By: Paige Beck
On February 23, 2024, the University of Northern Iowa’s Public Relations Student Society of America traveled to Minneapolis to visit companies to learn about how their public relations teams operate. The three companies that the group visited were Padilla, Bellmont Partners, and The Mall of America. Padilla The day started at Padilla and the members were given an overview of what Padilla does at their company. Padilla specializes in communications and has three other ensemble teams: Shift, Foodminds, and Joe Smith. Padilla works with many brands and companies to create public relations, advertising, and marketing campaigns. The PRSSA students met with Tina Charpentier, the Executive Vice President of Padilla, to have an open discussion about what it is like to work in agency life. Other employees who have graduated from various universities in the past 10 years, who now work at Padilla, also hosted a Q&A session. They talked about their experiences and what the transition out of college looks like. The biggest takeaway from this Q&A was that while working in an agency, an employee can have different interests and work with a variety of clients. If someone is interested in a specific subject, there is room for that person to explore that interest. Padilla was also gracious enough to feed our members pizza from a local restaurant and cookies from Insomnia. Bellmont Partners After Padilla, the members went to Bellmont Partners. Bellmont Partners specializes in communications and offers many different types of services for their clients. Our members met with Madelyn Elizondo, an assistant account executive, and Julie Goulette, an account executive. These two women gave amazing insight into how to create a work-life balance while working with multiple clients at a time. They emphasized the importance of getting involved within the community after college because it helps you stay connected and make friendships outside of work. They also highlighted that most companies want to continue to see their employees learn and succeed, so being involved in other organizations outside of work is a great way to keep up to date. Mall of America The last stop for our members was The Mall of America. Daniel Jasper, the Senior Vice President of MOA Press, gave our members a behind-the-scenes tour of his podcast studio and the offices of the mall. He stressed the importance of staying connected with people and enjoying the work that you do. He also gave us some insight into what employers look for during the hiring process. Sometimes, it is not about what you know, it is about who you know. Staying connected can help people when looking for new job opportunities. Our members ended the day with some shopping around the mall and some free tickets provided by Jasper for the Nickelodeon theme park. At the end of the day, our members learned a lot from this agency tour and made great connections. Thank you so much to Padilla, Bellmont Partners, and the Mall of America.
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