Accepting the Torch
Behavioral ScienceCommunicationsCreativityEducationEmotional IntelligencePublic Relations
Alright, so right when I graduated from my school, I thought I knew exactly what I was going to do and who I was going to be. No questions asked. But then, after transferring to two different universities and switching my major literally four times, I found myself sitting in a College of Journalism and Communications class as a public relations major, so go Gators again. And at that point, I figured out, okay, communications is what I want to do, I’m passionate about it, but I still had no idea what field I really wanted to get into. So it’s my first day of my PR strategies class and it’s my junior year in InWox and Cristiano. And I never met her before, so I remember thinking, one, wow, she’s really tall, two, great outfit, and three, oh shit, this is going to be really intense. Why did I not check RateMyProfessor.com before I signed up for her course? And so she walks in and she has these bright eyes and she’s looking at us like we are the best thing that could ever happen to her. And the next thing she said during that course was the one thing that I learned. Sorry, that was about it. She said, your job as communicators will never be to raise awareness. She said, I want to accept that, you’re better than that. She said, your job as a communicator will be to create a change. She said, you can be a change maker. I remember thinking, huh. So then she goes in and starts talking about social change communications, whatever we’re calling it these days. And I finally realized, yes, this is it, this is what I can do. And so I went to her office and I said, what do I need to do? Who do I need to meet? Where do I need to intern? And where do I need to work to make this happen? And so the rest is history. Now I’m working at one of the top social change communications companies and speaking of that in front of all of you today. But then I think about, okay, what about those students who didn’t have Ann Cristiano as their teacher? What about those students who didn’t have Aaron Hart, Ben Milder, Alex Field, or Andy Bernas as their mentors? What about those students who have no idea that our field even exists? We are missing out on such great talent. So if you’re a professional here in the audience, I’m going to ask you to keep doing what you’re doing while you’re here, developing those relationships, creating those connections. But I’m also going to ask you to reach out to that student or recent graduate and listen to them, find out how we can help them. Is it internships, mentorships? Is it speaking at classes? How can we better engage with them? And if you’re a student, this responsibility relies on you as well. You are here in this amazing event with these top leaders of our field. Take advantage of it. I want you to go up to at least three people that you think might be interesting and learn from them. I want you to take it easy. This is your opportunity. This is your chance. And to all of you, I’m not asking you to raise awareness about our field. I want to accept that. I’m asking you to create a change. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.