Catherine Brosnahan ’24, public relations and Spanish with a minor in social justice and civic responsibilities, was a part of the Harrington School Social Media Research Lab during her last year at URI. From that role, Brosnahan was able to get a summer internship with MikeWorldWide, a client of the Lab, in New York City. Through the hands-on experience in this internship and the classroom, Brosnahan has gained the skills she needed to launch a career in public relations.
Why did you choose URI?
URI felt like the just right Goldilocks-type school for me. I was looking for a midsize university and I wanted a secluded campus where it wasn’t part of a city; it had its own enclosed area. I’ve always lived near the beach, and that was something that I really liked. A huge thing for me was the opporunity for a study abroad experience. On my tour, it felt like they really emphasized studying abroad a lot, and as a Spanish major, that’s when I knew I wanted to go to college. There was something that was non-negotiable for me: I needed to study abroad.
Why did you choose to study public relations and Spanish?
Academically, I hopped around a lot during my time here. I started as a Spanish major, and then I went to Gender Women’s Studies. But then I thought that I couldn’t really do much with that degree. Then, I switched to PR because my roommate was a PR major, and I ended up liking it, so I declared it as my second major.
How do your two majors work together in your future plans?
I’ve thought about that a lot. I feel like PR is so dynamic. There are so many different careers you can go into that there are places where it overlaps with my Spanish major. I applied for an internship in product marketing for the Latin American sector of a company, which would involve Spanish. But marketing is not necessarily what I want to do; it’s more PR that I like. So it didn’t end up working out, but there are places for overlap. I just haven’t found them yet. PR is such a broad major, and there’s so much you can do, which is a good thing.
Were you part of any student organizations or on-campus internships during your time at URI?
Yes, I was a radio deejay on WRIU. I started that at the beginning of my sophomore year, so I’ve spent two and a half years on the radio. I was also a Spanish tutor for two and a half years in the Language Lab. I was also part of the Social Media Research Lab in partnership with MikeWorldWide through the Harrington School. I started that last May. Working for MWW has allowed me to look into industry research on competitors and perform audits to track media coverage. We try to understand what is being talked about and what the client could do better and compile this into monthly coverage or quarterly coverage reports for them. This was all possible because of guidance from Professor Joon Kim, who connected me with the position.
Do you have any favorite professors from URI?
I immediately think of Professor Sarah Daly Van-Oot. I love her so much. I’ve taken two classes with her, PRS 100: Introduction to Public Relations and PRS 200: Introduction to Event Management. I have the most fun stories from the event management class. I just loved the stories she would tell about events she’d done and to learn from that. She’s just also a good storyteller, so I like hearing her talk. In PRS 100, she gave me a great foundation for the rest of my major classes and in PRS 200, she taught us to plan for the worst. If something can go wrong, it will go wrong, so you always need to have a backup plan, especially for events, but even in life, she emphasized that you have to have a backup plan. You have to learn how to think on your feet and think fast.
How has URI prepared you for a career in public relations?
I feel like PR majors here get such valuable class experiences because a lot of the classes, especially the higher-level PR classes, are product- and experience-based. Professors are never lecturing to you on slides all day in PR. It’s just real-life examples, real-life experiences. Like, I’ve written so many press releases. Being able to do real work is huge. In both PRS 331: Writing Public Relations and PRS 441: Public Relations Practices, we spent the whole semester doing a campaign. I think the classes here are really good at helping you visualize what your career will look like.
What is your favorite part of studying public relations?
I consider myself a very social and extroverted person. I need to be around people all the time, and I don’t do well sitting in classes where I can’t talk, so I needed to be able to participate in class, do group work, and be dynamic in the classroom. That was a big draw to PR for me. I like behind-the-scenes a lot. I was in theater in high school and the most rewarding feeling is seeing something go from start to finish and thinking of where you were when you very first started and where you are when you completed it. What I like about PR is seeing that full-circle moment.
What do you wish you had known as an incoming first-year student?
When I was a freshman, it was during COVID, and it felt like there was nothing happening. I wish that I had taken advantage of those resources that were still available, though, like making as many connections as I could with professors and building a network for myself.
What is your favorite memory from URI?
I took an honors class that was about Tibetan Buddhism in the spring. At the end of the semester, when it was getting nice outside, my professor took us to the greenhouses, and we did a meditation. Being out there in the spring meditating was very healing. The other thing that comes to mind is last year I went on the New York field trip with the Harrington School. It was such a good experience to see studios and other things in the real world, and that got me interested in the MikeWorldWide opportunity because we visited their office on the New York trip. I remember thinking to myself, this is what your career could look like. I’m a visual person, and seeing that was so cool. So that’s how I started working for MikeWorldWide and this position has been the most rewarding for sure by far for my career. When I started, I was very much still in a student mindset where I wasn’t making moves for myself, and I was just doing assignments as they gave them to me, but now I am reaching out to the rest of the team to see if there’s anything that I can do or to network with them.