Jennie Bragalone ‘03
Account Executive, Leader Enterprises
In charge of fashion, new products, and special events

1. What do you find most challenging about your career?
The fast paced environment. You have to constantly keep up with trends and current events.

2. What are the best/worst aspects of your job?
There really are no poor aspects of my job. At first thought, I would have said rejection when pitching the media might have been one, but you get used to it quickly and it's not a big deal. The best aspects would be the great relationships you create with media and clients, the ability to be a part of fun events and parties.           

3.   What are the greatest rewards in your work?
The reward of seeing your work in publications and on TV. It's also an extremely creative field.

4. In your opinion, what are the three most important characteristics needed to succeed in your career?
You need to be able to face rejection and not take it personally. You also need to be aggressive (we like to call it “bulldogging”) and be very personable. PR people are like telemarketers. They have to be able to sell anything.

5. Corporate or agency, what do you prefer and why?
I’m at a small agency right now, and I like the family type environment here. It also allows me to be very involved in many projects at one time.

6. How did your Chapman education prepare you for your career?
I learned about ways to talk with media and write press releases that would peak their interest. The most valuable thing I was ever told was that “you have to know everything about everything.” It’s so true in PR. 

7. What one piece of advice would you give current PR/AD students?
If you want something, go after it. Bulldog!

8. What was your favorite PR/AD class and why?
Intro to Marketing. My teacher was awesome and she made class interesting and fun. She let us be creative and gave us a wonderful sense of freedom with our work.

9. What internships did you have while you were at Chapman?
I interned at Leader Enterprises, where I am now currently employed. I’m on my third year with them.

10. Where do you see yourself in five years?
Here hopefully, running the fashion division of the company. At least that’s the plan anyway.

11. How much free time do you have, and how do you spend it?
I have a lot of free time. I spend it kickboxing, going to the beach, shopping, sleeping, and going out to clubs and bars. I spend most of my time with my friends.

Nick Hines ‘99
Director of brand marketing, Miami Marketing Group

1. What do you find most challenging about your career?
Managing/juggling multiple, demanding, clients (when it’s busy, it’s extremely busy and this business can be very stressful). I have several alcohol clients, so I have to regularly deal with nightclub, restaurant, lounge, etc. proprietors and managers, some of whom have a tendency to be, in my opinion, shady.

2. What are the best/worst aspects of your job?
Best Aspects: client/brand variety, opportunity to work on myriad projects, ability to dip a toe in to entertainment America without it overtaking my personal life, casual work environment, travel, getting to know people from all walks of life

Worst Aspects: demanding clients, the grind/rollercoaster ride of retainer clients (same issues month after month). Working for a startup means that I have to sometimes wear multiple hats (accounting, human resources, admin details, etc.)

3. What are the greatest rewards in your work?
Greatest Rewards: happy clients, completing a successful project from a seed of an idea, watching a program and team come to life

4. In your opinion, what are the three most important characteristics needed to succeed in your career?
1. Confidence
2. Delegation skills – it is impossible to do it all yourself. (This is harder than it sounds if you are very close to a project.  Getting to the next level can be challenging if you do not learn to delegate.)
3. Communication skills (verbal and written)and the ability to adapt to support individual client needs 

5. What are the current trends in your field/industry?
Smaller, local market agencies that are specialists in a market or region (i.e. Miami, Los Angeles, Las Vegas), agency alliances, smaller teams which equates to a larger workload

6. Corporate or agency, what do you prefer and why?
At the moment, agency.  Agency work enables me to work with myriad brands and clients all over the country.  I’ve had the opportunity to work on some incredible brands that include American Express (sports marketing division that includes US Open-tennis, World Golf Championships, NBA All Star weekend, Andre Agassi, Tiger Woods, Magic Johnson, Tribeca Film Festival), Guinness, Smirnoff, Captain Morgan, Red Stripe, Dom Perignon, Johnnie Walker, Tanqueray, and General Motors. Corporate is nice if you want to become a specialist in one field, product or brand.  You also become married to the brand you represent and it becomes part of your persona.  People start to refer to you as, for example, the “Guinness Guy” or “GM Guy.”

