By Erin Golden
As Scripps PRSSA began on Monday, March 24, we welcomed back our group of networkers from the Charlotte Networking trip! Scripps kids sure know how to network, and we know our chapter was represented well in Charlotte.
Per usual, there were a few updates to highlight before getting started.
- It’s not too late to register for the Ohio State Regional and Partner’s Conference!
- Exciting news! Scripps PRSSA is holding a Beach Party this Thursday starting at 9 p.m. at 60 Mill – wear your best beach attire! Big thanks to Briagenn and Marisa for offering their house!
- Our member spotlight tonight was Kathleen Marincic (@KathMarincic). Kathleen is a Junior PR major and is currently an Account Supervisor for ImPRessions. Her favorite class is Nate Riggs’ Marketing class and she loves spring semester in Athens (come on, winter, go away!), and she’s currently interviewing for internships this summer! (Aren’t we all?!) Congrats Kathleen!
Our main event of the night was speaker George Rafeedie, who is the current Jerry Sloan Visiting Professor. He’s the founder of Tell Your Story Brand Communications and has held many positions in marketing, PR and communication roles. He’s also an alum of Ohio University (our favorite kind of speaker!). He was a former E-board member of PRSSA and opened the night with a story from a Partner’s Conference he attended, which got many laughs. His enthusiasm carried into his contribution to Jerry Sloan, who he says was “personally and academically influential” to him and is a “great person and a family man.”
George himself is from Youngstown, Ohio, and believes in “networking, personal branding and paying it forward.” The Chapter “awww-ed” over his story of meeting his wife in his OU graphics class. Before marrying his wife, he had two different jobs in Cincinnati and then moved to Chicago. A detailed graphic of his life and career so far gave us all a personal look into just how George got to where he is – he emphasized to us all, however, that our lives and career paths would look extremely different from his. Don’t we know it!
He then dove straight into his model of “Types of Networkers.” According to George, there are many different ways to label a networker – they range anywhere from “The Feel Good Networker,” to “The Obnoxious Networker” and “The I Hate Networking Networker.” Even though there are many types of ways people networking, George provided another graphic to give an example of one of his many networking success stories. A friend he met on an intramural football team at OU later ended up assisting him in acquiring his largest client at his new agency. Networking and mentoring can help even when we leave the streets of Athens.
George also made sure to emphasize the importance of branding – something the Scripps PRSSA chapter knows well. “Have control over who you are and what you do.” Also, take control of your career path and get excited for the many opportunities available for us as professionals! After touching on branding and careers, George hit on purpose-driven messaging when it comes to organizations; what is its purpose, and what are its values, promises and voice? These are the organizations that will last.
The Jerry Sloan visiting professor left us with a few of his favorite quotes – a personal favorite being “Luck is the residue of hard work.”
Thanks for the laughs and great advice, George! Until next time, PRSSA.