Spreading Wings in the Windy City

Hard work paid off for Belle Wilkins as she spent her summer interning in Chicago, touring major media companies and participating in excursions, all while earning recognition for her success.

This past summer, Belle Wilkins interned at major public relations agency Edelman, located in the heart of Chicago. She was there as part of the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication Chicago Domestic Field and Internship Study. At Edelman, Wilkins had the opportunity to intern as a project manager while also working on her own capstone project.

Wilkins, a fourth-year public relations major, knew that she wanted to try her hand in a big city and applied to UGA’s Chicago AdPR program. While getting into the program was the first hurdle, the second was finding the funds to go. After much hard work, Wilkins received $4,000 from a combination of experiential learning and Grady College scholarships. However, the most challenging part of the application was one she did not expect — finding an internship.

“I went in over my head at first, and I thought, ‘Oh, I’ll get something, I’m a really involved student, I already had an internship,’ but it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be,” said Wilkins.

Scouring LinkedIn, Wilkins applied to more than 200 internships, but she found the most success at the Grady Career Fair, where Edelman was an attendee. After speaking with someone from the agency, she submitted her application that February night. In April, after two rounds of interviews, she got the offer letter.

At Edelman, Wilkins worked on a team for a Fortune 100 retail company, assisting on activation campaigns and helping the social team stay on track by finishing and sending out client review decks and coordinating the production team, talent and marketing.

“It was really rewarding because, even if I wasn’t necessarily creating the ideas for the content, I played a role in getting it out to the public,” Wilkins said. “The content was posted to more than 3.6 million followers. I have never reached an audience of this capacity before.”

Additionally, Wilkins worked on an intern capstone project for a Fortune 500 beauty company. She collaborated with interns located around the country in Seattle, Atlanta and New York City, all from different colleges and on different teams. Together, they used research to create a campaign integrating paid, social and earned media. At the end of summer, they presented their findings to agency leadership.

An important part of this AdPR program was the opportunity to meet Grady alumni who live and work in Chicago. UGA students were given the opportunity to meet with companies such as SiriusXM, MSL, Snapchat, Chicago Public Media and even Edelman. At Chicago Public Media, they had a prime viewing of the Wednesday fireworks from Navy Pier, but more importantly, Wilkins met with Grady alumna and Chief Partnership Officer Tracy Brown (ABJ ’88).

“I really liked talking to Brown because it was great to hear from a woman who has such a high position,” Wilkins said. “Talking to her just made me feel more confident about things like advocating for yourself early on.”

Students were also given many opportunities outside of work and class to explore the Windy City. Wilkins visited the Art Institute of Chicago and saw the 360-degree aerial view of Chicago from the John Hancock Building, but her favorite was the Museum of Science and Industry, where the Spider-Man exhibit was on display.

“I’m a huge nerd for Spider-Man, so I thought that was super cool… and the cost of the ticket was covered by the program, so that was a big relief,” Wilkins said.

This experience helped Wilkins define what she is looking for after she graduates this spring. She enjoyed the aspects of working for an agency where being assigned to a client meant there was always something new to do. Overall, this experience really pushed Wilkins out of her comfort zone and helped her grow as a public relations major and as a person.

“This was the most transformative experience, and I’m so grateful for how everything fell into place. Edelman has been my dream internship, and I think it is important to constantly believe in yourself and work to make your dreams a reality,” Wilkins said.

Author: Gigi Fisher, gigi.fisher@uga.edu

Editor: Anyi Morfaw, abm40431@uga.edu