Have respect for those who came before.....

“There’s always a story. You just have to find it.”

My supervisor is fairly new to public relations. He’s an old newspaperman who has a true “nose for news” as they say.

There have been times on the job that I was unsure of myself, hesitant to write fearing that maybe I was the only one who cared if a foreign beetle killed every red bay tree in existence. That is the nature of my job though. I am supposed to make people care by finding the news nugget. Without a good mentor I couldn’t do it.

I am thankful for people like my boss because he knows what will get released and what will end up in the circular file. He is always bouncing ideas around and cruising Google to see what interest is out there. Having worked for years with the newspaper he has this sixth sense almost for what the media is looking for. That experience is invaluable for the rest of us on staff.

Every person new to PR knows just how important it is to have a mentor. Sometimes they pop up in the most unusual places and when you least expect it. I came into my job with a lot of confidence. In this industry you have to or you will quickly burn out. Maintaining that confidence is the tricky part and when you have someone on your side, your path becomes a lot smoother.

The funny thing is that he considers himself a dinosaur. He doesn't realize just how relevant his experience really is.

So with his help I have been able to make people care about beetles, rare plants, frogs and the importance of fire. I have found the news and disseminated it to the public, which after all is what public relations is all about. Thanks.