Author: KG Intern

Hello, everyone! I’m Shay Edblom and I am currently in my last semester of college at The University of Texas at Austin. Hook ’em Horns! When deciding what to study in college, I followed my talent for writing into a public relations degree.

Throughout my time at UT, I picked up a business minor and joined the Texas Media and Analytics (TM&A) program. I have absolutely loved TM&A as it allowed me to delve deeply into different aspects in PR, including media buying, and I gained certifications in Amazon Ads, Google Ads and Google Analytics. I even had the opportunity to present an in-person pitch to Deloitte in 2023!

Early career experience

I started my career in public relations after meeting the marketing director of the local Austin start-up CLEAN Cause at a networking event. He encouraged me to create my own position at the company managing their TikTok. I enjoyed continuing to create content for my boss when he transferred to Electrolit, but making short-form video content wasn’t my dream. Over the summer I switched to agency life and participated in the Fellowship at Ketchum in Dallas with a focus in the healthcare industry.

As my college career comes to a close, I knew I wanted to have a spring internship to prepare for life post graduation. After working at Omnicom’s Ketchum, I wanted to experience a different side of the industry. Having never worked for a smaller agency before, I decided to apply for my current position at Ketner Group. I’m excited to gain knowledge about the B2B tech industry and get a lot of hands on experience this spring.

Outside of the office

Enough about school and work, here is a jumble of fun facts about me:

• I recently decided to become a runner (not my strong suit) and I love a good workout class whether it be F45, hot yoga, etc.
• Thrifting is a passion of mine, and my closet is mostly curated from the best pieces I’ve found.
• I recently found myself picking up canning as a hobby. Quite random, but I canned my own pumpkin for pumpkin pie and recently pickled my own red onions.
• I’d consider myself a very amateur artist and like to sketch, paint, and am learning how to draw on my iPad. Below are the results of a painting class I took with my mom.

There is so much more, and I look forward to diving in and becoming part of this awesome team!

Hello, world!

My name is Bernice Chen, and I’m a senior public relations student at The University of Texas at Austin.

I’m excited to be starting my internship with Ketner Group!

How it all began: landing on public relations

I was born in Taiwan, one of the best places on the planet, but I’ve lived in Austin for around 14 years – which, in case you’re wondering, has not made me more resistant to the current heat.

Attending UT was a natural choice for me in many ways, but majoring in public relations wasn’t as easy of a decision. When I was young, I wanted to pursue computer science. I learned coding languages and everything I could about the tech industry. But in high school, I had the tough realization that programming had lost its spark for me.

Searching for something to pivot to, I landed on public relations.

The truth is, I had always engaged in communication, from student press to debate club. However, it wasn’t until I shifted focus that I recognized my passion for the field. Since then, I’ve been resolved to study PR and use what I learn to weave compelling stories for organizations that are leaving a positive mark on the world.

My (ongoing) college years at UT

The Moody College of Communication is one of the top communication schools in the nation, and I’ve had amazing opportunities there to learn and grow as a PR professional.

Joining The Daily Texan, UT’s student newspaper, gave me hands-on social media experience and a close-knit community of hardworking peers. Since my junior year, I’ve also enjoyed working as a coach for the Moody Writing Support Program, supporting other students with their assignments and writing skills.

I have found a way to feed my love of numbers and research through a certificate in applied statistical modeling. And outside of school, I’ve had incredible internships with BerlinRosen and Dell Technologies that have helped open my eyes to the public relations and communication field. It’s been a fascinating adventure.

Even though I’m all-in on PR, my broader interest in technology has remained. It’s one of the reasons I was drawn to Ketner Group and their specialization in retail tech. As I learned more about the company’s friendly work culture and emphasis on work-life balance, I knew Ketner would be a perfect environment to continue building my storytelling skills. And even though I’ve only just started, I’m so eager to work with and learn from this team.

A peek into my personal interests

When I’m not working or finishing my class assignments, I’m playing video games or reading. I’ve rediscovered a love for science fiction and fantasy books, especially after taking a course about climate fiction in my freshman year. I’m also extremely passionate about sustainability and environmental issues.

I look forward to challenging myself and honing my skills at Ketner Group!

It’s been a little while since I’ve published a piece of writing under my name. By a little while I mean about six months, but those six months have been a welcome reprieve.

That’s because for three and a half of the last four years, I was immersed in the hectic but rewarding world of sports journalism.

I arrived at the University of Texas as a wide-eyed freshman with goals of becoming the next hot-shot, up-and-coming sports journalist, with my path set towards a career writing and talking about sports for a living.

My background in journalism

Attending UT was practically a no-brainer for someone like me who grew up in Texas and wanted to pursue sports journalism.

