Study, eat, sleep, travel: My “Professional Portrait”

It is asked all the time of students now: tell about yourself; create a “Professional Portrait”; let professors, employers and especially blog-readers know what makes you different, but also what makes you fit in. There’s a connection between being unique and being the motivated, hard working and intelligent person I think most employers are seeking. Being both is crucial – not only to get a job or do well in a course, but also to feel happy and fulfilled.

I grew up in Indiana, which I get a lot of grief for – although possibly not as much as I do for going to school in Oklahoma. Everyone is always asking me, “Really? Why there?” Well, to the former: I was born there.. and to the later: I don’t really know, but I’m here now, making the best of it and loving it (for the most part).

I’m studying public relations and international studies with a minor in political science, which sounds like more than it is. I’m really just reading, talking and writing about things that I love.  The plus side is that my studies are all broad because I have absolutely no idea what exactly I’d like to do with them.

One of my biggest beliefs, which also happens to be what I spend most of my time doing, is that I should devote a large part of my life to seeing and experiencing the world. I see myself as a global citizen with responsibility where I am a legal citizen (U.S.), but also to the nature and peoples impacted by where my legality lies. I travel often, but even in seeing the sights and imersing myself in the various cultures, I always come back appreciating home, little things I took for granted and the friends and family I left behind.

This belief is what motivates me, challenges me and inspires me. Not just to do well in my studies or to land great internships, but also to be a good person – to share kindly, listen warmly and keep philanthropy in my life by giving what I can. My first trip overseas was to Australia when I was 12 years old. I recently returned, 21, and ready for five months of studying abroad Down Under. Obviously, they were two very different experiences, but I loved each one and I learned from both. The ever-changing realities and cultures around the world motivate me to keep seeing them; to look for new adventures, but also return to old ones – or to home.This is where design comes in. To me, cross-cultural, multilateral and multilingual communications are a driving force behind what’s becoming a generational forethought: globalization. How can one design reach two different communities effectively? How can it encourage one society while hurting another? How can design inspire someone, but also interact with them? These are all questions I think about, especially when traveling.I remember learning during a Women and Gender Studies course at OU about skin-whitening techniques used by African communities as colonialism continues to infiltrate and alter their societies. When I traveled to Ghana I saw several large advertisements and designs promoting those skin-whitening products; glamorising porcelain-like skin. It’s this type of design that interests me, but also culturally, where there are differences in taste and regulations.

I’m not a very “digital” person. My Insta feed is filled with rock-climbers, wooden tables topped with food or a bunch of cool little things no one can ever actually find and the occasional Harry Styles fandom, but I see design in all those things and that is what it means to me.

I’m excited to share more about my PR Publications course here and to learn about developing my own designs from personal passions, beliefs and interests. I also have included access to my travel blog: Destination Blank. Although it’s not launching until Labor Day Weekend, you can sign up for email goodies here or click on the Destination Blank slide at the top of this page. Happy travels – or whatever it is you love doing.