7. How did your Chapman education prepare you for your career?
Upper division classes that challenged students in a team environment.  Learning to work on a team is extremely important.  All clients I have represented have had complex, multi-agency teams.  Learning to navigate this system is viewed as an invaluable trait. 

8. What one piece of advice would you give current PR/AD students?
Internships bridge the gap in between student and professional life. 

9. What was your favorite PR/AD class and why?
I have two favorites: Bateman Case Studies & Campaigns – in hindsight these classes were the closest thing to real world, agency life.

10. What internships did you have while you were at Chapman?
Gladstone International, Balboa Bay Club (marketing department), Orange County Fair (assistant to the entertainment coordinator)

11. Where do you see yourself in five years?
Living in Southern California, heading up the west coast division of the company I currently work for.

12. How much free time do you have, and how do you spend it?
My free time is spent primarily with my wife and dog at home.  When possible, we will spend our weekends traveling. My average work day starts around 7:30 am and ends close to 7:00 pm. Evenings are spent at home unless I have to go out with clients

Kate Lennon ‘04
Account Executive (Sprint PCS), Publicis & Hal Riney Advertising
Acts as liaison between client and agency

1. What do you find most challenging about your career?
Managing projects on tight timelines, working with difficult clients, appeasing both the creative team as well as the clients.

2. What are the best/worst aspects of your job?
The best aspects: the sense of accomplishment felt when a project is complete as well as when a client or co-worker notices your hard work. The worst aspects: missing deadlines.

3. What are the greatest rewards in your work?
Seeing/hearing the finished product, whether it be a TV spot, radio spot, or print ad. Having happy clients can also be quite rewarding.

4. In your opinion, what are the three most important characteristics needed to succeed in your career?
1) Tact
2) Ambition
3) Being thick-skinned

5. What are the current trends in your field/industry?
Advertising agencies are doing much more than just producing ads. Companies turn to us for re-branding and business solutions as well.

6. Corporate or agency, what do you prefer and why?
Agency – the atmosphere is wonderful. Agency life is very different than many typical corporate settings. The people are young and hip, the wine flows and the overall environment is very creative.

7. How did your Chapman education prepare you for your career?
The Chapman Ad Club gave me the real life experience of working on an entire campaign with a very eclectic group of people. We had a demanding assignment and real deadlines. We also had the chance to actually present our work to the “client.” I felt very well-prepared for the real world after leaving Chapman. The professors, Cory O’Connor in particular, took special care to insure that his students were getting the most out of their education, whether it be classes, clubs or internships.

8. What one piece of advice would you give current PR/AD students?
JOIN THE AD CLUB or PRSSA – and DEFINITELY find a great internship!

9. What was your favorite PR/AD class and why?
MKTG 404 – It challenged me and gave me knowledge and experience that I take with me to this day.

10. What internships did you have while you were at Chapman?
Mindshare Creative (Acct. Management intern) – small (about 10 people) ad agency in Garden Grove
Young & Rubicam (intern for the Jaguar National Account team)

11. Where do you see yourself in five years?
Account Director on a large National account at large ad agency in San Francisco.

12. How much free time do you have, and how do you spend it?
Well, as I commute to San Francisco from Marin, I get home around 7 or so each night. I don’t take my job with me though – so when I walk out of the door, it is “me time.” I go out with friends for drinks, watch reality TV or go to the gym. Most of my free time now is spent searching for an apartment in the city!

Ricky Lyddon ‘04
Account Executive, Euro RSCG Magnet
Works in the technology practice pitching the media, writing press releases, working with clients directly on strategies and tactics, and providing support for tradeshows and new business proposals

1. What do you find most challenging about your career?
The hardest part up front was cold calling the media. Once I realized that they were just doing their job and to not freak out about them, I was OK.

