumstances, the following blog post has been published in hindsight and was originally written for publication on Tuesday 3rd September 2013]
Hello everyone!
After what felt like a long and excruciating search for a PR placement, I'm glad to announce that I've finally found one – and it was hiding right under my nose this entire time!
Earlier this year, I attended a lecture entitled Women in Media: The Future of Journalism held here at Curtin University. The event featured a panel of three who knew the current climate of journalism in Australia better than most in regards to the ever-growing popularity of social media. The panel included the Sunday Times Chief of Staff Anthony DeCeglie, health and medicine online journalist Melissa Sweet, and Style Voyeur blogger Marcia Ball. The talk itself was incredibly interesting and thought provoking, and made me wonder about my future career prospects as a Journalism and Public Relations student. Of the three panelists, Marcia Ball interested me the most for a number of reasons – we both stumbled into an interest in fashion in a similar way (through the wonders of the internet during our pre-teenaged years), and like I am now, she was once a Public Relations student (here at Curtin, too!) who worried about finding a PR job after she'd graduated. It was comforting to know she had found her way in the industry by herself, and was now happily working in multiple jobs doing what she loved, which just happened to be a combination of PR, journalism, fashion and more.
After the event, I decided I would approach her for an PR internship but never got around to doing so as I was in a rush to leave. As luck would have it, she posted a call-out for a business intern on her Facebook page, which my friend and fellow PR Internship 393 coursemate Jessica Cummins forwarded onto me. One very cheeky email (which she tells me she loved) later, and I was 'hired' on the spot and happily undergoing an internship with Marcia. A number of months later, however, the internship had all but died off due to my rigorous workload and exams from last semester, and Marcia's involvement with several productions and films, and I had almost forgotten about it entirely.
Last week, just before the census date, I had frantically called our placement coordinator Ali about my inability to find a placement and was just about ready to give up and try again next semester when I remembered about this business internship. Talking it through with Ali made me realise that what I had done with Marcia in my previous internship was very PR-driven and that it would not only be the perfect internship for me, but it would be great to continue the work cycle I had already gotten used to.
As a Journalism and Public Relations student, I've often struggled to find a good balance between the two. I've had lots of experience writing for a number of publications, but found I never really had the chance to delve into the world of PR other than what we do at university. My biggest concern with this internship is that I won't be working in a hugely PR-driven environment like many of you are right now, and that it would maybe diminish my experience and result in me learning a lot less about the industry. In addition to this, I must be one of the very few people in the history of this unit who is working for one person, rather than one corporation or an organisation. However, Ali has assured me that Marcia was once a student who had also undertaken this unit and would be "on the Ball" ("No pun intended!" Ali had said over the phone) in making sure I would have the appropriate experience needed.
Today was my first day back with Marcia, and it was great to be back in her home office once again. We had a long chat about what I wanted out of this internship (and also what this unit wanted, of course), and discussed both of our expectations regarding my role and where we would like to be once my 20 days is completed. While it feels just like old times, I know there is a lot ahead of us and lots more to do this time around. Perth Fashion Festival is around the corner, and as one of Marcia's many jobs includes being Production Manager for local fashion label Jaime Lee, this would be a big time for us and everyone else in the industry. There is much to do for the upcoming fashion show, the live campaign shoot and the live designer Q&A – so I'd better get off and get started! I'll keep you posted, and I look forward to reading about your placement experiences.
Nicole
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