Monday Kick-off

Hello All!

I'm very excited to welcome everyone to the Marist Red Foxes 2010 PRSSA Leadership Week. First and foremost, I would like to thank our invited leaders for taking the time to participate in this event. We appreciate your insights and are fortunate to have so many perspectives present in the conversation. The concept of Leadership Week was developed last year to cultivate a healthy discussion about various leadership issues within the field of public relations. Based on the great success of the 2009 forum, Leadership Week has become a part of Marist PRSSA tradition.

This year, we will examine "Gender Gap: A Leadership Perspective." The issue of gender is particularly interesting within the public relations landscape. In a field seemingly dominated by women, the gender gap is still very much present. We hope to address this issue and answer some questions of our own. Are men in significantly higher positions of power? Does the glass ceiling still exist? What about the velvet ghetto? How does work-life balance differ between gender? What can young professionals expect for the future? As the workforce becomes increasingly more diverse, it is our job as leaders to look at the changing (or maybe not so changing) dynamics of the public relations field.

Before posting, we ask that you look at the numerous links that run across the top of the blog. You will find important information about the forum guidelines, schedule, and invited leaders. There are also numerous readings and resources to help guide the discussion and provide talking points. Feel free to post additional resources as well (articles, YouTube videos, pertinent Twitter profiles, etc.) We hope for this to be an engaging experience, so please read what others have to say before you post your own thoughts to avoid repetition.

Today, we will have introductions and icebreakers. We would like everyone to introduce themselves and provide a background on their experiences. I'd like to start it off. My name is Sabrina Clark and I am a senior Communications (Public Relations) and Spanish major. As I hunt for internships and jobs for post-grad, I've noticed a trend of more males as my competition at job interviews. This is even more evident when the position was in-house PR. Anytime I've interviewed with a large company to do internal public relations, I have encountered other male interviewees. After thinking about this, I'd like to pose these questions for today: To what extent do you feel the gender gap exists? Is it possible that the gap is more evident in specific PR sectors?

Once again, welcome everyone. I look forward to our discussion. Remember to keep checking back, as there will be different topics to look at each day.

Sabrina Clark

Chapter President