2. What are the best/worst aspects of your job?
Best - Everyday is different, working with new people all the time.
Worst - Turn around tradeshow trips and long hours.

3. What are the greatest rewards in your work?
I recently helped write two PROTOS award submissions and both of them won awards of excellence. Also, I have moved up two positions in a year of working full time.  Overall, seeing a feature piece or award you set up in a newspaper or magazine is very fulfilling.

4. In your opinion, what are the three most important characteristics needed to succeed in your career?
Strong writing skills, ability to pitch the media and speak well, ability to deal with bad clients and media that may put you down, but still do your job

5. What are the current trends in your field/industry?
Technology is always changing.  Smaller, more powerful, lower price point, and to look better is always the trend.

6. Corporate or agency, what do you prefer and why?
I have only worked agency but I think it is best for while you are young.  You have far fewer things holding you down which enables you to fully embrace your career and work longer hours and go on more business trips.  You can prove yourself faster and move up the ladder when you have fewer commitments outside of work.

7. How did your Chapman education prepare you for your career?
Taking classes like PR case studies helped me with my strategies and tactics, PR writing helped me hone my writing skills that I use everyday when drafting and editing, and participating in the Bateman competition aided in my planning and implementing events.

8. What one piece of advice would you give current PR/AD students?
Do as many internships as possible in many different categories.  It will help you decide if you want to go agency, corporate, or boutique out of college.

9. What was your favorite PR/AD class and why?
Favorite class was probably case studies.  It was so helpful to learn about success and disaster stories in all markets of public relations.  I really liked to see how big companies dealt with crisis.

10. What internships did you have while you were at Chapman?
I did an in house marketing internship at The Pyramid Group in Brea, Calif., and an agency internship with Weber Shandwick which became Golin Harris.

11. Where do you see yourself in five years?
As long as I am not married by then, I will still be doing agency work and be a group manager working towards becoming a V.P., hopefully in the consumer or technology sector.

12. How much free time do you have, and how do you spend it?
I have almost every weekend off and all of my nights.  I try to stay as long as I need to at work so I never have to take it home.  I usually go to the gym after work and then hang out with my friends the rest of the night.  Pretty much like college, but I wake up earlier and I can't skip out on work when I party too hard the night before.

13. Do you remember a funny Chapman story?
I remember doing the Bateman competition and almost feeling addicted to Nutella (the produce we were promoting).  Being a poor college student I did not always have a lot to eat so I was stoked when we would have left over trial packets of Nutella or during taste tests if I could sneak a waffle or something.

Stephanie Schopp ‘00
Founder, Tinsley Marketing Communications
Maintains several clients in the interactive entertainment arena, acting as part of a larger team for more established corporations (Microsoft) and as the sole PR contact for smaller boutique companies (Brain Zoo Studios)

1. What do you find most challenging about your career?
Juggling different expectations from your clients is tough. Often times with smaller companies, they tend to be ego-centric ("My product is the best thing ever and I should be on the cover of Time Magazine for my vision.”) However, with larger companies, wading through the bureaucracy can be challenging, as there are several levels of approvals and legal departments to contend with. Your messaging needs to be tight and fool-proof. It takes a lot of flexibility and an understanding of various angles within your set goals and objectives.

2. What are the best/worst aspects of your job?
The best part of my job currently is that the experience I'm gaining now, and the mistakes I make, will only help me in the future. I like working as part of a larger team, and I love the personal dynamic that I have with my smaller clients - so I have the best of both worlds right now. Each is a challenge in its own way, but I get to apply various tactics across the board and run the gamut of the entire interactive industry.

The worst part of my job, or any PR job, is managing your client's expectations and knowing that the PR arm of a company is often the first to go in tough times. When budgets get cut, you can almost guarantee that someone in PR is going to get the ax. PR also takes the brunt of a lot of blame for unrelated issues in a company. The challenge is convincing your executives to act proactively, not reactively. The toughest part about that is that a lot of people don't understand what PR is - and it's part of your job to do that in the most professional way possible. It's not as easy as "telling the boss" - it just doesn't work that way.  

