Tara Seymour is a public relations senior at the University of South Florida. She specializes in creative thinking and promotional development and thrives in seeking new innovative ways to create a brand. She is an active member of PRSSA and PRSA, and is an intern at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL.

Standing out in the public relations world is nothing less than an up-hill climb. As a graduating senior at the University of South Florida, I have witnessed the competitive nature of PR students. Everyone wants to become the best—that one student to become the legend of their school. Unfortunately, there is not enough room for every student to become a PR legend. However, I am convinced that with hard work and devotion every PR student can find their place in this career.

Finding your place in this career takes time. It is not something that can happen overnight, in fact, it takes years to develop. I found my place in public relations through my ambition. My ambition has taken me to places I never imagined I could go, and it has opened my life up to a whole new world of opportunities. Two years ago, when I was beginning my journey in mass communications, I was driven, but I was unprepared for what the real world had in store for me. It took a real life experience to prove to me that I needed to work harder to get to where I wanted to be.

In December of 2007, I had an internship opportunity at HARPO studios in Chicago. To land this internship I had to go through my first real interview. A panel of HARPO employees interviewed me for nearly five hours. It was a great experience, but it scared me to death. My lack of experience was evident, and I didn’t have the skills to back up my interest. That day I realized how competitive this world is, and how much work I needed to do to get the job I wanted.

When I got home, I put 100 percent devotion into my future. I wanted to learn everything, get experience and grow as a student and future professional. I did research on career options, I dived into job searches, I practiced my interview skills and I invested time in career centers. It became a full-time job preparing for my future career, and it still is today.

The feeling of not being prepared or experienced gave me the motivation and final push I needed to jump into public relations. I spent all my spare time interning and learning about mass communications. But, I still struggled to find my niche in PR. I took full advantage of my mentor and the professors who were willing to guide me in the right direction.

They were incredibly helpful, and I would not be where I am today without their help. My mentor provided me with insight, suggestions and future internship opportunities. She was not only supportive, but she also introduced me to many professionals in the media workplace that I now network with today.

Even with the help of my mentor and professors, it still took me five different internships to figure out what I wanted to do in public relations. It was challenging, but all the hard work has paid off. I have walked away from every experience with valuable tools and new lessons learned that I will take away with me for the rest of my life. Finding a niche and a place in PR takes time, but with ambition and hard work anyone can get there with the right attitude and determination.

“You have to figure out who you are—and are you going to be true to that?” – Mona Pasquil, vice president of MSHC Partners, Inc. and business development consultant and sales strategist for IBM. Keynote speaker at the 2009 PRSSA National Conference in San Diego.

Tara Seymour

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Picture Credit: Taken by Cherisse Fonseca Rivera

Today this blog is just my heart!

I had all the intentions in the world to blog today, but I had worked really hard all week on a presentation for this morning. I thought it had gone really well, only to find late this afternoon that things had not gone as well as I had thought. What really added to my disappointed was being told that it seemed like I had put no time into it, when I really I had dedicated weeks to accomplish this particular goal.

Well, tomorrow is a new day. I will set new goals for next week. I will accomplish what I set out to do. Today, I challenge you as well. Push through the rough spots. Follow your passion and your heart. Together we will accomplish more than we will ever know.

I have started to write this blog a million times. The word focus has become part of my everyday vocabulary. "Focus, Cherisse, Focus."

Over the summer I started a new ritual. At the beginning of each week I set goals for what I want to accomplish by the end of the week. The start of a new semester has made me realize how thankful I am that I started setting weekly goals for myself in the summer. The thing is I don't always accomplish the goals I set. Often I find myself being thankful for what I did accomplish throughout the week. The revelation for me is that instead of being hard on myself for not accomplishing my goals, I have to think about it as redefining my goals. Be flexible!

How true is this when we are trying to be innovative and implement social media into our public relations practices? Social media can be a great tool, but only when you focus on bits of it at a time. So many times, I start in one page and wonder off to another page.

Effective social media begins with a goal and then requires perseverance. Here is what I have done to stay on track.

1) Focus on two or three platforms. I am currently focusing on blogging, Twitter, and Linkedin.
2) Set a schedule.
3) Set a number of how many blog post do you want to write in a week, how many tweets do you want to send out in a day, how many followers to I want to get, how many connections do I want to make.
4) Get involved! Join chats, discussions, and leave comments on other blogs.
5) Always leave time to learn new things.

In the end, you will know if you persevered if at least one social media tool is working for you.

Bonus: Evaluate your social media practices? What are your goals? Is perseverance bringing you effective results?