My name is Katie Rattigan. I am currently studying MA Public Relations & Strategic Communication at Leeds Beckett University, where I also gained a First Class undergraduate degree in Media, Communication & Cultures. Some of my key topics of interest are crisis communications, media relations and social media management. After University, I intend to relocate to London and achieve my long-term goal of becoming a media relations practitioner. This specialism interests me most due to my extensive knowledge of how the media operate and my ability to build trustworthy relationships with the media.
Working in both the events and retail industries provided me with excellent communication skills. As a former event manager for two of the most prestigious electronic music events in Leeds, ‘Mint Sessions’ and ‘Set One Twenty’, I was responsible for building relationships with audiences via social media. In order to build the social media following for the events, I ran online competitions which required users to follow the accounts and share posts to win tickets. As a result, the accounts gained over a thousand followers, which ultimately increased engagement with tweets.
The Masters program has equipped me with the knowledge and abilities to confidently deliver first class presentations and assignments. Running a campaign for the renowned Leeds-based PR agency ‘Harris Associates’ expanded my digital skills and granted myself and my team hands-on experience of working in PR. The agency wanting to actually use our ideas to build their online presence made our hard work extremely rewarding and worthwhile. Additionally, working in a team of people with a diverse range of cultural backgrounds enhanced my cultural awareness and cross-cultural communication skills, which are necessary to thrive in the PR and media relations environments.
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