3. What are the greatest rewards in your work?
When you can actually SEE the results of what PR can do, that is rewarding. When you work on a project and really see a turnaround in business or image, that is a satisfying reward, and in a way the power of the pen is very scary. I did PR for a popular restaurant/bar/nightspot in Los Angeles, and now I can't even go there because it's always so packed. It's amazing.

4. In your opinion, what are the three most important characteristics needed to succeed in your career?
1. You need to admit when you're wrong and learn from your mistakes. It's our job to see all sides of an issue, and sometimes we don't. Knowing the best way to approach a problem or an opportunity comes with experience, and if you can learn to take the lead from a more experienced professional, you can learn a great deal.

2. Writing skills. LEARN AP STYLE. Very few people in this world can write, and it's an invaluable tool that can take you very far.

3. Learn how to work perception. PR is perception - that means your look, your clothes, YOUR SMILE. Warm, genuine PR people go a long way.

5. What are the current trends in your field/industry?
The convergence of living room technology. Currently, all of the major industries for home entertainment are beefing up their respective "armada" of services or products for a battle that will occur over who controls your living room entertainment console. Sony vs. Microsoft and cable vs. telephone. Expect the fists to fly for the next five years.

6. Corporate or agency, what do you prefer and why?
I don't have a lot of experience in corporate, but inter-office politics and the battle between departments was a major turnoff for me. It's a miracle anything ever really gets accomplished in-house. Agencies, on the other hand, never know when the hand that feeds them will also hurt them. That causes major stress within agencies. The advantages of an agency are that you are all on the same team working for the same goal. The inter-office politics are less abundant in my experience, and time wasted in meetings is cut down as well. In-house it seems like you have meetings to have meetings to arrange for more meetings. Agencies just want to get it done fast, cheap and good for a happy client. I'll stick with agencies.

7. How did your Chapman education prepare you for your career?
Chapman has excellent (EXCELLENT) writing professors. For writing:  "All I need to know I learned from Veston Rowe." Campaigns was also a major part of my understanding of the PR process - you won't understand it until the very end, but when that light clicks in your head, it's a rush of "ohhhhhhh, I get it." Invaluable.

8. What one piece of advice would you give current PR/AD students?
INTERN INTERN INTERN INTERN INTERN INTERN. Get as much experience as you possibly can - work for food, work for credit, work for free. Just get some press releases written and get some good hands on media experience.

9. What was your favorite PR/AD class and why?
PR Writing, Desktop Publishing and Campaigns are in my top three. In terms of real-world benefit, Advanced PR Writing and Campaigns - although getting through both classes felt like you were bleeding out of your eyes or dying a slow horrible death. But in the end, it was the most valuable experience of all. 

10. Where do you see yourself in five years?
Hopefully in interactive entertainment, and, hopefully, maintaining my own agency.

11. How much free time do you have, and how do you spend it?
Once I began work with Microsoft on their new Xbox 360 launch, I went from working 5 hours a week dealing with two small clients and making 50K a year to making a lot more but also working about 55 hours a week (they promise that will stop soon). How much you make should be a balance to how much you actually work. For a time there, I had reached some insane imbalance between what they paid me and what I actually worked, but now I've sold my soul so I can have that Microsoft logo on my web site when this is all over.

Jeff Torkelson ‘84
Marketing Director, Micro Trains Line Co.
Responsible for all public relations, marketing communications and marketing strategy, and sales, including product development

1. What do you find most challenging about your career? 
If we're talking about public relations, marketing and sales in general, I'd say for us practitioners the ever-present challenge lies in the realm of integrity, especially when working with reporters.  One's personal integrity can come into conflict with the messaging [or financial] preferences and needs of the company -- and maintaining balance without crossing the line can be stressful (or exhilarating, depending on your personality).

