From the Desk of Our Strategic Comms Intern — PR as a Women-Powered Industry
Hi everyone! My name is Ella Gage, and I’ve been the Strategic Communications Intern at the Keller Group for the past few months. I’m thrilled to start sharing what I’m learning in the Keller Group intern blog! To introduce myself, I’m a recent Communication Studies and Journalism-Public Relations graduate from Western Washington University. I’m immensely grateful for the opportunity to dive right in and get experience working in the media and public relations industry under the very best, Keller Group founder and CEO Lee Keller. This blog will serve as a space to continually share recent projects, amplify industry voices, and offer a behind-the-scenes look at client stories and PR techniques.
A little bit about me: I’ve spent the greater part of the past four years researching, interviewing, and writing for five publications in addition to my classes. I’m Seattle-born and raised, and live on Squak Mountain in Issaquah, Washington, with my two golden retrievers. When I’m not working, I’m typically hiking, skiing, or painting.
Prior to writing in college, I started reporting for my high school paper at 14 — and that was the catalyst. All aspects of the media production process are exciting and dynamic: research, substantiation, hearing from a diversity of individuals, and organizing narratives and context into the most informative and compelling format possible. I’ve always appreciated the creative side of media production as well: photography, illustration, page design, web design, social media content, and more.
Something clicked again during my junior year of college when I began meeting incredible, semi-retired public relations veterans who switched over to teaching kids the trade. I was ultimately inspired by my professors — all deeply creative, driven women who had worked in the industry for 20+ years. I consider these professors some of the most dazzling, hardworking, outgoing, wickedly intelligent individuals I’d ever met. They’d diverge from PR theory and history lectures to veer into fascinating anecdotes of their own experiences representing a vast diversity of clients across private, government, and nonprofit sectors.
There was something remarkable, empowering, and unique about the careers these women had built for themselves.
Just like Lee, they did it all. They’d media-trained powerful CEOs of multinational companies to streamline their messaging, conducted branding overhauls, orchestrated stakeholder outreach, organized fundraisers and galas for philanthropic causes, and pitched stories to media outlets. They designed, organized, wrote, analyzed, and tirelessly problem-solved. In their free time, they got involved with community boards and worked for nonprofits. All in all, I have not met one single PR vet who has failed to inspire me, which is why I decided to go into this industry.
In the larger scheme of things, there are only a handful of job sectors that women dominate in America: early childhood education, nursing, clerical and administrative support, hospitality, and fundraising. While all of these are societally crucial, public relations is notably distinct from the other women-dominated careers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, between 60% and 75% of PR contractors and executives are women. They fulfill a vital role in disseminating information between the public and private spheres, with some of their work being public-facing, and much of it occurring behind the scenes. Either way, it tends to be highly influential.
PR specialists sit with stakeholders and CEOs directly at the decision-making table. Their work drives public discourse and sparks action on an infinite range of issues, from culture to policy. They fill critical crisis communication roles, keeping citizens informed with reliable, factual information through emergencies and major events. Lined up against other women-dominated fields, PR is unique in terms of the upward mobility it opens the door to. For instance, if you look at Fortune 500 companies, a mere 10.4% of CEOs and 18.5% of CFOs are women — but compared to men, women comprise a staggering 66% of Chief Communications Officers (CCOs).
Plus, PR provides a vital space for writers — women writers — to overcome the countless odds stacked against them as both women and creatives to build robust, successful careers. This is the case even when compared to similar writing-heavy professions like journalism or copywriting, where women are typically underpaid compared to their male counterparts (ProCopywriters, IFJ) . Though public relations work is expansive and diverse, a fundamental passion for writing is often the launch point into strategic communications.
I like this quote from Carol Evans, former CEO of Working Mother Media, CEO at SHARE Cancer Support, and a PR veteran herself:
“You have to be bold. You have to be bold to go into a position that no one’s been in before. You have to be bold to be the only woman in the room, which happens over and over. You have to be bold to be able to take a lot on the nose because nobody wanted to invest in a woman.”
…but it’s vital to invest in women. From powerful politicians to multinational corporation CEOs to nonprofit directors, these individuals and organizations continually contract highly capable women to lead their campaigns, generate spur-of-the-moment media coverage, manage huge events, and find constructive, creative solutions for powerful stakeholders. They invest not only because it pays off (literally and figuratively) — it generates real change.
And, on that note, I cannot stress enough how thrilled I am to enter this wonderful, challenging, rewarding, women-powered industry that exists at the crossroads of creativity and business. I’ll keep you in the loop with PR trends, expert insight, Keller Group client work, and more.
Until next time,
Ella Gage