Life after UW-Whitewater!

Choosing a University and a career path can be easier said than done, but once you do and you are over whelmed with fun social experiences, projects, tons of homework and crazy deadlines you start to realize at the end of your years attending University what comes next? The University of Wisconsin Whitewater is where I chose to continue my education after transferring from Concordia University as a sophomore. I chose UW-Whitewater because of its great reputation in the Public Relations program and opportunities that it provides. They strive to give you the best experience, real world knowledge and opportunity to be successful after University life. One way to find out how to be successful within the PR industry is through our UW- Whitewater Alumni. They have provided a number of videos of PR graduates who share there experiences and give you great advice for life after University.

After watching many videos one of my favorite PR Alumni was Rick Daniels currently he is working at UW-Whitewater as the Greek Leadership Advisor and using all he has learnt throughout his years at Whitewater. His video was one of my favorites because I thought he seemed extremely personable and gave great advice. As a future PR student I look up to alumni who have careers I would one day like to pursue. His advice on not being afraid to start off small, in smaller companies and be willing to work your way up reassured me that you don’t always land your dream job right away but with time and had work you will achieve it. He also gave great tips like keep everything from University because one day you may use it and always aggressively peruse your dream job.

My other favorite video was Lynnette Hulgan who is an event planner and know owns her own wedding planning and special events business Essential Details LLC in Milwaukee, Wis. Her experiences after Whitewater were inspiring to me as she held many jobs and worked her way up to her owning her business today. She gave me an opened mind to using my PR skills and degree that I will soon have and using it for a wide variety of positions within the industry such as marketing, adverting, event planning, graphic design or whatever it may be. She also gave great advice on  trying to have as many internships as you can to gain knowledge and on treating every client special, make them feel like they are your one and only which has given her great success within her own business.

Lastly, the other video I really enjoyed was Heidi Murphy who was a 2004 PR graduate and is currently a senior account executive at Salmon Borre Group, which is a boutique PR agency, located in Lake Bluff, Ill.  I especially liked hers because she has my dream job working in a small boutique style PR agency. She had some really great tips on upholding the client’s reputation and always being flexible. What I liked the most is that out of all the series of videos of PR Alumni she mentioned LinkedIn as the best professional way of networking. She explained that networking through LinkedIn can be extremely useful when applying for jobs and what great value LinkedIn has. I also thought that she gave great advice on what to do when applying or interviewing for a job. Some of her example were research the company before hand, bring multiple copies of your resume to the interview, look them up on LinkedIn and don’t be afraid to ask questions. These were all things that I thought were really important in becoming successful within the PR industry.

            Overall all these tips are useful for the success of life after University!

Love SB xoxo

The AP World

For years I have been writing, we all have. We write for things like papers for classes, articles for our schools newspapers, cover letters for jobs, posts on peoples pages and even blogs. However, what I never knew was that there was a correct style of writing specifically used in the social media and PR practitioners world called, AP Style writing. Wow! what a different world it is to learn the "AP Style." Writing this way has been called the "correct" "professional" and even "proper" way of writing in the media. Well, if this is so then shouldn't we have all learnt this a little bit younger? If AP style writing is the  correct, proper and professional way of writing in media shouldn't everyone be aware and know this type of writing style?
     
Well, according to many professionals this is the proper way of writing, and after learning it I would have to agree. AP style writing is the way in which we write. It teaches us the correct way it should be written such as punctuation, addresses, ages, capitalizations, courtesy titles, datelines, time elements and numerals. While these all sound very familiar to us in our basic learnings of reading and writing they however, are not. In my public relations class we were asked to read other articles and blogs by professionals who believe in AP Style writing. Some of these really got me thinking about  my perception of writing. AP style writing is particularly important for people in the PR business who have to write articles, news releases, fact sheets or sometimes make public announcements. Without this correct way of writing style you may be looked upon as unprofessional or unqualified for the job. This is why it is particularly important for PR practitioners to not only understand but to know this religiously. AP Style also helps you stay relevant with how you address things in our ever changing world. For example the word "Web site" is known as correct to the regular public, AP Style says it should be correctly written like "website." Little things like this, is what keeps you updated and have a big impact on AP Style writing within the media world.