2.  What are the best/worst aspects of your job? 
I love the scale of my current employer.  This is a small, family-owned organization, with about 90 employees, and I have a lot of flexibility in getting the job done, in terms of innovating and executing.  The president and owners of the company are very supportive and encourage me to bring all my past experience to the table, to improve our operations and grow revenue.  Previously, I've held senior management positions at publicly held companies in the telecommunications industry, and while I've truly enjoyed all my work experiences, I've never experienced the level of professional freedom that I enjoy today.  Of course, sometimes that "freedom" translates to chaos when it comes to operational structure and discipline, but that's the tradeoff.

3. What are the greatest rewards in your work? 
I love the process:  concept to strategy to tactics to execution to management to results.  Seeing positive results for ground-up assignments, be they an "above the fold" news feature or improvements to the bottom line, is very fulfilling.

4. In your opinion, what are the three most important characteristics needed to succeed in your career? 
Integrity, creativity and excellent communications skills.

5.   What are the current trends in your field/industry? 
With organizations of all stripes seeking to squeeze more out of their organizations with less, I see a growing understanding of the potential ROI for PR activities as compared to the tried and true marketing communications activities.  I'm also seeing less of the "PR is free" mentality out there among management.  This presents an awesome opportunity for PR practitioners to strut their stuff -- and make a tangible contribution to company performance.

6.   Corporate or agency, what do you prefer and why? 
I'm biased: corporate.  I've spent my entire career in organizations, and that's where I'll continue to work.  I like the feeling of truly "owning" my product or service by being an employed member of the manufacturer/provider team.  You become family.  You take care of your own.  Presuming you have the right people at the controls, it makes an obvious difference.

7.   How did your Chapman education prepare you for your career? 
My education at Chapman laid the foundation for my entire career.  First, of course, was the actual coursework, which provided the knowledge and fundamental skills I required to enter and thrive in the workforce.  Second, and more importantly, the liberal arts approach to education at Chapman was flexible and allowed me to "test the waters," so to speak, without fear of failure.  I actually started my education as a Pre-Dental major, went on to English Literature, then went Undeclared before I discovered my love for communications.  Yes, perhaps I could have experienced the same thing at USC or UCLA [doubtful], but given the size of Chapman and the intimacy that prevailed on campus, at least at that time during the early 1980s, I was encouraged to discover my strengths and grow as an individual.  I like to think I succeeded on that front!  To this day, I continue to "test the waters" in the workplace.

8.   What one piece of advice would you give current PR/AD students? 
Do internships, get hands-on experience -- build your resume as early as possible.

9.   What was your favorite PR/AD class and why? 
Without a doubt, Persuasive Techniques.  I didn't start my PR studies until my junior year, and so I had a rush of classes to complete in short order to graduate in four years.  But of all my classes, that one stands out, because it was one of my first PR classes and I was absolutely STUNNED and AMAZED about the existence of subliminal imagery in advertising.

10.  What internships did you have while you were at Chapman? 
I worked on the [then] Communications Department newsletter, which provided me with invaluable published writing samples.  But the truth be told, I did not participate in any professional internships -- which I regret.  I would have benefited tremendously from them at the time I was looking for work after graduation.

11.  Where do you see yourself in five years? 
In a position that affords me a balanced lifestyle and professional challenges in the communications field -- here at Micro-Trains.  I plan to retire at age 55 -- which is about 12 years away, but closing in fast!  At that point, I'd like to offer specialized consulting services in communications.

12.  How much free time do you have, and how do you spend it? 
My current work hours are awesome -- 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.  Here in Southern Oregon, where traffic is non-existent, that means I'm home by 3:45 p.m., so I have plenty of time to pursue my outside interests.  These include physical fitness, spending time with my kids -- like coaching sports teams and the like, and traveling around the Pacific Northwest with my wife.  We enjoyed a great life in Southern California and are now falling in love with our new home state of Oregon.

