# @msujschool on Facebook

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.facebook.com/1588490806402984/posts/10156809150358666
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/68589755-msujschool-facebook
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/8152cf5285.jpg
- **Posted:** 2019-09-27T14:04:05.000+00:00

## Caption

It’s time for the Homecoming Weekend edition of #Five4Friday! Today, we meet Kristin Rhodes, the Senior Project Manager at PRIME Research / Cision Insights and a 2005 School of Journalism graduate (CLACS Specialization).

Q: What do you like most about your job? 

My job is a mix of client services, corporate communications and PR, and runs parallel to the news business... so it's a unique way to put my J-School background to work. In my role as a Senior Project Manager at PRIME Research/Cision Insights, I consult with automotive brands about their media image. The best part is helping companies understand the media landscape they compete in and advising them on their PR strategy. My long-standing relationships with many of my clients allow them to see my team as a partner, rather than a vendor, and it creates a great collaborative environment. It's always satisfying to tell a client their campaign was successful, but there is another level of pride when we contribute to that success with our data, insights or just plain advice. 

Q: How did your experience at the J-School prepare you for your career?

I first studied media content analysis in a course I took with Dr. Ogundimu - and loved it - so I later completed a research project under Dr. Chavez that sought to correlate Latinx diversity in newsrooms with the sentiment of those publications' Latin-American coverage. Coming to PRIME, I had that background on how media analysis works (data and interpretation) and the impact it can have. The PR research field is small as it is, and practitioners who have a background in it are even more rare, so it's a unique perspective that I bring to my work.

More generally, I use my J-School education every day. My job involves a ton of writing. The reports I execute are widely distributed among communications and product teams, all the way up to the C-Suite, so they need to be clear and concise for a wide audience with disparate goals. It's a challenging format for storytelling, but the J-School gave me those fundamentals. I'm also the unofficial copy editor on my team, so people have been known to run and hide when they see me with my pink pen in hand.

Q: What excites you about the future of journalism?

Journalism is so dynamic now. To me, the rise of citizen journalism - and the use of social channels by the mainstream media - is a crucial tool for the distribution of information. I say that as someone who was pretty hesitant to consume news through social. I still read my local newspaper and watch the news, but there's immense power in the speed and perspective of those channels.

I'm also hopeful for a cultural return to respect for and trust of the media, and for improved safety for journalists.

Q: What do you miss most about MSU, and what do you do to keep yourself connected to the Spartan community?

One of the most unique things about MSU is really its size. Being a part of a community that large - and on a campus that large - is an experience that few other universities can offer. Those long treks through campus (in the fall and spring when the weather was nice!) are some of my most vivid and cherished memories.

I stay connected to MSU through my love of our fantastic basketball and football teams and through my friendships with my fellow alumni. I come back to campus as often as I can. My husband and I always bring Spartan gear with us when we travel - no matter where you are, it's a guaranteed way to hear a "Go Green" in an airport, hotel, bar, theme park...

Q: What advice do you have for our students preparing for their final exams?

Be over-prepared! It's never too early to start studying. That allows you the flexibility to take a break when you have writer's block or the words in the textbook stop looking like words.

We thanks Kristin for her time, and you can check out more about her company and job opportunities there. Go to: https://jobs.jobvite.com/cision-us/jobs

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five4friday

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