It’s graduation season once again, and many new grads will be stepping out into the world for the first time and starting brand new careers. We started reminiscing about this exciting and scary time and asked CooperKatz team members to share advice, anecdotes and insights about what they wish they knew when they started their career.

Account Coordinator Kristina King very accidentally fell into the field of public relations when she lived in Charleston, South Carolina, where she spent six months trying to break into the advertising industry. Along the way, she had three PR internships – and never looked back. Flash forward to a few years later, when she very accidentally fell into the world of pageants with the Miss America Organization (she’s now in the running to become Miss New York). Click through for the top three things she’s learned about PR through pageantry (and vice versa!).

My mother does not work in public relations. When I chose PR as a major in college, I had to sit both of my parents down and explain to them what I was planning to do with the rest of my life, using phrases like “It’s kind of like advertising, but not at all…” and “no, I’m not a reporter, but I work with them on a daily basis.” (I’m proud to say that they now know exactly what I do and can explain it to anyone who asks!)

Even though my mom does not work in this field, she has taught me so much about the world of PR – probably without even realizing! In honor of Mother’s Day this upcoming Sunday, we wanted to show how classic “mom-isms” influence our everyday lives in the world of public relations.

Purchased in March by Twitter, Periscope is the latest and hottest social media platform. A bit like FaceTime for the masses it allows people to connect with anyone and everyone via video in live-time. Power users like Amanda Oleander have already become instant celebrities for leveraging the app as a personal live-broadcast channel, much like early YouTubers did ten years ago. 

Last week, I had the chance to test out Periscope for the first time for one of our clients, Coldwell Banker.