If you ever visit Red Sky, a public relations agency in Boise, Idaho, you will probably fall in love with their current home in a 1910 historic building and open, collaborative work spaces. Even more inspiring is their mission and “why”, which is “creating and sharing stories that matter. It’s why we do what we do, and we love every minute of it.”
Julie Chigbrow is a Boise State alumni and works as a Senior Account Executive at Red Sky. Chigbrow provides calmness and structure across client initiatives, and focuses on public engagement. Recently, she shared her educational journey and what she loves most about her public relations career.
A love for strategy
Chigbrow started out as a journalism major at the College of Southern Idaho but soon discovered that it was the public relations field’s emphasis on writing and strategy that truly excited her. She chose to focus on strategic communications after transferring to Boise State. She continues to use these skills in her work everyday. “I see public relations as the really high-level strategic elements that you need to have to be a good advisor for your clients.”
Although strategy is a main part of her job, Chigbrow emphasizes that every day at Red Sky is different. One day a client may need help with blog posts, planning strategy and the next day, another client might need you to cover an event. Many different activities and duties are exciting, but Chigbrow said this is really why she loves her field: “The best part of my job is helping clients really understand how to communicate with different audiences. I like to think of public relations as almost like puzzle pieces and you’re bringing everyone together so everyone knows what is going on and there is no gap in understanding.”
The value of public relations internships
Internships can be intimidating and overwhelming, but for Chigbrow the required internships of the Boise State program were the best experience she had to prepare her for her current job.
“At first that can kind of seem scary but getting that real world experience, getting a sense of what an office culture is like and what kind of work you want to do before you graduate is a huge step in getting you prepared for when you are ready to actually approach an employer.”
Her advice for students that are interested in pursuing a future in strategic communications is to be curious and brush up your writing skills. “You have to become an expert for your clients, know their business, their messaging and who their audience is, so be curious.”
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Check out the Boise State Online Bachelor of Integrated Strategic Communications Program and learn how you can get career-ready today.
Along with the Online Bachelor of Arts in Integrated Strategic Communications, Boise State University offers more than 55 online degree and certificate programs to help you make your educational dreams a reality–whether you need a bachelor’s degree, a graduate degree or a single, online class. For more information, visit boisestate.edu/online.
Story by Pamela Craig and Casey Longstreth, Boise State Extended Studies
Video – This is Public Relations: Julie Chigbrow Public Relations Professional
Video contains closed captions and a text transcript is provided on this page.
Video by Doug Kessinger, Boise State Extended Studies
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Video Transcript
I’m Julie Chigbrow and I graduated from Boise State University in 2012. I graduated with both a marketing and a communication degree and the public relations certificate. I’m a Senior Account Executive at a PR agency in Boise called Red Sky. The way I would describe the field of public relations to someone that’s a little less knowledgeable about it, is it’s so much about storytelling and messaging and being very strategic about how you do that for different clients. While public relations is shifting the way almost every industry is storytelling is still the key component of it all, you’re still focused on what are your messages, who are you speaking to it’s just a matter of how you say it and where you share that message. A huge piece of what we do for our clients is thinking how does this affect a wide group of people and what are the different issues that might come up through that process and how do we get prepared for those and answer them and be authentic and transparent in how we answer them. So a day in the life at red sky is really different every single day of the week we are constantly working on different projects whether you’re writing a blog post for one client or planning a strategic session for another, we’re in and out of the office constantly for meetings and another big piece of working at Red Sky and being a part of the community is going to events so that we’re a part of the community, we know what’s going on, whether politically or socially and we’re engaged in that way. My probably two biggest pieces of advice for people that are interested in public relations is one always have a very curious mind, you have to become an expert for your clients, know their business, their messaging, who their audience is, so be curious and be looking for ways to explore opportunities and two even if you’re not truly a content writer, writing skills is one of the most important things that you can have in public relations. Public relations is a great field to go into because you essentially become a very involved citizen in your community, you’re more likely to know about what’s happening in the business field and politics, in retail, and restaurant whatever your focus ends up being with your different clients and really connected to what’s happening in your community, where the engagement is, and what the opportunities are to move forward. I’m Julie Chigbrow and this is Public Relations.