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Hi! My name is Ellie Griffin, and I am currently a senior Strategic and Corporate Communication major and Psychology minor. I plan on graduating this spring and pursuing a career in public relations. This past semester, I have been interning at Blaze PR, a public relations firm based in Santa Monica that represents various lifestyle brands.

The most significant piece of advice I would offer to other students is to reach out to family, friends, professors, and people you see on LinkedIn, as you never know how your connections may create opportunities for you. It may initially feel uncomfortable, but it never hurts to ask, and people love being able to help or give their advice. I was connected with my now internship supervisor and the Senior Account Manager at Blaze through a family friend over the summer. I asked if she would be willing to do an informational interview with me, and she happily agreed. During the meeting, she was able to offer meaningful insight into her experiences, Blaze PR, and the public relations field as a whole. She found that my career aspirations aligned closely with the work Blaze did and encouraged me to apply to their internship program for the fall semester. I applied, interviewed, and received an offer for a three-month internship with Blaze. 

I have been working with Blaze PR since early September and have been so grateful to have had the opportunity to work for such an acclaimed company and under such driven, knowledgeable, and successful individuals. Over the course of my internship, I have had the privilege of assisting my managers on a variety of projects, such as pitching, conducting research, creating press releases, tracking media coverage, assembling reports, and analyzing media audits. Each task has broadened my public relations knowledge and given me valuable experience with workplace communication, time management, and navigating working remotely. 

Working from “home.”

Working remotely came with more challenges than I initially anticipated. At first, I was excited at the prospect of working from home and not having to commute. After my first few days of work, I began to recognize the challenging time of combating feelings of isolation, staying mentally focused, and feeling productive with the reality of the distractions that come with living with four other girls in a college house. After some trial and error testing out various methods, I found that working from a coffee shop was the perfect workplace environment. It checked all of my boxes. I was able to look forward to getting my coffee and going somewhere I could work independently but still be surrounded by other people and not feel the distractions of daily life in my home. With so many coffee shops in the circle and around Orange, it has given me a fun opportunity to try different places and coffees while still getting things done.