I’ve always been a firm believer of sending out those “Hey, remember me?” messages..no matter how awkward it may seem at first. And of course, you’ll have to be a little more creative than that if you’re trying to get any sort of message across.
Earlier today as I was scrolling through Twitter pages for PR Firms/Agencies to follow (and potentially places to apply for internships next summer..always thinking ahead!)…I came across a greek name that sounded so familiar. A name, much like my last name, that’s both hard to remember and hard to forget. And above all, hard to spell.
So I clicked on this Greek girl’s account and assumed that with over 5,000 followers, it belonged to just another PR Firm I’d heard of way back when. Maybe someone from my high school years above me had an internship there or something. And maybe the Twitter page went by the name of the CEO, rather than X Agency, Y Communications LLC, or Z Public Relations.
Well, the first thing I did was read her bio…still no light bulb had gone off. Once I reached the end of her terse information section I clicked the link to her webpage (MSM Public Relations) and read her “About” section. Within the first 15 seconds I had my aha moment…I shadowed this girl, Margo, when I was just a freshman in high school.
At the time, Margo wasn’t much older than I am. This was probably her first job after college. I was lucky enough to be close family friends with one of her bosses, Jacqueline Precious. She worked as the Merchandise Director at SoHo Fashion. Margo was SoHo Fashion’s publicist..which meant that she was in charge of maintaining positive PR. I remember her calling several magazines to feature SoHo’s products, in addition to contacting celebrities’ personal stylists (Vividly remember her speaking to Rihanna’s) asking them to “do lunch” so they can discuss Celeb X wearing SoHo outerwear Y in Z magazine.
Watching Margo work gave me my first exposure to PR, and I knew right then and there that I’d like to do something similar some day. Now she founded her own Public Relations Firm and is a producer for the Wendy Williams Show. Branching out to telecomm shows how versatile the industry is.
So about half an hour ago I decided to send Margo an email. While the natural progression of this post would probably lead me to saying something like “Reconnecting is so great..now she offered me an internship!” the truth is she hasn’t responded yet. I’m too impatient to wait for that…
But even so, I’ve rekindled a useful connection. I can ask her if they’re hiring for next summer later on this year or do an externship over Winter Break. She can get me in contact with other important people in the industry. It’s basically all about building connections. Reconnecting = another form of Networking.
On another note, I also reconnected with another old friend today–in the spirit of stumbling upon Margo’s new company. At my younger sister’s graduation I ran into the elderly woman who lived next-door to my childhood home. Her granddaughter was in my sister’s class. Seeing her reminded me of another granddaughter of hers, who’s my age. When Kacie used to visit her grandma, she really came over to my house to play, up until about 3rd grade. So I found this girl on Facebook, crafted a message that would remind her of who I am in as minimally creepy of a way possible, and realized she’s a sister of the same sorority as I am, TriDelta. Funny coincidence!
Moral of the story: never be afraid to reach out to someone from the past, no matter how long ago it may feel. The worst thing that can happen is that they don’t remember you (but who would actually admit that?). At least you tried!
xox
A World of Curiosity 