When I first accepted my internship with JMG Public Relations, all I felt was excitement. Living in Oklahoma my whole life, I felt more than ready to get out of my comfort zone and explore things not only in New York but within the public relations industry. I was ready to see what really goes on in the public relations world outside of the walls of my college, The University of Oklahoma.

If I’m being honest, I had no idea what to expect on my first day at JMG Public Relations. I was nervous, excited, maybe even a little scared, but most of all, I was eager to finally see what PR is like from the inside out.

Growing up in New York, I always took trips to Manhattan with my family, friends, or even by myself whenever I had a few spare hours to hop on the train to Penn Station. While I was looking forward to working downtown in a real New York City office, COVID-19 led to my first internship being completely virtual and consisted of multiple daily Zoom calls and tons of messages over Slack to keep in contact with one another. Despite the pandemic, JMG was able to continue this program online and run it virtually flawlessly, allowing me to grow and learn a tremendous amount during my few months at the company.

Ever since I have switched majors at the start of my college career, I’ve had the most amazing time pursuing what I actually want. Sure, majoring in Supply Chain Management would have been a great opportunity, but my heart wasn’t in the classes I took. I knew I wanted to pursue Communication, but I was unsure of which field exactly. After speaking to multiple academic advisors, I finally set my sight on public relations. It was something unknown, but after completing multiple PR classes, I had come to realize that PR was something I could enjoy doing for a long time. I knew I wanted to be in a creative field, but I also wanted a job that was challenging and always kept me on my toes.

Life (and internships) don’t have to be perfect to be wonderful, and true professionals can do anything to make a sticky situation lighter through treating people with humanity and optimism. There are the two greatest lessons I’ve learned through my time interning at JMG, and I truly consider this to have been the semester of a lifetime (in more ways than one).

I’ve always had an interest in the arts and entertainment industry, but was never really a performer. Instead, I looked into the business aspect of it and that’s where I discovered public relations. PR has always fascinated me since high school and was always curious what this particular field was like. Throughout my college career, I bounced between majors and interests, but public relations was something that I’ve always kept in the back of my mind. Just like in PR where we constantly take risks, I decided to take the risk of my own and chose this path.

Throughout my college career, it has always been my goal to take advantage of every possible opportunity that came my way. It was a big reason that I knew I wanted to move to New York City to be able to have experiences and opportunities I wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to.

Ever since a young age, I was always drawn towards the arts. I owned piles of sketchbooks, and my school notes were filled with drawings. Throughout high school, I was the designated student to decorate the school halls for holidays and special events, create theater sets, and design the yearbook. Once I started college and began exploring different career options, I accepted the fact that I would not be able to combine my hobby with my job. I was disheartened, and I couldn’t help but ask why “growing up” meant sacrificing doing what I love. JMG PR showed me that my profession and artistic abilities can go hand-in-hand.

The latter part of last year I was spending a lot of time contemplating the inevitable; I was due to graduate in 6 months and I still had no idea where to begin looking for jobs. Though it’s not easy to decide where you want to go in life, the first step seemed like the hardest for me. Sooner or later I knew I had to face the daunting question: what career do I envision myself excelling at?