The Pilot Post

Dear reader who somehow stumbled upon this blog,

First and foremost, thank you for visiting! I'm glad you felt that this link was something worth clicking on. 

For those of you who have read the About Me page, you already have a pretty good sense of what this blog is all about. If you haven't made it there yet, here's a quick summary: this blog will be a little bit of everything-- some things that I've learned, some things that I want to learn, some things I think readers might enjoy learning about and whatever else seems to fit. You get the picture, so let's dive right in. 

This fall, I left behind rows of houses with Greek letters and piles of orange t-shirts to spend my semester in New York City, amid rows of skyscrapers and far trendier apparel, so you'll be hearing a lot about that in this blog. But don't worry Syracuse friends, I didn't ditch all of my 'Cuse clothing--I'm wearing an orange t-shirt as I write this. 

Through the Newhouse in NYC program, I have been given the opportunity to divide my time between interning at Sunshine Sachs, a public relations firm, and taking classes at night. These past few months have been my first experience with the agency world, and let me tell you, it is unlike anything else. It's fast and constantly changing, so I'm lucky to be learning from some of the most talented PR practitioners out there.

Inside the classroom (which is only 15 floors away from my internship-- how lucky is that?) we're exploring topics ranging from communications law, to social media, to the role of race, gender and identity in the media, to transitioning from college to career. These classes, and the amazing field trips, speakers and panels that come with them, give us firsthand experience with real aspects of the media industry that we'll encounter in our careers (think how to launch a social media campaign, how to not break any laws when creating a contest or sweepstakes, how to encourage diversity in media and in the workplace, how to network and build lasting relationships, etc.). 

When I'm not in class or at my internship, I spend my time trying to take in all that New York City has to offer. But that would, and will, take up a whole other post. For now, that's very condensed version of what I'm up to these days. My favorite part about it, three months in, is that New York doesn't feel as big and overwhelming anymore. I'm starting to see how it's possible for a big, loud, crazy city to feel like home-- and a pretty cool home at that. 

Just as any good TV show's pilot episode gives you a brief glimpse at the life of its characters and leaves you begging for more, I hope that this post contained even the smallest tidbit of information that will lead you back here sometime in the near future.