The PR rookie

      The lack of diversity in the Public Relations and communications industry is shocking. According to the PRCA institution, their latest survey carried out in 2016 revealed over 91 per cent of industry professionals are white. That may not seem shocking as 91 percent of the population are white. However, this is problematic when it comes to representation of ethnic minorities. On the surface it may seem as though there is enough representation, but the population of ethnic groups are more concentrated in urban cities such as London, Manchester, and Birmingham, where the Public Relation and Communications industry are mostly based.   In London alone, 43.4 per cent of the population is white, which shows that these institutions are not representatives of the areas they’re situated in. This is a complex issue which cannot be solved overnight, but industry and government can start to implement changes. And, in five to ten years’ time hiring pool will hopefully be mor...

    Pop culture is extremely prominent within our society, and it is so easy to consume, especially with everything being so accessible. The online world makes it very difficult for you to erase your online history, cancel culture is ruthless. A career that took ten years to build can be over in ten seconds from a comment, video, or picture.   American rapper  Jonathan Lyndale Kirk, professionally known as DaBaby  experienced major backlash from making offensive uneducated comments on HIV Aids, whilst performing on stage at a festival last year.    You’re probably wondering what DaBaby said and how serious was it? To put in short, DaBaby said to his audience to “put [their] cell phone light up", apart from those who were HIV-positive or were gay men who had sex in car parks. He also went on to say that ‘HIV’ will ‘make you die in two or three weeks.’ Rightfully so people were angry. DaBaby, unprovoked decided to spread misinformation surrounding the di...

  Alaina Williams Alumni interview.       What did you study at university and where did you go?   I studied Architecture at the University of East London. I did a foundation course and then my undergraduate for three years.   Did you always know that you want to work in PR and Communications?   I had no idea what PR was before the program. I never considered myself to ever work in a corporate job.  When I finished uni I went back home and ended up working at an estate agents. I found that I was doing a lot of creative tasks and marketing, so off the back of that I knew that I wanted to do something under the umbrella of marketing that incorporated architecture.    Who was you cohort sponsored by and why did you choose it? I did the FTI cohort and going into it I didn’t realise there were different cohorts to begin with, so I did not apply based on the sponsor.    What was your highlight of the traineeship? The most enjoya...