I absolutely loved writing. It’s still my favourite thing to do – write, write, write.

I had always loved the idea of blogging but, up to starting uni, I really struggled to find my niche. I would blog about absolutely anything that I fancied writing about which was fun for a while, but I quickly ran out of motivation with no set content goals or purpose. In my gap year (when working part time as a nanny and part time as a PR intern for a local charity) I started finding blogs about life in the PR world. These were mostly from US bloggers in the likes of New York and Chicago, so I wanted to replicate that in the UK!

I really, really loved it. Not only did I love my PR & Comms course, I loved the blogging community that was being created (it started off as just a few of us back in 2015, and so it’s amazing to see it so huge now!) and I absolutely loved writing. It’s still my favourite thing to do – write, write, write.

Ever since my internship on my gap year on a PR & comms team at a charity, I very much planned to stay in the third sector for my career. And I did…for the first 6 months.

But I very quickly realised that, actually, for the first few years of my career at least, I craved an environment that was more fast-paced, challenging and busy; I realised that my mind works well jumping from one task to the other and back again, and that I prefer not knowing what a day holds. Charity life is meaningful and rewarding, but often slow paced and repetitive. I soon found an agency role – and I’ve been there ever since!

I work for an SEO & digital marketing agency. Over time, I’ve transitioned from specialising in digital PR into client services which is where I am now – Senior Client Services Strategist. I love the art of PR, and I love working and communicating with people, so I very much have the best of both worlds.

Moving from traditional PR into digital PR was a jump, but there’s a crossover between the disciplines which means that every single thing you learn from traditional PR can be transferred to digital – and then you add in the SEO bits, too.

Because my first role out of uni at a charity was a little on the slower-paced side, I found I didn’t have many tangible PR achievements to show for my time there aside from a few pieces of local and industry press coverage and events.

And I’ve been here for 4 and a half years, with 4 promotions under my belt, so I must have done something right!

My advice to today’s students? Honestly, just go with it. If you’re like me, you’ll have your future career plans mapped out to precision in your head (I still do!) – but it’s totally ok if these change. Despite only being in my charity role for 6 months, I do not at all regret jumping over to agency-side so soon.

Over time, I’ve worked out exactly why my decision changed – not only because in those post-uni years I wanted the fast-paced, stereotypical PR life, but I also was adamant that I wanted a career that made a difference to people, that helped them, that added value.

Initially, in my head, I related making a difference to working for a charity – but that’s simply not the case. No matter what your job or industry, whether in-house or agency, you can make a difference through your work. Sure, in my role I might not be actively fundraising to support people’s health – but I am helping to grow a client’s business, supporting them in achieving their business goals and aspirations. And to me, that carries a lot of value and meaning too.