April 29 through May 5, 2018 is National Small Business Week. This is my third year in business, although I still work a full time job as a university professor, I am constantly thinking about how courageous my entrepreneurial counterparts are to completely walk away from the lure of a steady pay check and health… Read more
Starting From Scratch
I was listening to NPR’s program, Invisibilia the other night on my way home from teaching. I love that podcast. The word, “Invisibilia” is Latin for invisible things – this episode was telling stories about how people cope with loss and what happens when something happens in our lives that fundamentally shifts how we view… Read more
A Creative’s ABCs
As soon as we could ask “why,” we were curious. Everything we saw, heard, tasted, touched, smelled, and experienced led us to wonder and ask “why.” After we asked “why,” we wanted to know “how,” “where,” “when,” “what,” and “who.” The most creative of us have never stopped asking these questions and have never stopped… Read more
Creativity Works
Every Wednesday, I curate and post job opportunities on my Facebook page, YourPRMentor. Of course, I read all the opportunities. I’m forever interested in knowing what the job market is looking for, especially in public relations and strategic communication. Recently, my brain zeroed in on a word that kept appearing in the job descriptions: “…to… Read more
With Spring Comes Reinvention
The month of March is my favorite month. March signifies that spring is right around the corner bringing with it longer days, flowers blooming, warmer weather and my birthday! I often spend the month of March reflecting on what I have accomplished during the first two months of the New Year and what I would… Read more
Live YOUR Life
The Winter 2018 Olympics in Pyongchang, South Korea has ended. The physical power of the athletes was exhilarating. Their commitment to develop excellence in their sport was enviable. I watched and became breathless and awe-inspired. But I am confident I will not build my body to Olympic “buff-itude.” I’d rather invent words like “buff-itude.” And,… Read more
Is the Truth Out There?
When was the first time you heard someone say, “You can be anything you want to be”? Was it a parent or a teacher? They saw you drawing or coloring or kicking a soccer ball or shooting hoops. I wonder what dreams they had for you. Or, were you watching a television program or a… Read more
Controlled Spinning
On one of many long chats I had with my mother, I said, for the umpteenth time, that I was exhausted. When she asked why, I emailed her a list of all the to-do items I had to get done that week. There must have been—ok, don’t judge—50 items on the list. She shot back… Read more
I Think I am Ready
On Monday night, February 5 my mentor and friend April Ryan graciously came to speak to our journalism and public relations students about her more than two decades’ long career as a member of the White House Press Corps. I have known April for years now, not intimately, but more admiringly as she has graciously… Read more
How May I Help You?
As a college professor, I spend almost as much time meeting with students, giving them advice, and mentoring them as I do in the classroom. Outside of the classroom, I regularly counsel folk on how to “do PR” better – engage audiences online; introduce a new product or service to new audiences; or build relationships… Read more