Professional Portrait
My take on public relations.
Hello all,
My name is Kaitlyn Wynn and I am a PR practitioner. I wanted to pop on today to introduce myself and tell you all a bit about my experience with public relations.
Like I said, my name is Kaitlyn, but most call me Katie. I am 21 years old and am currently studying at the University of Oklahoma. I’ve lived in Oklahoma my whole life and graduated from a small-town high school.
I have just finished up my third year as a Public Relations student at the OU. At this school, I have learned skills ranging from strategic planning and crisis management to behavior analysis and graphic design. I am also working for a marketing team as an intern at Tinker Air Force Base, where I get to learn from and work with marketing and PR professionals in a very hands-on way. I have done a lot of event and fundraiser management in the past few years as well.
The thing I like most about PR is the psychology behind it. It is fascinating to learn about behavioral trends, psychographics and why people do and think the things they do. From an outside perspective, it may seem superficial- what made someone buy that shirt or like this song? However, as a PR professional you have the ability to influence so much- how do we get people to care about this issue or help these people?
I chose to study public relations because I saw it as the best way for me to affect change. I am passionate about a variety of things- sometimes I think it’s too many things. I am passionate about advancing DNA testing for cold cases to be solved, about ending the backlog of untested rape kits, about ocean exploration and conservation, about ending the stigma around mental health- I could go on, but I won’t. The point is, there are so many things I want to help with, but I cannot become a scientist, detective, marine biologist, legislator, psychologist and everything else. I probably would not be good at most of those jobs. But I am good at talking to people, communicating, critical and critical thinking, writing and finding the good. That is what motivates me to keep learning, because PR is how I do my part.