Girl Power

For those of you not in the know, this past Tuesday was the 2008 Canadian Women in Communications Annual Awards Gala, held at the Ottawa Congress Centre. I was lucky enough to attend as a volunteer, and found the whole night to be a great success. I was really inspired by the stories of women acting as trailblazers in their industry. The Canadian Women in Communications helps women to advance and maximize their career potential, doing so through a national mentoring program, local and national events and professional development. I think what they're doing is great.

There have been times when I've run into gender based obstacles through my own work experiences, and I think its so unnecessary, and surprising when it happens. I really do believe that there has been so many advancements for women in the workplace, that so-called notions of a "glass ceiling" seem a little...well, silly. Imagine my surprise though when at the CWC gala I learned that the majority of communication businesses (especially telecommunications) do not have a woman as an executive and that in the majority of these businesses have women making up a minority of their workforce! One of the winners at this evening was the only woman to hold the title of President in her particular field.

Holy bananas! I wonder at the reason for this..lack of advancement for women? Sexist stereo-typing? Or is it similar to the situation with women becoming (or lack of becoming) MPs and involved in government? Arguments there hold that women lack the confidence to be involved with that world or have more responsibilities elsewhere (amongst other reasons, but I'll spare you the reading!)

It was pretty eye-opening to learn of all of this. All in all the CWC gala was a really great eye-opening experience, and an opportunity to meet some wonderful people who are doing truly amazing things for women in the workplace. I really liked what CWC president Stephanie MacKendrick had to say about the work her organization does: "CWC doesn't work to make positions only available 'to the girls,' but instead we work to change the perspective of women in the workplace."

Pretty cool stuff. Soo, I'm curious as to what you, reader(s?) think about this. Are women not advancing due to stereo-typing, or are they not taking the opportunities available to them? Are there still boy-club attitudes out there that need to be changed?? I'm curious as to what others think...

Another Good-bye

So, firstly I realize that it's been awhile since I've posted anything here. I got really caught up in the moment of my blog then after posting it got caught up in school and this feel to the wayside. So my apologizes first! Now, I know its probably not the most correct writing thing, but I'm going to have this posting as a goodbye post. Today is my last day as a college student in my program, and I guess at the same time as a student. Reading week is next week and then after that I start my placement at Hill and Knowlton, which I am extremely excited for. But for now, I want to reminisce on my experiences that I've had as a public relations student at Algonquin.

I came to Algonquin after finishing my mass communications degree, and wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with my life. I didn't feel ready to go into the workplace, and wasn't sure if I wanted to be back in school. With some encouragement from my Mom (thanks Mom) I enrolled in pr at Algonquin, which has probably been the best decision of my life. Looking back at my experiences here, I am overwhelmed with the things I have learned as a student and as a person. I have learned responsibility, dedication, and found my true passion. I cannot say enough about my fellow colleagues and the amazing teachers here at the school. I have not been anywhere else where I can drop into a teachers office, call them by their first name, and chat about whatever. Their support is amazing.

Looking back at all we've accomplished, I can't help but feel a little nostalgic on how fast the time has flown by. I definitely believe that I am a different person for coming into this program (for the better!) and am going to miss my friends, teachers, and life lessons learned here. It's a little scary knowing that I'll never be a student again, and I have no idea what the future holds, but I'm excited to find out. I'm hoping that with hard work, I'll get a job offer at Hill and Knowlton (please, please, please!) So we'll see what happens. I promise this time to do a better job of updating!

This is my very first blog posting on this site.

Hello!

The purpose for my blog is that I want to learn as much as I can about the public relations field over the next few months to better prepare myself for entering the job market. In short--I want to be a mean, lean, pr-knowledge machine!

I have posed a challenged to myself, and with your help, I hope to get the most out of it that I can. For the past two-years I have been studying public relations and am ready to put to use everything that I have learned. I want to completely engage myself in everything PR and learn as much as I can about this field--and along the way share my experiences with you.

I will be looking for help and advice, tid-bits on how I can better further myself in this experiment. I am doing this on behalf of all the fresh PR students/grads who are looking for practical advice and insight on how to get started in this field. In such, I hope to engage the inexperienced with the experienced, the young with the older, the naive with the wise.

How I hope to go about this slightly daunting task:

I will read newspapers (daily. and not just Metro). I will join professional associations and attend as many professional development events as possible. I will network whenever and with whomever. I will read as many articles, books, journals on PR, networking, and communications as I can (know any good ones?)

As I fumble my way around, I will share everything I learn on this blog, in hopes that I can help other befuddled students (such as myself!) along the way.

Any other suggestions on ways to go about starting this experiment?