Now that my time at Razonia McClellan Public Relations is coming to a close and so is my time at Texas Tech University, I have been going through a series of emotions. When I walked in the front door at RMPR on my first day in January, I had no idea what to expect. I just wanted to be, at the very least, okay at public relations, and I was terrified I would learn I picked the wrong major. Sitting at the intern desk on my very last day, I feel incredibly lucky and grateful for a group of women who have shown me the ropes of this industry and made me feel like a valued part of their team, even if it was for a short time. Each of these ladies taught me something so important and unforgettable that I will carry with me throughout my career, and for that I will never be able to say thank you enough.
Kirsten: My fellow Intern-In-Crime (with the most beautiful hair)! Kirsten and I got to spend a lot of time working together during events, even though our work schedules were opposite of each other. I am so glad I got to work with somebody who was in the exact same position as me and has been learning aspects of the PR industry with me. It’s been a blast and we still have no idea how we never ended up in a single PR class together, but I’m glad RMPR brought us together. I also helped her pick out her first gun so we are now forever bonded and I feel so honored! Congrats on graduating, we made it!
Korryn: I can honestly say I am walking away from this internship more educated on Taylor Swift than I ever expected! Korryn is possibly the most quiet of the RMPR team, but she has a gift for using the perfect memes, gifs, and Taylor Swift lyrics at the most perfect times. As the office germaphobe, Korryn ALWAYS has hand sanitizer on her which comes in handy quite often during events and I genuinely believe it’s the reason why I didn’t end up getting sick at all this semester for the first time in my college career. Thank you so much for being a leader to me and Kirsten, and for all of the other interns that come through RMPR. We couldn’t do it without you!
Audrey: Audrey is the office fashionista who has so sweetly answered all of my beauty questions and laughed with me during all of my freak-outs from my desk. She also has put up with all of my music blasting while I hammered away at (annoyingly necessary) media lists and press releases or graphic designing sessions. I have learned from Audrey how important it is to just stay focused on your own work and be as kind as possible, regardless of how stressful the situation is and everything will work itself out. I admire your grace and ability to always smile, Audrey! Congratulations to you as well on graduating and for pep talking me all through our campaigns class! Seriously, you have been a life saver.
Sarah: Sarah and I instantly bonded over our love for our cats, who are both Calicos for any fellow cat lovers. As a former RMPR intern, Sarah provided so much helpful insight to me personally and I cannot explain how helpful Sarah has been during those overwhelming moments where I had no idea what was happening or what I was doing. I love working with Sarah because I can always tell what kind of mood she is in depending on what kind of music she is blasting from her office which is honestly all over the map: Mo-Town in the morning, NSYNC in the afternoon, for example. As RMPR’s graphic guru, I also learned so much about the importance of simply caring about what you are designing and paying attention to the smallest of details and the huge effect it can make on that design. Sarah is so passionate about the PR industry and it shows every single day. Thank you so much for being such an incredible mentor to me and for always fixing my less-than-perfect graphics--I will truly never design anything without thinking, “What Would Sarah Do?” again!
Razonia: Last but certainly not least, Razonia is the 100% fearless leader of RMPR. I have had a couple of retail jobs throughout college, but I have had more bosses that do not have any kind of respect for their employees than those who actually care. Without Razonia and her intention to make sure that even the interns know how important they are to the team, this office would not be the same. I also blame Razonia for bringing back my coffee addiction; before starting my internship I did not need any coffee to function for the first time since high school, and now I need at least three cups of coffee before 11AM to get a smile out of me. However, one of my favorite parts of my days at RMPR have been my chats with Razonia in the morning while we make ourselves coffee. I wish I could summarize everything that I have learned from her during my internship, but truthfully I think I learned even more than I am aware of. It really did change my life coming to a workplace that I was excited to be at and wanted to do my best work every single day. It’s now a worry of mine that I will never be fortunate enough to work for somebody who is so good at what she does and knows how to run a PR firm as well as Razonia does. Luckily, I know the alarm codes to the office so I might just show up at the office and pretend like I never left if that happens. (Consider this your warning!) At the end of the day, Razonia has been so much more than a boss to me, and I think I can speak for everybody at RMPR when I say that. Working in this environment really elevates the work and makes us all want to work to make RMPR the best it can be, and I will never be able to verbalize how much this internship has meant to me and undoubtedly what it has prepared me for in my future endeavors. Thank you so much for picking me to be on your team, Razonia!
This was just supposed to be a blog “recapping my time/what I learned” at RMPR and now I can barely see the computer screen through the water welling up in my eyes, but this internship has been the best part of my time at Texas Tech and has shown me everything I wanted to learn from being at RMPR: I know now that I absolutely made the right choice in picking the public relations industry and I am more confident than ever that I have the work ethic and the knowledge to apply what I have learned in school to the real world. I also learned how much of a necessary evil media lists are and look forward to the day that I can make an intern of my own write them for me! Looking back, I cannot say enough good things about everything that I have learned while being a part of the Razonia McClellan Public Relations team and that I may or may not have made a copy of the office key (they are actually never getting rid of me, they just think they are)…Thank you so much to all of these beautiful women on this team, and I wish only the best of luck to you all and every future intern that gets to be a part of this lovely group. I miss you all already!