a PR Dream & an Advertising Reality

When I first moved to New York City I was the quintessential cliche--fresh out of college, broke and saddled with big dreams. Although my reality at the time was serving tables to make rent, my dreams were set on Public Relations. Various internship experiences, including interning at Donna Karan with none other than Aliza Licht herself, threw glitter in my eyes and had me lusting over a whirlwind life of glamour, otherwise known as PR.

Of course the only predictable thing about life is how unpredictable it can be and one evening while working at the restaurant, I served a table that changed everything. Two girls sat down in my section and as I served them glasses of champagne I caught tidbits of their conversation, enough to leave me wishing I was sitting at their table, celebrating my promotion and talking about my fabulous job over a glass of Moet as well. Whatever the reason, I wasn't my usual chatty self that evening but when one of the girls paid out her tab with a Chase card showing a Chicago backdrop, my hometown, I knew I had to say something. 

All you need is 20 seconds of courage to take you far from where you started; deciding to strike up conversation and comment on this girl's Chicago card transformed my reality and pulled me out of my server job and into a career in Advertising.

Advertising had not been the original plan but after serving one cocktail too many I wanted to start my life, even if my first step wasn't into PR. My time in Advertising and Media Planning was wonderful; I fell in love with the company, the job was glamorous and more importantly made me happy. Despite all that, I had the nagging thought that this wasn't the job I had come to New York for and my PR ambitions began tugging at my sleeves. It was at this moment in time that a PR opportunity came up and the chance to join a global PR agency and work on a top account presented itself--to say I was excited is an understatement; in a moment's time my love for Advertising was eclipsed by the glitter dumped on my head by this PR chance.

I left Advertising for what I believed to be greener pastures in PR and slowly the realization began to dawn that I had made a mistake; the passion and excitement that would ignite from my old job was all but extinguished in PR. I pushed the feeling to the side because hadn't this been my plan all along? Hadn't I paraded around the past few years adamant that PR was my passion?  It took time to realize that I had viewed PR naively; at age 18 I saw PR as a collage of New York City scenes, parties, celebrities and glamour--a chance to be part of the spotlight but not stand directly in front of it. 

In reality, PR is a demanding job that takes dedication and passion; to track the media is a 24 hour commitment and although glamour does happen, it often comes at the cost of an even work-life balance. Once I saw PR for what it was, the dream faded leaving behind a clear epiphany--I was happier in Advertising. 

The epiphany was like a bucket of cold water and I realized that the grass was not greener on the other side and that where I had been standing was perfect for me and where I needed to be. Thankfully my former company took me back and I am officially a boomerang, happily flying back into my former career at my former media agency. Again the only predictable thing about life is how unpredictable it can be and as it turns out my stumble onto the path of Advertising ended up being the right route all along; it just took some time for my mind to catch up to my heart.