Public Relations
I majored in Public Relations at the University of Oklahoma’s Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication, the number 1 media school in the country! I graduated in May of 2026 summa cum laude. During my time as a Public Relations student, I chose to focus my relevant electives on design, sports and crisis communications. Of course, my required classes gave me hands on experience leading research initiatives and campaign development, plus all of the necessary writing knowledge for a career in PR. Below you will find some creative, writing and research samples from my time at OU.
Throughout my collegiate career at the University of Oklahoma, I have had numerous opportunities to create. My PR Design class taught me the ins and outs of many of the tools in the Adobe Creative Suite, primarily InDesign and Photoshop. My photography career has included intensive work in Lightroom, Lightroom Classic and Photoshop. I have also recently begun experimenting in Adobe Premiere Pro.
Creative
The variety of courses I took provided me with instruction and feedback throughout the creation process. The majority of my visual creation at OU was centered around building mock campaigns.
I created a social media campaign proposal for a student athlete at the University of Mississippi.
The campaign included a mock-up of the proposed Instagram account as well as audience identification and specific objectives.
When creating this mock campaign, I talked to the student athlete about what is important to him beyond athletics, which is how we landed on designing a campaign around mental health.
With a group, I created a proposal for an NHL team in Oklahoma City.
The creative tasks of developing a team from scratch and identifying target audiences was a great experience in developing a campaign from the ground floor.
This is one of the projects I am most proud of from my time at OU. It took around half of the semester to complete, which gave us ample time to brainstorm and plan logistically for this fake team. When I look back on this project, I tend to forget that it was not real, and I find myself disappointed that this team does not exist.
I created a mock social media campaign to promote Ashton Jeanty for the Heisman Trophy. First, it needed a slogan, so I chose “Heis Him . This slogan ties in both the title of Heisman as well as the statement, “He is him , a common slang phrase used to describe someone who is phenomenal at what they do. It was a quick assignment that did not provide much time to get deeply into design, but I knew the concept and message I wanted to portray immediately. This was a fun assignment to do, especially since I did it right around the same time that Heisman campaigns were coming to a close.
For a class assignment, I created a fact sheet for the Oklahoma Humane Society. I gathered information from the organization’s website to guide the sheet.
This was another quick turnaround assignment that did not give much room for true creativity to shine through. However, I am still proud of how the fact sheet turned out, from the colors to the small logo details.
I created a newsletter for the sorority Alpha Omicron Pi at the University of Oklahoma for a class project. I conducted in-person interviews to gather information on the sections I wanted to highlight then designed the letter.
This was the first piece of creative work I designed while at OU, and I have learned a lot since making this piece. This was a great opportunity for me to practice both writing and designing a newsletter from scratch.
Writing
Writing was a core part of my public relations education at OU. If you were not able to write a piece well, nothing else about the assignment mattered. A lot of my writing is tied to research, but I am including a few samples that are less research-related here. I am most proud of the sample media releases I created for my various sports PR electives.
From learning basic AP Style rules to proper etiquette for email inquiries, my knowledge in PR writing was constantly being enhanced and challenged while at OU.
Through my Crisis Communications elective, I worked with a group to create a crisis communications plan for Ticketmaster. We later used this plan to prepare and host a mock press conference.
This project did involve a lot of research to go alongside of it, but this plan is mostly composed of our ideas on combatting potential researched crises for the brand. It was a great experience learning about the more messy side of PR. I wish this course was required because I learned so much valuable information on crisis management.
Media Releases
(all quotes and statements are made up by me, these things did not truly happen in real life)
Research
Throughout my time at the University of Oklahoma, I conducted numerous forms of research. My minor in psychology provided me a unique understanding of performing research. I have spent countless hours working on both primary and secondary research. I also have experience in running queries to find online sentiments of organizations.
Case Studies were a common project assignment throughout my time at OU. I have included some of the case studies I spent a lot of time on and feel the most proud about.
I led the research for my group’s campaign for Phillips 66. In this process, I designed a survey for the class to use to gather the essential information on building our campaigns. Additionally, I designed a survey for A/B testing once my group prepared our initial concepts.
I have included a copy of our final campaign book and presentation under the campaigns and events section.
My final project in my public relations major was to do a case study on a recent crisis and create a podcast to go alone with it. My group decided to focus on actress Sydney Sweeney’s recent backlash surrounding her campaigns with clothing brand American Eagle and hygiene brand Dr. Squatch.
We researched the rapid rise in Sweeney’s fame and the following onslaught of negative media attention surrounding two key campaigns. We researched online sentiment towards Sweeney as well as the associated brands.
With a group, I completed research on the 1Oklahoma NIL organization, with the question of how to get more donations to non-revenue generating sports leading the research.
With a partner, I completed a case study about former LSU football player Kyren Lacy’s legal troubles and the use of sports promotion throughout the crisis.
Our assignment was to find a recent crisis involving an athlete, coach or team. We chose the topic and completed the research prior to Lacy’s death. We ended up presenting the case only days after his death, which made the discussion of the events much more meaningful and impactful.
With a group, I created a case study about the crisis experienced by United HealthCare when the organization’s CEO was murdered and the ethical implications that came from it.
Our task for this assignment was to research a current or recent crisis and apply various course principles to help lead a discussion. The class was Crisis Communications, and it excellently prepared us to look at this case from various viewpoints.
With a group, I created a case study about Balenciaga. The case study included discussion on a specific crisis the brand experienced as well as other implications and suggestions.
This case was done in a course about ethics in public relations. We specifically looked at Balenciaga’s 2022 crisis involving the use of sexual themes in work with children. We analyzed brand response, financial impacts and fallouts associated with the case.
I led a discussion about the ethical implications of an Artificial Intelligence influencer. I researched the case and presented my findings to inform my classmates.
This was another case I did in my PR ethics class, and its relevance remains high on discussions to be held in the PR industry. I researched a variety of details when preparing this discussion, from social media comments to PRSA Values and Provisions.