The J-School in the Moody College of Communication is the best in the state and one of the best in the nation, and Texas boasts one of the most prominent, iconic and successful athletic programs in the country. It was the perfect place to make a name for myself.

Over the next three and a half years, I was blessed to accomplish just about everything that a wide-eyed freshman might set out to do.

I have 150 or so bylines to my name, became an expert (or as close to one as a student journalist can get) on Texas sports and enjoyed a dream internship with Sports Illustrated. I got to cover a fantastically fun volleyball team, experienced the Red River Showdown in all its splendor and placed second in a national writing competition at the 2022 NCAA Men’s Final Four in New Orleans.

I truly had the time of my life.

But over time, I began to realize the cost of such an exciting career – I was incredibly burnt out. Sports journalism is a tiring profession that does not lend itself to a strong work-life balance, at least for a morning person like myself.

That’s why I decided to shift focus my senior year before graduating.

My transition into PR

I wanted to find a place where I could apply the skills I developed as a writer and journalist, learn about new industries and develop new skills. This led me to PR and communications, and I’ve loved each step of my journey so far. I took classes in PR my senior year and got my foot in the door with an Austin PR and communications firm that represents clean energy and technology companies.

I’ve always loved storytelling, and I love how I can continue to do that in PR while developing knowledge and expertise across many industries too.

While I have not closed the door on journalism and sports forever, I am so glad to have found a path that I really enjoy and is more sustainable for me as I begin my professional career.

How I ended up at Ketner Group

As my graduation this May quickly approached, I searched for an opportunity in PR that would not only allow me to continue my professional growth but also put a premium on work environment. I was instantly drawn to how Ketner Group advertised itself as a fun, energetic and joyful place to work.

Over the course of my interviews with members of the Ketner team, I really picked up on how that’s not just lip service here. Ketner Group sounded like just the place I wanted to work and grow as a PR professional (it has some recent recognition to back that up, too). That’s why I was ecstatic when I received an offer to intern with the Austin office, and I couldn’t be happier to be here.

It’s only been a week, but I’ve already felt how committed everyone at Ketner is to each other, their work, and their strong company culture. I can’t wait to continue learning from the incredibly talented and awesome team at Ketner.

Here’s to a great summer!

Well, hello there! My name is Abby, and I am happy to report that I am Ketner Group’s Spring 2023 PR intern. I believe an introduction is in order. Here goes!

What makes Abby, Abby?

Here are the basics: I am a senior public relations major and business foundations minor at UT Austin, and I hail from Plano, Texas.

If you saw the recipe of me, energy would make up at least half of the ingredients. I am the world’s most obvious extravert, with the propensity to over-tell jokes and the audacity to perform my pizza raps for strangers. Yes, pizza raps. And yes, strangers.

I love music. You can find me leading worship in the local church, yell-singing Taylor Swift’s “reputation” album in my car, doo-wopping with my a cappella group and even sitting at the piano writing songs of my own. 

In fifth grade, the poetry unit was my favorite. I found joy in placing the perfect rhyme in the perfect spot with the perfect phrasing. At the time, I did not realize that was an indicator of a long-term trend in my life. Writing.

And that is a perfect segue into my next section.

The creative writer to PR professional pipeline

To be honest, PR as a major was my second choice. But thank goodness, the more classes I took, the more I saw a future in the PR field, where I can both make a difference and be made different. I fell more in love with writing and learned tools that help me bridge the gap between the creative and technical.

There is something to be said of creativity within the field of PR. The bounds of communication are endless. Why tell an audience something when you can show them instead? 

My growing curiosity directed at media and its intersection with writing first took form through leadership positions on campus (hook ‘em!). I served as marketing executive with a campus ministry and ran the social media accounts for my a cappella group.

Those experiences turned into a client-side PR internship in the large corporate setting. Finally, that turned into the realization that to complete the real PR crash course of life, I needed to head agency-side. Enter Ketner Group.

How I landed at Ketner Group

Ketner Group is an interesting agency because of its niche. I mean, come on. What on Earth is retail tech? That was my exact question when Ketner Group showed up on my radar. Of course, any good soon-to-be graduate does her research. So I did mine. 

With my research came the understanding that retail tech is an industry that is growing rapidly. There is great value in gaining a frame of reference with an industry that’s on the up and up. 

Not only that, but every single person I come into contact with at Ketner Group is friendly and on the ball. Starting with the recruitment process, I quickly understood that this is an agency that values efficiency in conjunction with kindness. And after being here a week, that observation holds firm. 

I look forward to honing my skills and developing new ones here at Ketner Group. Bring it on.

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.