She is Inspiring ( Nivia Prescod)

Happy Monday!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Over the summer I got a chance to meet with a very talented and creative young woman. She shared her public relations journey with me and expressed her joy in finding her true passion. Thanks again Nivia!

Enjoy,
Ally

She-blogs: What is your job title?
Nivia: I am an account executive for Think Public Relations.

She-blogs: Tell me how you got started in PR?
Nivia: I got started in PR because I was working in the lung transplant department at Columbia Presbyterian and was completely bored with everything I was doing. I was proofreading dictations and letters…all types of things. I just knew it wasn’t for me. I have always loved fashion and decided to take a leap of faith and try to get a job in the entertainment and fashion industry. So I quit my job and right after that a girlfriend of mine told me that there was this entry-level office assistant position at Phat Fashions. So I thought great! I worked with the marketing department for Baby Phat and Phat farm. I learned the ins and outs and about meeting with the stylists etc. I knew I was in the right place. Six months later I got a job as the office manager and six months after that I became the sales and marketing administrator. So after being there for three years, I felt it was time for me to move on. So initially I thought it would be a good idea for me to continue in sales. I ended up working for a Ladies evening dress company. I soon realized that sales just weren’t for me so I decided that I wanted to go back into marketing. I decided to leave there and branch out on my own and started freelancing full time. So I did that for a while until I realized I needed a real full time job and I applied and that’s how I got the job at Think PR.

She-blogs: Is Public Relations your passion?
Nivia: This is it for me. I love every aspect of PR. I finally found a job I can relate to because it involved talking on the phone, emailing, and just dealing with people. I finally found a job that encompasses all of the things that I like to do which makes me better at my job.

She-blogs: You started a Blog all about PR. What was your inspiration for your blog?
Nivia: While working for Think PR I have come in contact with a lot of editors and stylists who have friends and younger acquaintances who are interested in PR and they felt that their weren’t a lot of African American females that they could reach out to. Some of these women used to contact me asking for advice and just trying to find out information and I felt like wow this is stuff people really want to know because it isn’t an easy industry to get into. A lot of publicists don’t share unfortunately. It’s unnecessary to be that way. People can be very cut throat because it’s very much all about your contacts and the information that you know. I know all of the hard steps that I had to go through so I figure it doesn’t hurt me to share that with the next person. I started sharing and talking with people and then one day I said to myself maybe I should start a blog. I started the blog right after a WEEN (Women in Entertainment Empowerment Network) event this past summer. I came in contact with a lot of young ladies there that I worked with at Phat Fashions who were interns and are now basically CEO’s etc. That was also my motivation to start the blog. The blog is http://forcoloredgirlswhohaveconsideredpr.blogspot.com

She-blogs: What is an important message that you think people should remember?
Nivia: I talked about the importance of being humble in my first blog post.
Because you come across so many people who name drop and tell you that you need to speak to their people etc. It is so ridiculous because we are all the same. The same people I met in the beginning of my career are a lot of the same people I deal with now and that’s why it is so important to maintain good relationships and to always be open to everyone.

She-blogs: What advice do you have for someone that wants to break into PR?
Nivia: Hustle hard! LOL. You may run into so many obstacles especially in the entertainment industry and from what I have experienced people try to pull you down. You have to be sure of yourself first and try to develop a thick skin. Someone is going to tell you no and all you have to do is move on to the next and the next and the next LOL. Be creative and find ways to get what you want.

She-blogs: Who or what inspires you?
Nivia: My family inspires me. I have all types of folks and mixtures in my family and I kind of take a little bit form everybody. My dad has been a strong role model in my life. He is the go-getter and always very professional. My mom is more laid back and likes to stay at home but wasn’t a push over…a very firm woman. My sister is like the flower child of the family…very artistic. I think all of that is me…they inspire me. Now of course my son also inspires me. The things that he does and says now blow my mind. It makes me realize that I have to do so much more because now I have someone who is looking and really paying attention to me.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 17th, 2008 at 1:17 pm and is filed under Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.