Charles Var ‘94
Senior Manager, Corporate Communications – Intuit Inc.
Responsible for developing and protecting Intuit’s corporate and product reputation among customers, shareholders and employees

1. What do you find most challenging about your career?
Time management is the most challenging aspect of managing communications for a Fortune 500 company.  In any given day, there could easily be 50 to 100 different things to focus on.  However, it's important to recognize and identify the two or three most important things and focus on them. Experience, strong business acumen and the ability to think strategically make it easier, but it's always a challenge. 

2. What are the best/worst aspects of your job?
PR is among the most strategic and most valued functions within Intuit. As a result, PR has a tremendous amount of executive visibility and support. But with that visibility and support comes a great deal of responsibility and pressure to deliver results. 

3. What are the greatest rewards in your work?
The greatest reward is the daily interaction and visibility with Intuit's most senior executives, including the CEO, CFO, business unit VPs and even the company's founder.   Interacting with some of the country's most respected business leaders offers a remarkable opportunity to learn and grow as a communication professional. 

4. In your opinion, what are the three most important characteristics needed to succeed in your career?
1. Strategic thinking: The ability to understand the desired business outcomes and mapping communication strategies and tactics accordingly.

2.   General communication skills:  Whether you’re working with a reporter or with a senior level executive, it's critical to have exceptionally strong communication skills.  It's also the single most important requirement to career advancement at an agency or within a corporation.

3.   Common sense: Common sense is often taken for granted, but it's a critical characteristic for any job. It's particularly important in PR and communications because the job often requires split-second decision making about a variety of topics.  So, the ability to quickly and effectively assess a situation and make a sound business decision requires solid judgment and good old-fashioned common sense. 

5. What are the current trends in your field/industry?
The Internet is clearly revolutionizing how people communicate and exchange information.  New technologies such as blogs and wikis are forcing companies and communication professionals to re-examine how they communicate with the public.  It's clear that companies will need to become much more transparent with the public moving forward. 

6. Corporate or agency, what do you prefer and why?
There are pros and cons with each.  I personally prefer working within a corporate environment.  The corporate environment exposes me to a variety of business functions beyond PR, including advertising, marketing, finance and even the executive committee.  It's also very rewarding to witness firsthand how PR contributes to and affects the company's success. 

7. How did your Chapman education prepare you for your career?
Chapman gave me a very solid understanding of the PR basics, as well as helped give me the general communication skills, which are so valuable to any occupation.  My first professional job in PR was also the result of connections I made through PRSSA. 

8. What one piece of advice would you give current PR/AD students?
I'd recommend that every student secure a PR internship with a PR or marketing firm.  I'd also encourage them to read, read and read.  Almost every communication professional can name the top editors at the top media outlets, but very few actually read their articles consistently. 

9. What was your favorite PR/AD class and why?
I'm embarrassed to admit, I can't remember, although I do recall participating on a Bateman case study, working with Janell Shearer through PRSSA.  We developed a communications/PR plan for Girls Inc.   It was selected as the top proposal by PRSA, and the collective team traveled to New York to present our plan. It was a marvelous experience.  It not only gave all of us a great deal of confidence in our abilities, but it helped reinforce what we had learned in the classroom.   

10. What internships did you have while you were at Chapman?
I actually interned for the University. In hindsight, I wish I had interned for an outside agency.  Nevertheless, the experience was very valuable. 

11. Where do you see yourself in five years?
On a beach drinking a cold beer.  Actually, I don't know.  If I've learned anything, it's to be flexible and open to whatever opportunity presents itself.  So, I'm not exactly sure where I'll be in five years. 

12. How much free time do you have, and how do you spend it?
Maintaining work-life balance is very important.  Your career is a marathon, not a sprint, so it's important to give yourself time away from the office to refresh your batteries.  In my free time, I enjoy working out, sailing on my boat, visiting with friends and traveling (non work related travel!)