From New York City and TV news to London and PR, with a global pandemic smack dab in the middle, it’s been quite the year. There I was in the late summer of 2019, leaving a job at WABC-TV, the #1 station in NYC, a career working in news, and the only city that I’d ever called home, for a new challenge across the pond.
While a big reason for the move to London was the fact that my partner had herself moved over for work, I also saw it as the perfect vehicle for a career shift idea that had been developing for a while. I had always wanted to get into the news business, and was fortunate enough to break into it at a station I’d grown up watching. But eventually things came to a point where a change was needed. After witnessing co-workers over the years themselves leaving the business for other careers in communications, including PR, this became the catalyst that started it all.
Actually making it over to London was the first big hurdle to face, as getting a UK visa is no easy task. But it’s a much more manageable undertaking when taking the student route to one. So partly because of the complexities of getting a UK visa, and partly as a way to really get a fresh start, I enrolled in a masters program at City, University of London. The plan was to study for a year, learn more about PR, land an internship in the spring and summer of 2020, and then finally get a job using both my old and new experience. But then Covid-19 happened.
Like more or less everyone at that time, my plans were thrown into complete disarray. All I could do was adapt to finishing my degree at home, and hope that things would improve enough for companies to start hiring again at some point in the summer. By June and July, I was back at it, reaching out to PR companies I had researched and was interested in. As any young adult trying to land a new job, even in normal times, it’s no easy task as there were a whole lot of unanswered emails. But then came one.
FieldHouse was there to give me a chance to intern with the team a few days a week over the month of August. So now, after all the challenges over the last year, here was my chance. It was invaluable, as this was my first real opportunity within PR, and to see what agency life was all about. Prior to this, my knowledge of tech and investment was moderate and general in nature, but soon I was becoming versed in the world of venture capital, cybersecurity, space, and more. All this while simultaneously carrying on with my masters dissertation.
The entire FieldHouse team was extremely nice, helpful, and welcoming from the get-go, even as all of my interactions with everyone were through emails, Slack messages, and Zoom calls. I never could have imagined ever interning with a company while everyone was working remotely, let alone starting a new job like I have under those circumstances – and having only set foot in the office a single time. But it’s just the lay of the land that is working in the middle of a global pandemic.
Even with all the quirks this year has presented, and the unique circumstances of how I started here, it quickly felt like FieldHouse was the perfect place to kick off my new career in PR. The companies and industries it works with, the collaboration involved, and the impact it aims to achieve through that work, made this the ideal agency to join. I know I’ll have a lot to learn, but I’m excited for the opportunity to dive in and start making my own impact. It’s always a challenge to take a leap and start over again – in a new country, no less. But taking a step back to become a student and an intern once again was just part of the journey, and ultimately helped me find my way here. When it comes down to it, it’s fair to say the rewards were truly worth it, and as the saying goes, the juice was worth the squeeze.