One of the articles I read was by Professor Gibson's titled "Professor Gibson's Top 15" by the From The Associated Press Stylebook. Which talked about why AP Style writing was important and which categorize he thought were the most important but the forgotten.  I particularly liked when he said that the AP Style book can not be read but you should make sense of the word, scan it, review and peruse it again and again. http://web.ku.edu/~edit/ap15.htm


My favorite blog was by Sandy Young who is a public relations consultant and a freelance writer. In her blog "Why I Am an AP Style Stickler" Talks a lot more about the meaning of writing AP Style and how she converted. I loved when she referred to AP Style writing as the " The Journalist's Bible." I thought this was very true as many of times even know I find myself questioning and looking it up for clarification as you might with a religious bible. I also liked to see the interactions she had with other bloggers that either agreed or disagreed with her reasoning and how she responded to them all.
http://socalprblog.com/wordpress/?p=787


Lastly I read an article by Debbie Hilt whose article is titled "AP never goes out of style." This article shows you that the AP Style is ever changing as our world evolves but how AP Style is constantly
 updating. For new words like "Web site" or " website" and "e-mail" or "email" and which in the journalist standards are the correct form for AP Style writing. All in which can be very valuable to you.
http://alberscommunications.com/2010/09/ap-never-goes-out-of-style/


 Each article and or blog not only explains but gives you great reasons to why this is the best type of writing style and how it can benefit you in your future. Through this process I am a AP Style believer! 
Check out some of these websites for yourself :)


Love,
SB xoxo

The PR Student

Hey Everyone,

So as my first blog entry I am just going to introduce myself and tell you a little about me.

My Puppy Soca

My name is Chantel Young, I am twenty years old. I was raised in a Caribbean Island, called Trinidad & Tobago. Although I was born in California, Trinidad to me is home. People say "Home is where the heart is" and for me its there. I am fortunate enough to have both my parents and a younger brother. I have a very strong family that, I can proudly say are there with me every step of the way as I am for them. I currently live in Kenosha, Wisconsin with my four family member and my beautiful puppy named Soca. My puppy is a full bread black cocker spaniel; her name represents carnival music, which is a type of music we listen to in the Caribbean.

Currently, I am attending Whitewater University and majoring in Public Relations with a minor in Advertising. I am a junior however, this is my first year in Whitewater as a transfer student from Concordia University in Wisconsin. I attended Concordia my freshman and sophomore year. Throughout those years I was really involved in extra curricular activities and really found my passion for Fashion. Although, I really enjoyed my experiences at Concordia I longed for a change and a larger University, so I ended up here. Like I said my major is in Public Relations, which I absolutely love. I have known I wanted to do PR since I was a little girl and well I guess you can say I'm still following my dreams. When people ask me why I love PR so much I always answer "the people." I love networking and meeting new people everyday. Living in a completely different country really gave me different perspective on life and cultures, and because of this I am eager to learn about others threw their own life experiences.

This is me and two cousins. I am the blonde on the left.

As of now my career plan is to move back to Trinidad after I graduate and start working for a well-known company. I am not really interested in working in a PR agency because in a business you can be involved in all aspects of the public relations, advertising and marketing whereas in a agency all you do is PR. I have really great and unique ideas, and I also enjoy designing so I want to be involved in it all. My dream job would be to work in Trinidad for Anya Ayoung Chee as her PR representative. Anya is from Trinidad and was actually 2011's Project Runway winner. She now owns her own company in Trinidad and is always traveling and throwing events, such as Fashion shows. I think for me this would link my love for PR and Fashion together, which is why it would be my dream job.

Well, I hope you have gotten to know a little about me. I will keep updating blogs about my life, experiences and more.
 I am always up for comments and questions so please feel free to reply to my blogs, email me or follow me on Twitter @ChantzYoung.

Love always,
SB xoxo