Intern Spotlight: Stephanie Pham

PR major Stephanie Pham

Stephanie Pham is a senior public relations and communication studies major from Gainesville, Ga. She has also completed her New Media and Interdisciplinary Writing certificates.

What is your official intern title?

AdPR Turner Social Media Intern

What is your job as an intern/what duties do you perform ?

My job is to primarily create content for the AdPR Department blog. I contact the faculty, students and alumni for blog spotlights and write the posts to be published. I also overlook the AdPR Twitter and Facebook accounts to push out content and updates from the AdPR Department. Lastly, I manage the AdPR LinkedIn group.  

How long have you been the intern?

Since August 2014.

What is the most rewarding part of being the intern?

I love staying up-to-date on the latest happenings with the AdPR Department. I’d have to say the most rewarding part of the my job is being able to recognize the great faculty/staff, students and alumni that make up advertising and public relations at Grady. The people that are spotlighted on the blog are doing amazing things in their respective fields and it really motivates and inspires me to work harder on my accomplishments.

What encouraged you to apply to Grady College?  

Grady is the best! I decided to attend UGA solely because of the notable reputation of Grady.  I always knew that I wanted to go into journalism; it was just a matter of picking the major within Grady.  

What activities are you involved in at Grady/UGA/Athens?

In Grady, I’m on the executive board for PRSSA as the Digital Media Director, work as the web editor for Ugazine and serve as a Grady Ambassador for the college.

What kinds of internships or work have you been involved in, and what were your responsibilities?

I’ve done a handful of internships, all in different aspects of public relations or journalism. I did PR for Dancefx, social media for Children First, Inc., marketing for Skip Barber Racing School and online news for Athens Banner Herald. All of them required me to do different and various tasks.

Currently, I work as the Student PR Manager for the Red and Black newspaper.  

What were the best parts of these experiences?

I learned something new in every internship and each bettered my knowledge of public relations as a whole. I tried my hand at event planning, social media strategy and marketing campaigns. I even saw what it was like on the other side of a PR pitch when I interned at the Athens Banner Herald and was on the receiving end of press releases instead of creating them.

What part of your Grady experience (classes, professors, etc.) has been helpful in your internship or work experiences?

It’s hard to say. There’s so many! I would say that taking Graphics with Dr. Jones was important because I ended up making a lot of flyers and graphics for email distribution. Also, research with Dr. Sweetser helped because I knew how to conduct research for campaigns and strategy.

What advice would you give to someone who is considering pursuing an Ad/PR program?

Do it if you’re passionate about it. It’s a lot of work, but it’s so rewarding to see the end product of your projects knowing that you put 100% into it.

What are your career goals and interests?

My answer to this changes everyday! Ultimately, I’d like to go into the digital and social media side of PR because that’s where a lot of my interest lies. With social media and technology changing almost everyday, I like the newness that accompanies that industry because there’s always something different to learn.