The Vice President of the FSU chapter of the Florida Public Relations Association gives advice on being a confident woman in the workplace and building professional connections!
Name: Brionna Boileau-Theresias
Year: Senior
Major: Public Relations
Hometown: Miami, FL
Photo By: Lauren Alsina
Her Campus (HC): Tell me a bit about the different organizations you’re involved in on campus.
Brionna Boileau-Theresias (BB): I’m currently Vice President of the Florida Public Relations Association (FPRA). I’ve also been part for the business fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi for two semesters now.
HC: What is your fraternity about?
BB: Well, the whole point of it is to build professional skills. We feature career fairs among staff and alumni for our students and alumni panels where our old brothers of the fraternity come to campus and we can ask them questions directly and get their professional input on things like building a perfect resume.
HC: Could you explain what FPRA does?
BB: FPRA is really a perfect community for communications majors to build up their strengths and become professionals in their futures after graduation. We have a speaker at most of our meetings, which is awesome. They often give us great insight into the public relations and communications world beyond college.
HC: What does being the Vice President of FPRA entail?
BB: My role within FPRA as Vice President has a lot to do with planning all of these trips. Every semester we take a trip and my job is to coordinate with agencies within the locations where we’re going, schedule the visit itself, communicate with professionals within these agencies and learn more about each organization to determine where to visit each year.
HC: What kind of events have you guys had for your club?
BB: We do mostly events within the club for our members, so it’s lunches and socials to help build networking and business experience in general. These guests help us perspective on the different aspects of the communications world. Last week, we brought in the social media director for Madison Social, which was awesome because we got a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes of something huge like that in Tallahassee. Last fall we went to Miami for our yearly trip to visit Karma PR and since one of their clients is The Villa Casa Casuarina, we got to have our meeting at the Versace Mansion! You never know where you’ll go in the communications field! And this fall we’re going to San Francisco.
Photo By: Lauren Alsina
HC: That trip to Miami sounds amazing! What else did you do while you were in Miami?
BB: Well we had a luncheon with the communications director of The Miami Foundation, Matthew Beatty, which is an amazing non-profit organization. We were also able to schedule a meeting with a director of a company called Boardroom PR which is also in Miami. She met up with us and talked to us and she had an open format for us to ask questions and learn more about the field.
HC: That sounds like really great experience! How do you think your role in FPRA has helped you prepare for the future in the business world?
BB: With my role in FPRA, I feel like it’s helped me because I’m cold calling all of these agencies to set up tons of stuff for the club, so I’m getting that first-hand experience in pitching and business communication because I have to appeal to these professionals, which is a great skill to have for the future. I apply kind of like a manager role when we go on the trips, being able to manage different parts. Not only am I coordinating with agencies and coordinating our actual students on the trip to make sure we’re getting there on time, I’m a professional liaison for the trip between groups and I constantly have to think ahead. I mean, before we even leave, I’m mapping so I know how to get there, I know where we’re going to stay. Is there parking? Is there enough space for our members? So it’s helped me put everything into perspective when working. You have to think about all of the moving parts of the situation and maintain it all under a lot of stress. It’s amazing practice for the real world.
HC: Do you have any advice to the young women out there who want to achieve in this competitive field?
BB: I would say that you should never be afraid to step up to the plate and take on the job. That’s something I really struggled with this past summer at my internship and I had to learn how to be confident in myself, ask questions, and to not pretend like I knew all the answers already. Not being afraid to ask questions, and also being confident in what you already know is so important, because then you get the job done right. Just never be afraid to take charge. You know they say women shouldn’t be too aggressive in the workplace, but I think that’s totally okay! I mean, you have to be able to stand up for yourself and say, “Hey, I can do this!” I’m always humble in what I don’t know, but I’m not afraid to speak up and take charge when I know I can do the job myself.
FPRA meetings are held every other Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Bellamy 102.