Recent Alum Spotlight: Molly McFerran

Molly McFerran graduated from UGA in 2007 with degrees in Public Relations and Spanish and is now living in Atlanta.

What are you doing now?

I am currently working at The Reynolds Group, a boutique public relations and marketing firm based in Atlanta and Charleston, S.C., that specializes in the restaurant, hospitality, and lifestyle industries and represents clients across the Southeast.

What is your favorite Grady memory?

Being on the Bateman team and winning first place at the national competition my senior year.

What advice do you have for current AdPR students?

My best advice would be to apply for and have as many internships as you can. As you get further along in your college career and have more flexibility with class scheduling, try to have classes all on Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Tuesday, Thursday so you can have completely open days for internships. Try to intern in different situations to see what you like best and where you can use your talents — in-house at a non-profit, small agency, large agency, communications department of a large company, etc. Be sure to intern in different industries, too, from fashion and hospitality to technology and healthcare. You don't know what you like, or don't like, until you have different experiences. When you are an intern, take initiative and go above and beyond what is asked of you. Try to be as proactive as possible, taking the extra step to present multiple solutions to a problem or question if one isn't crystal clear. Think outside of the box and be creative. Also, be resourceful! There are so many opportunities to find the right answer or look for examples; it's okay to ask questions, but it's always nice when an intern demonstrates that he or she has exhausted all other options before asking.

Learn how to manage your time. So much about PR is prioritizing tasks and then re-prioritizing them when something else, often unexpected, develops. You constantly have to juggle projects at work, and also juggle work and your personal life, so it's best to work on your time management skills while in college so you are more prepared after graduation.