During her time at UNC-Chapel Hill in the Hussman School of Journalism and Media and a part of the Environment, Ecology and Energy Program, Nicole was able to enroll in courses that would provide real-world working experiences. Some of the cooperative education she enrolled in showed her what it would be like working as an environmental communications consultant, as a member of a public relations agency, conducting in-house work for others, and gaining the skills needed to be a strategic communicator.
Feel free to browse the companies and clients she worked with during her time as a student at UNC-CH. She has experience working with local non-profits, science research and education centers, school-based organizations, and professional sports teams.
Nashville Predators
The PR campaign course provided Nicole with the experience of working, competing, and pitching a campaign as a member of a PR agency. In this course she was placed in a group that would function as her co-workers for the semester. This is where titles and roles were divided with the expectation to compete against the other “agencies” in the class. Nicole took the role of group leader and was tasked with her share of to-dos while managing the entire team, scheduling client meetings, and ensuring the final deliverables were of the highest quality.
The client was the NHL team, the Nashville Predators and the Nashville Predators Foundation. The class was tasked with conducting research and pitching a campaign that would bring new audiences to the arena due to their aging fanbase. Nashville Predators sales and Foundation leaders selected Nicole’s group as the winner of the campaign competition.
“Their research, their presentation – top notch. Their report was so in depth with budget breakdown, proposed timelines and more. I can see why it was such a huge file!! I feel like we could step right into their presentation and roll out their ideas and programs. The influencers they found are not ones I know of or seen but potential goldmine for partnerships. Being in CR, I love the inclusion of a collaborate volunteer event. My daughter just volunteered with Rise Against Hunger at her Middle School and one that we have not worked with in the past. Great potential there.“
Rebecca King
Vice President of the Nashville Predators Foundation
Arts Together
During Nicole’s time at UNC, she enrolled in MEJO 732, the Public Relations and Strategic Writing course, where her class worked for the client Arts Together, a non-profit in Raleigh, NC, that provides arts education to individuals of all ages through a diverse, inclusive and collaborative environment. The client was struggling with improving class registrations, reaching all the communities it was hoping to, and lacked some of the necessary communication assets that would improve overall awareness and support of the arts education center.
Nicole functioned as the main point of contact between the client, her professor, and the rest of the students in her class. She and her peers were able to put together the deliverables the clients asked for, and then some, during an internal leadership change. Nicole and her class ended the semester with a final presentation and campaign pitch that brought the clients to happy tears. The director of the programs shared how the classes’ work would make such a positive impact for her and her team.
The class was able to effectively deliver the following items:
- Messaging and communication strategies for the Arts Together brand to all stakeholders.
- Provided resources to support revenue-generating initiatives.
- Implement a strong focus on equity and diversity across all deliverables.
- Provided strategies to connect with historically marginalized communities and promote new Arts Together opportunities.
- An Arts Together informational video that can be cut down to various lengths for various platforms.
- Case statement and one-pager for significant donors or corporate partners.
- Corporate sponsor packet and a strong prospect list and contacts.
- Media contact list, including areas of interest for certain reporters and how Arts Together could connect to those reporters.
- Website audit and suggested changes for customer experience, brand strength, and looking forward to the future growth of the organization.
Yale Program on Climate Change Communication
In ENEC 698, the environmental science capstone, Nicole and her group members worked for the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, a research center within the Yale School of the Environment. Nicole was the main point of contact between her group members, her professor, and Sarah Peach, the senior editor of Yale Climate Connections. Nicole ensured monthly meetings were scheduled and provided weekly updates to the client as well as weekly reviews to her peers and professor.
She brought organization, creative skills, and a background in strategic communications to the team as the team’s only experienced science communicator/journalism student. Together, her and her group researched consumer segments, developed content marketing assets, lesson plans, and cohesive branding strategies to better YPCCC’s implementation of environmental communication efforts. Additionally, Nicole and get group effectively audited the current scope of the organization, and designed short and long-term marketing plans.
Kids Voting Durham
In one of Nicole’s earliest classes with the journalism school, she was given the opportunity to help out a local non-profit in Durham, NC. She was placed in a group with fellow undergraduates where they were tasked to audit the current communications of their respective client, provide recommendations, and develop a suite of tools.
She and her team conducted a communication audit and developed a client portfolio consisting of a SWOT analysis, public relations plan, news releases, and public service announcements. They also created a social media calendar with respective content for each platform. Following the end of the semester, the client was able to implement the assets created by Nicole and her team. They proved to be great resources and helped out the founder of Kids Voting Durham, as it had been a one-person show running the entire non-profit’s operation with limited volunteers helping out.
