Tag Archives: Southern California

Follow My Personal Blog – 95 to The 5

25 Jun

I just started a new personal blog that I will update more frequently than this one to document my move and transition from the East Coast to the West Coast. I will continue to use this as my PR blog and as a showcase to potential employers and clients of my writing ability. But check out a bit of my personal life and follow my journey at 95 to The 5. Here is a sample:

I am exactly five weeks away from the big move from Baltimore, Md., to San Diego, Calif., so I thought it would be a great idea to start this blog to document my journey, make it easier for friends and family to see how things are going, and for anyone else who is interested to read about my adventures.

I have always searched for new experiences, and I have always relished at meeting new people, learning new cultures, and traveling. I am one of those people who love experiencing new things for the learning opportunities it presents and the reflection that takes place after. You learn more about yourself, other people, and the world by throwing yourself into new and different experiences.

I also believe that because you only have one life, you must do everything possible to live it to its fullest with no regrets. People often fear the unknown, and it stops them from pursuing their dreams. But later, they always wonder, “What if?” I am not that kind of person. I don’t want to wonder, “What if?” I want to tell you what happened when I tried. If I want to do something, I will do it. My perspective is that there are other people in my shoes that are succeeding at doing the things I want to do and living the kind of life that I want to live, so why can’t I? Yes, it might be difficult at first. Change is always difficult. But why must we remain stagnant when there is much more to life? Nothing that is worth having ever comes easy, and you will never get what you really want out of life if you don’t try. What’s the worst that can happen? You can make some mistakes and learn from them. But it is only a failure if you do not even try.

People often ask me, “Why are you moving to California? What’s there?” Well, my response is. . .

Read more of this post and follow my new blog here: 95 to The 5!

Related articles

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Importance of Being Ethical in PR

26 Jan

When discussing what PR is, one of my readers made a comment that PR practitioners must possess “superior ethical behavior” and be transparent, genuine, and honest in their work.

I thought this was an interesting thing to point out since I have heard many people that are not involved with PR say that PR professionals must manipulate the public into believing their client is something they really are not – making a client seem better than they really are or covering up/hiding anything that may be deemed as bad publicity. This is absolutely not true.

Being manipulative, deceitful, and secretive will cause the cycle of bad PR to continue.

It is of utmost importance to be ethical, transparent, genuine, and honest. While incidents of bad publicity often stem from unethical behavior and actions, they are corrected by ethical decisions by ethical PR practitioners. Bad publicity will happen, and when it does, it is the role of the PR professional to:

  • Acknowledge what happened
  • Take responsibility for what happened
  • Figure out how to prevent it from happening again and take action to ensure it does not happen again
  • Let the public know that you have completed the above three steps – Depending on the severity of the issue, this can be done by issuing a press release or through a campaign.

As a PR student, I can cite many examples of things gone wrong that have been fixed in an ethical way, instead of the company trying to lie about it, avoid responsibility, or cover it up. (One of the best examples: Tylenol). On the other hand, we can also examine cases where companies do not acknowledge or take responsibility for what happened, try to keep it a secret, and hope that it will just “go away.” (One of the worst examples: Exxon).

A recent incident I would like to note as an example involves the quick service food restaurant, Chick-fil-A. Two Asian customers received racist receipts that named them “Ching” and “Chong” at a Southern California Chick-fil-A location. Immediately after the incident, the company acknowledged it and took responsibility for it. They apologized and released a statement to the public, and the employee was terminated.

Chick-fil-A did not need to address this issue to all of their customers. They could have tried to keep the incident secret and only addressed the parties involved. They also could have chosen to only address customers in Southern California, but they chose to release a statement to their entire customer population all over the United States. This is an example of a company being transparent and honest with its publics.

What’s next? Chick-fil-A should create a diversity training program for its employees, further acknowledging and citing this incident as one that does not reflect the company’s beliefs, and emphasizing the importance of employees to share the company’s acceptance and respect for diversity.

What else do you think Chick-fil-A could do? What other cases can you cite of ethical PR behavior gone right or non-ethical behavior gone wrong?

Related articles

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

%d bloggers like this: