I have always known that I've wanted to live and work in New York City. I never thought I'd do so working for a cable channel primarily viewed by women and gay men. Before I knew it, I was living in a Marymount Manhattan College dorm with three other guys I had never met before. Two days after moving in, I started my internship at 3o Rockefeller Plaza, headquarters of General Electric and home to many of NBC Universal's cable channels.
My internship was eye-opening in so many ways. I learned how press releases were made, how to format and release press clips to the higher-ups of an organization like NBC, how publicists interact with their celebrity clientele and what the behind-the-curtain activities of celebrity interviews are like. While these are only a few of the many PR tools that my internship equipped me with, the coolest part by far was meeting the people. I'm not just referring to the popular TV icons that are affiliated with Bravo (if you are a girl and are reading this, yes, I did meet many of the Housewives and yes, they are pretty crazy) but also to the people that I worked with on a daily basis- the coordinators, publicists, directors and SVPs of Bravo Communications, Production and Development. Working with these people has not only taught me that public relations is far more than the constantly-evolving interaction between an organization and its key publics but also from whence the skills that make a PR practitioner a true master develop.
This monumental discovery seems pretty simplistic when laid out on a blog, but really hit home for me. After a few weeks of working in an environment that was extremely fast-paced and where multi-tasking was a necessity for survival, I came to realize that the basis of public relations is founded upon interpersonal communication. I was given a crash-course in crisis management on every level, whether it consisted of trying to fix the damned copier to print out a favorable article in People while striving to send out clips that were due 15 minutes before or observing a Bravo publicist manage the PR nightmares that were Teresa Giudice's bankruptcy scandal or Danielle Staub's sex tape release. After witnessing and experiencing these trials of communication, I became more aware of the fact that the manner in which a person interacts with their peers will carry over to the competency of that person to develop and maintain the relationships between organizations and target audiences that are essential to true public relations success.
While you may feel inclined to compare my observation to the intellectual capacity of one made by the Buddha or the Dalai Lama, I implore you, your praise is unneeded. I just hope that it makes as much sense to you as it does to me. To conclude the story of my summer in a very brief manner, it was the most fun I have ever had working as hard as I ever have and I intend to continue to explore and develop my skills in the amazing profession which is Public Relations.
Until next time,
Ryan.
