PR Diva welcomes Jashonda Williams as a Guest Contributor. In her first submission, Jashonda discusses the perception of women in PR. Do you agree with her insights?
As PR girls, we get a bad rep in the media for being mean, catty and highly competitive. Movies and TV shows such as Sex and the City and Gossip Girl give people the impression that everyone is like that and the PR industry is a dog-eat-dog world. In many cases, this is true. Offices at PR firms can become cliquey and outside those firms is even more cattiness and fierce competition. I believe this is a serious problem; there is no reason why adult women should be so quick to bash the next just to get their client the coverage. It’s important for PR girls to stand together whenever they can and work with each other to achieve their goals. But we can’t expect anyone to play nice unless they know why they should and also why they never did.
Everyone has a niche or a specialty, so when you meet another PR girl with a different talent than you, take advantage! If there’s something you’re struggling with when it comes to your own firm or project, hire her to do the work for you! We’re all trying to survive in this world and the only way to make it is by supporting each other. The growth of your business, especially in this industry, is dependent on your ability as a publicist to develop and maintain beneficial relationships. No one is telling you to befriend this woman and tell her your company secrets, but there isn’t anything wrong with you allowing her to use her talents to grow your business.
Networking is a key part of any profession. We’ve all heard the saying; it’s not what you know but who you know. And that’s absolutely true! When it comes to finding a job and being at the agency that works best for you, people tend to move around a lot. While making these moves, we meet people, lots of people. Let’s say you became friendly with another publicist who recently started working where you’ve always dreamed of working, landing yourself a position there isn’t completely out of your reach because most coveted jobs in PR are given to someone with the connections to get you in.
But the questions remains, why are women in PR so catty and bitter towards another? What makes PR one of the most competitive industries is that you do not need a degree in the field to enter it. With virtually everyone being qualified for an entry level position at a PR firm, competition rises and the claws come out. I hear women say that they’ve had to fight for every raise, promotion and position since they entered the PR world. It’s a lot to consider when thinking about all the people who earn degrees before taking a plunge into the job market.
We must also consider the fact that as we rise up ranks we must develop thick skin. Take PR queen Kelly Cutrone for example, her company Peoples Revolution is well known and does an amazing job for all their clients. But the more successful you become, the more people will be out to get you, so she has to be as aggressive as she is when it comes to her business.
As publicists, we live by a certain code we go by when handling clients, employees, the media but none when it comes to dealing with each other. As professionals in the same industry, we need to band together and show support. It’s always a beautiful thing when I see PR girls developing women empowerment events and workshops for women in PR. There are a lot of organizations that many PR girls may not know about. It’s crucial that we support the goals of these groups and connect with them to stop the high school PR drama.
Jashonda Williams is a junior at the University at Buffalo, majoring in Business Administration with a concentration in marketing. She is currently a PR intern at The Barry Co. and regular contributor for Vita 1017 and Intern Confidential. Connect with Jashonda on Twitter @queenbjayy and Instagram @queenb_jay