Written by: Laik Sweeney, SSC President and University of Guelph-Humber student
Madelynn Vahrmeyer is a student representative for the Humber Post-Graduate Public Relations program and an Assistant VP, External. Madelynn stepped up last semester to help take on the new challenges a virtual world imposed on the Student Steering Committee.
*Responses have been edited for clarity. Watch the full interview here.
Why did you get into PR and why did you take this post-grad program?
I’ve had a roundabout journey to PR. I wasn’t very fond of math and science, so I automatically put myself in an “I’m going to be a creative person” box and went to media production at Ryerson. However, I quickly found out that wasn’t for me, and I gravitated more to the strategic writing assignments. I moved home after my first year at Ryerson, and I ended up going to Brock University, and I did Business Administration for two years. I did not feel like that was for me either. I was feeling very lost at this point as I hadn’t fit into the creative or the business side of things.
A lot of the marketing courses at Brock were shared with the program called Corporate Communications. I would meet with people in these classes and they would say, “You should join our program, it’s like business without the math.” And I thought that sounded perfect. I ended up finishing my undergrad at Brock in the communications program. It was there that I finally felt like I was in the right place. I felt passionate about what I was doing which just made the work naturally easier.
In my final year of the communications program I had a PR course—loved the content, loved the professor. I graduated that year through the pandemic, and I thought it would be good to go back to school and invest in my education, so I started looking into PR programs, and Humber stood out to me. So I did the interview, and when I heard back that I had gotten in, I was overjoyed.
What are your next steps? What niche do you find yourself leaning towards in the PR industry?
The internship that I completed this summer was marketing focused, so I’m really excited to do a PR internship and get experience in that area. I’m personally leaning towards agency, more lifestyle type of work, but I’m also really passionate about women’s rights so I’m looking at agencies that do a bit of both (like with nonprofit but they do some lifestyle brands).
You have shown leadership with the SSC. Stepping up as a student representative into your assistant VP role, I’d love to know your experience and how it’s been for you.
I was thrilled, first of all, to become a student rep for the SSC. One thing I always regretted through my undergrad and even during high school was not being on a student committee and being involved. I was so happy to come on the SSC. I’ve loved working with the ladies on this team. Everyone just wants to support each other and everyone and is so understanding of the crazy times. So, it’s been a really great support system.
What’s your advice for students coming up into the PR industry?
I have two pieces of advice. My first is don’t put yourself in a box. It’s something I did, which kind of put my off track in the beginning of my post-secondary education. Don’t think you’re restricted to one type of PR because there are so many things you can do with PR. There’s PR practitioners in government, agency, non-profits, and more.
My second piece of advice is to network. The best and more effective way to figure out what you like is to talk to people who are doing it now. Ask about their day-to-day, ask them what they like and dislike about their job just to figure out if you can see yourself doing that and if that’s something you want to pursue. I’ve found people are really willing to connect and talk.