Bailey Sergott (841)
One of my favorite things to do while learning about public relations is interviewing those in the field. It is so inspiring to hear the potential jobs that are out there for me. I had the pleasure of speaking with Cynthia Robbins Shah-Khan. Cynthia graduated in 1994 from University of North Carolina at Asheville and majored in Mass Communication with a minor in theatre. Cynthia has more than 25 years’ of experience in communications, including 13 years in TV news, eight years in K-12 school PR, and nonprofit and government communications. Cynthia also owned her own strategic communications consultant company for five years and recently went back to working a full-time position as a communications manager for Retail Businesses Services. Cynthia started at an internship in TV news. She only did the one internship because she said that she knew that’s what she wanted to do when she graduated. That station hired her where she worked for 10 years.
Her company
Cynthia currently works for Retail Business Services, which is a shared-services company for Ahold Delhaize USA, which owns five East coast grocery chains: Food Lion, Stop & Shop, Hannaford, The GIANT Company and Giant Food. They provide communications for the services that they provide for all the brands-like IT, HR, purchasing, procurement, supply chain, etc. They also serve as a resource for the brands when it comes to company-wide implementation of new programs or technology, or with crisis communications.
A variety of fields
I asked Cynthia what her favorite part of her job was that she enjoys. She is able to do a lot of different things. With so much experience from a variety of positions, Cynthia is able to work in many different fields. With her experience varying from TV news to crisis communications to media relations/pitching and placing content to writing and graphic design to developing strategic communication plans, she is able to do so many different things. One project that Cynthia did was she developed a crisis communication toolkits that they shared across all the brands for COVID-19. Another thing that she does is she produces and anchors a short weekly newscast that highlights what their associates need to know. Cynthia also does a lot of websites content development and graphic design. Cynthia’s extensive list of experience is very impressive as she is also a communications lead on several large company-wide projects.
Missing human connection
Cythnia shared with me that her biggest challenge right now is going from owning her own company where she set her own schedule to working regular office hours. Another big challenge she has encountered is that she was hired by contract to fill in when two members of the communication team were on maternity leave. She started at the end of last February, about two weeks before the shutdown from COVID. So, she was never able to work with her coworkers in person, who she interacts with everyday so she misses interacting with coworkers. As a college student who misses having in person classes, I can relate to Cynthia in that aspect. I still am able to interact with my professor and students but everything is done virtually. It is much harder to connect with people over zoom, so I can’t imagine starting a brand new job and moving virtual, but she handled it well and stays positive.
Advice from an expert
When I asked Cynthia what advice she would give to me as I prepare for a career in public relations, she told me to take internships. She encouraged me to take internships while in school because they will help me realize what I want to do, as well as what I don’t want to do. Cynthia also gave me good advice that as a manager, when she’s hiring, she wants to hear what skills someone has and has not worked on. A good way that Cynthia encouraged me to do this is to look for nonprofits who could use help with PR or marketing for free to build my skills, portfolio and just to meet people and make connections. I was happy to hear this because I am interested in working in the nonprofit PR industry and I had never thought about volunteering to build my portfolio. `
Take a break
I was relieved to hear Cynthia tell me to take a break. She mentioned that covid has been tough and it’ll be okay if I don’t find a great job right away. She encouraged me that it’s okay if you don’t find your dream job right away, you just have to find a job first. As graduation comes closer, that’s always a relief to hear. There’s so much pressure to find internships and a job, it’s nice to take a step back and realize I have time and I’ll be okay. Hearing from Cynthia who was so much experience and expertise, it was very inspiring. She has really done it all from owning her own business to working in the field for over 25 years.
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