Hi! My name is Susan Nam and I have the privilege of being Ketner Group’s newest intern for the summer, based in Austin.
I’ll graduate from the University of Texas at Austin this summer with a degree in public relations as well as communication and leadership. Sounds like three majors, but thankfully it’s only two.
A little about me
I’m a second generation Korean American born and raised in College Station, Texas. After living in Aggieland my whole life, I was ready to move somewhere new for college.
My time at UT Austin gave me two precious things: identity and community. Through meeting my tribe of friends in college, I’ve grown to cherish my Asian American heritage and forge my values with a group of people. It’s also been nice to struggle through post-grad life together with them.
When I’m not struggling with adulting, you can catch me drinking boba with friends, adding books to my TBR list, or curating my 19-hour Spotify playlist for the summer.
Why I choose PR
I stumbled across the world of public relations while searching for a major that had a definitive career path and could provide me with technical skills to stand out.
PR not only meets those criteria, but it also combines relationship building with storytelling. As a self-proclaimed people person who loves creativity, PR is the ideal career field for me.
Despite half of my college experience occurring during a global pandemic, I’ve had incredible opportunities to intern in a wide variety of places – a nonprofit, a grassroots organization, a tech company, and my own university to name a few.
Although I gained extensive experience in internal and external communications at these organizations, one experience I felt that I lacked was work in an agency setting. Enter Ketner Group!
Why I choose Ketner Group
Out of all the PR agencies I explored, Ketner Group stood out to me in that it emphasizes work life balance alongside serving its clients.
Agencies tend to be known for being all-encompassing work environments. As a new communications professional, I wanted to experience working at a place that balances spontaneity and hard work with respect and protection for employees’ personal lives.
Ketner Group also serves a niche clientele, retail tech companies, which allows the agency to become experts for its clients.
I look forward to learning the ins and outs of the retail tech industry niche. Already I’m learning a lot from my coworkers who talk excitedly about all the cool aspects of retail tech!
What I’m looking forward to
After working one week at Ketner, I feel encouraged by the work I’ve been trusted with and the support offered to me by Team Awesome.
While interning at an agency does feel a little intimidating, I look forward to challenging myself to grow in my PR skills and soaking up as much wisdom as I can while I’m here.
Austin
