Today is my first day as a Cookson Strategic Communications intern (CSC) in Manchester. I am beyond excited to learn and work alongside a great group of people a few days each week. I interviewed with a few local public relations agencies in October, but the moment I began my interview with Dia, I had a feeling CSC was the agency where I could maximize my potential. From the moment I walked up the stairs and inside the CSC office, I knew I’d made the right choice: the people have been nothing but friendly and supportive. Having a cohesive environment is how most agencies thrive, which makes it easier to maximize each of the client’s goals. Certainly, the diversity and knowledge of the CSC team are impressive.
I look forward to helping Dia and the team with different projects and becoming a more confident writer, editor, and researcher over the next few months. From what I already know about the public relations and communications field, this will include helping implement different communications strategies for clients. As I began researching different CSC clients this morning, I quickly realized CSC has a large set of diverse clients including education firms, accounting firms, tech companies, oil companies, and even a few non-profit organizations.
So, why public relations?
Ever since middle school, I have loved being creative with social media and writing. The public relations and communications field involves writing, communicating and social media management. These are all aspects that intrigue me. In high school, I wanted to become a political journalist, but once I enrolled in college, I became intrigued with communications and public relations. My major was undecided for much of my freshman year at Saint Anselm. Then, I took a few communications courses including “Mediated Communications” with Professor Lupo, and realized communications was where I wanted to focus my studies. At that time, I was still very much interested in politics, so I declared it as a minor. My political background led me to work on the communications and social media team for a New Hampshire Senate candidate in the fall of 2016. My experience working on a campaign was amazing, however, I wanted to have a different experience in the same field.
A bit more about me
I love the outdoors and have been blessed to be able to ski race and play tennis competitively all my life. I started a blog in high school and used the platform to discuss and post images and recap videos of my skiing travels. My love for competition has led to me balancing a heavy class schedule, while I compete on both the tennis and ski team at Saint Anselm.
I am thrilled to begin a new chapter in my life with CSC. As my time at CSC continues, I am hopeful my knowledge base of public relations strategies will grow. I know my experience will be unparalleled and will give me a strong foundation for the future. Moreover, I want to help Dia and the other members of the CSC team in any way possible to achieve the highest level of success. Lastly, I hope to bring my few years of knowledge in the communications field to help assist CSC’s clients in fulfilling their communications goals.
Written by Benjamin Page, Cookson Strategic Communications intern