How My Double Concentration Helped Me Excel in PR

Gabriella Gamba, Account Representative

Hey guys! I’m Gabriella, and I’m a senior. This semester, I am an account representative for ‘The Circle’  account team.

Since NRC transitioned from a public relations firm to an integrated communications firm, I’ve realized something important about the Communications industry. I’ve learned that, although Communications is separated into different fields – public relations, journalism, advertising and so on, the best work is created when the separate entities work together.

Even before the transition, however, I was able to experience this firsthand based on my own involvement in the Communications world.

I started my freshman year with a concentration in journalism, and didn’t expand to public relations until the spring of my sophomore year. By that point, I had taken a number of journalism classes, and was pretty confident in my skills as a writer.

When I decided to broaden my areas of expertise and began taking PR classes as well, I felt that I had a leg up on some of the other students I worked with. Thanks to the skills I learned in my journalism classes, I already had the strong base I needed to produce quality PR-style writing.

To this day, I continue to channel my journalist side when completing public relations assignments, whether that is in class, during North Road, or at an internship.

Long story short, having skills in an area of Communications separate from public relations truly helped me to develop the skill set I needed to excel thus far in my PR career, and I believe that I will continue to use those skills no matter which career path I ultimately follow.