This past month, I had the amazing opportunity to attend the PRSSA National Assembly in Miami, Florida. I was selected to represent our chapter and vote for the 2018-2019 National Committee. Through this experience I met amazing PRSSA members from all over the country and learned about the many things PRSSA has to offer that I wasn’t even aware of! When I first mentioned my interest of attending the assembly, I had no clue what I would even be doing there. I thought that multiple people from the chapter would attend and that it was something Purdue PRSSA did every year. I hoped that I would be among familiar faces who would guide me once we got there. That was not the case at all. In fact, this was the first time Purdue had attended the National Assembly, so I had no one to talk to about what to expect. Going by myself made me nervous, but not knowing what was going on when I got there made it even worse. I was given a room assignment, a packet of applications for all of the national committee candidates, and a tentative schedule. I had to figure the rest out from there. My roommate did not show up until well after all of the welcome events were over, so I knew absolutely no one there. This is when networking really came into play. I had to talk to tons of people I had never met before and that really made me nervous. I was one of the first ones at the welcome reception so I asked a group of people if I could sit with them. This group turned out to be the current national committee, so they knew each other very well. I was the odd man out. After that first encounter, I realized they were the only group of people there that knew each other well, and everyone else was in my same boat. They were the only ones from their school and had never really met other people in different chapters. Once my roommate arrived, I felt more at ease talking to new people. It was easier to approach a group with someone you know rather than by yourself. I didn’t really know Marley well, I had just met her, but we were in the same room which gave us an automatic reason to connect. Marley is the current President for the Western Kentucky University chapter. Because of her, I attended panels for Presidents and Vice Presidents. I am not on our executive board, so there wasn’t really a panel for me. It turns out the majority of delegates are Presidents or Vice Presidents of their chapters. I felt really out of place, but thankfully Marley encouraged me to attend her panel. I networked with Presidents and VPs who gave great feedback about recruitment and retention, different events, and fundraising. It was amazing to hear about all of the things that they do to keep their chapters growing. The first day was full of leadership workshops and panels. The second day was the day we voted for the new national committee. Students interested in running for a national committee position attended assembly as non-delegates. As a delegate, I listened to everyone’s speeches and heard about what they wanted to do in the position and how they were the best candidate. Delegates were able to ask questions to the candidates after the speeches. It made for a long day, but it was really cool to see how each person wanted to better the organization and hear all of their ideas. I did not know about half of the resources available to members that really can positively influence your professional career. I am so thankful for this opportunity and highly recommend that anyone remotely interested in becoming an executive member or wanting leadership experience to attend next spring. It’s a great way to network and to get more involved in PRSSA!
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By BRENDA BARERRA & AMANDA DESIMOWICH
We Boilermakers couldn’t be luckier to know Sonja Popp-Stahly. Since 2009 Sonja has mentored PRSSA members at Purdue University as our Professional Advisor. She helps us work through problems our chapter is facing as well as providing future employment opportunities for members post-graduation and a slew of other tasks. She graduated from Ball State University in 1993. During her time there she was a PRSSA National Committee member (92-93), PRSSA chapter officer, committee chair, team member in a Bateman Case Study, staff member at a student-run PR firm for three years, recipient of the PRSSA Betsy Plank national scholarship, and a recipient of the PRSA Joanne Dring scholarship. Quite a list of accomplishments there, proving that she is a wonderful person for our chapter to emulate. Once out of college and in the workforce Sonja did not wait for things to just happen— she made them happen. Sonja has worked for Sara Lee Hosiery, Hetrick Communications, and currently works Eli Lilly and Company as the head of Global Employee Communications. Sonja has also served as a National Professional Advisor for PRSSA, became a judge for the Teahan Awards, Bateman Competition and the PRSSA Scholarship , and was a National Professional Advisor from 2010-2012 and served on the National Board of Directors for PRSA from 2013-2016. For her accomplishments in her career and outside for her profession, she was inducted into the PRSSA National Hall of Fame in 2002. Over the course of her career Sonja has touched many lives. One of those lives is our very own Meagan Finucane, the sitting president of Purdue PRSSA. Sonja has connected Meagan with a large assortment of people in agency, corporate and nonprofit PR organizations. She has repeatedly taken time to speak over the phone or meet in person to strategize resources to grow our PRSSA chapter. In one of Sonja’s most memorable conversations with Meagan, she shared her experiences at Eli Lilly and the BSU PRSSA. In Meagan’s words “ Sonja is a go-getter in anything she does and truly shines amongst all the rest; she is gifted in her ability to work, be a mom, and devote her time to serving others.” Meagan’s top take-aways from Sonja: - Foster strong relationships with people you aspire to become more like - Join PRSA post graduation and remain close to it post graduation - Work hard and never give up - Always keep learning and take the time to find a mentor to keep you on track What can we say, Sonja is an incredibly inspiring woman. Her path to her success has given us tons of insight into the life of a professional and will continue to enrich our chapter’s overall persecutive of public relations. With her advice, wisdom and resources our chapter will utilize our connection with her to better our own chapter and expand our knowledge post-graduation. “Sonja has empowered me to go beyond my set goals and to work diligently to achieve them. Her hand is always reached out to help, being the first one to jump on the phone whenever there is a need. I am grateful for our relationship. Thank you, Sonja!”-Meagan Finucane If you haven’t had a chance to meet our own Professional Advisor stop by our meeting on November 13th to have an opportunity to hear from her and ask her any questions you might have about the industry. Hope to see you there! By BRENDA BARRERA
Ethics and PR may seem like antonyms but by researching PR Ethics Month I have found that to be far from the truth. Yes, PR tends to have a bad rap but that is because people haven't followed ethical practices in the past. The guidelines that PRSA sets to lay out give us the groundwork for how to present ourselves and change the name of PR in the professional world. PRSA code of ethics states that members should hold the following six values to be the most important: advocacy, honesty, expertise, independence, loyalty, and fairness. Basically, you should be accountable for your own actions, remain truthful in all campaigns, continue learning to better the profession, stay faithful to your company while still serving the public, continue to provide objective advice to clients, and be respectful of other’s opinions. Their official code of conduct has six provisions calling for: the free flow of information, competition, the disclosure of information, safeguarding of confidence, conflicts of interest, and enhancing the profession. It is important to follow these to have the best possible relations with your coworkers, competitors and media. By following this code of conduct you can help all PR professionals alter our current stereotype of greedy employees spinning stories and replace that with true ethical advisories. A few points that I would like to emphasize in honor of PR Ethics Month:
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AuthorsBrenda Barerra Archives
May 2018
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