By Katherine Pimentel
CSUN alumni Jennifer Kelleher, returned to her former stomping grounds and shared her journey as a public relations professional. She interned for a wide variety of companies to landing her dream job at the esteemed Rogers and Cowan Agency as an assistant account executive. She outlined her road to success and shared many tips and words of wisdom with the members of PRSSA on Wednesday, March 27, 2019.
Kelleher began her journey at College of the Canyons and was hungry for experience. As a freshman, she hit the ground running, interning at Berri Goldfarb Public Relations. Her intern experience grew after interning at Anderson Group Public Relations, VisitBritain, and Atlantic Records. Through these internships, especially her time at PMK*BNC in the music department, she realized her passion for the music industry.
Kelleher’s extensive and impressive PR experience, led Rogers and Cowan to find her via LinkedIn. She was hired shortly after she graduated college and is now representing some of the biggest names in the industry.
A work day in the life of Jennifer Kelleher consists of: clip reports, pitching, researching, maintaining relationships with journalists, running press rooms and more! Kelleher tackles every task at hand with optimism and confidence.
Kelleher also expressed her professional advice that has helped her get to where she is today such as:
When applying to internships, look everywhere and find what calls to you
Take advantage of the resources that you gain from internships
Pay attention and know “who is who” in the industry
Be open and able to adjust to new business models
When working with journalists, show interest in keeping the relationship
Have a well rounded LinkedIn, as it tells a professional story of yourself
Be involved in PRSSA because it makes you stand out to employers and helps you build a network among the PR community
Kelleher mentioned that she loves to run marathons rather than sprints, which is also a metaphor for how she views her work in Public Relations. She says,“It’s about the journey and not the end-goal that I love. Watching all your hard work and event planning unfold, that then leads to your client’s success, is everything.”
Thank you for inspiring us Jennifer.
Contact Information:
Instagram handle: @jennifernkelleher