It's a Small World, After All

Remember when you were little and your parents would play the song “It’s a Small World?” It indeed is a small world. This week, we had Jennifer Little and Ashley Maddocks from Edelman come to our class. It took me back to my fall semester of my junior year, as I had the privilege of interning with their office back then.

Ashley and Jennifer had great chemistry as co-speakers and did a wonderful job of representing the agency world to us. Often times as graduating seniors, we are told to “fear” the fast pace and the work load of a PR agency. The two ladies, however, reminded us how this actually is a good thing and prepares upcoming PR professionals for a versatile career in the industry. Additionally, they shed a lot of light upon how Edelman helps their employees grow via programs such as Edelman University and Living in Color.

However, the one thing that struck me the most about our conversation with them was our discussion of the PR industry in Dallas. Dallas may be one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United States, but everyone knows everyone in the PR world here. This may reflect our locals’ ability to network powerfully or just the fact that our numbers aren’t as considerable as New York, Chicago or Los Angeles. Either way, the song’s golden rule of “friendship to everyone” applies here more than anywhere else.

The ladies proved this point by giving us an example of a potential intern who had experience at another agency where he didn’t put his best foot forward. Little did he know, his current supervisor was Ashley’s roommate…  As you may have guessed, he surely didn’t get to be a Trainee at Edelman after that.

While one must always be a positive and hard-working intern regardless of where they are, we must realize that this matters even more in a well-connected community like Dallas. The six degrees of separation are probably cut into three degrees here and I want to thank Jennifer and Ashley of reminding us that it’s a small world, after all.