As we transition into cooler temperatures, K&P is excited to extend a warm welcome to our new fall intern, Kate! Kate recently joined our growing team with an eagerness to learn, putting her PR and multi-tasking skills to the test. Not only is Kate well-versed in writing and editing, but she has a talent for all things dance, as well.
Kate joins us from Centennial College’s Public Relations and Corporate Communications postgraduate certificate program and has been an amazing addition to the team. As she continues to learn and grow within her various accounts, we decided to season Kate with a few questions to get to know her a little better!
What do you like most about PR?
There are great stories everywhere, but they need to land at the right time and with the right audience. I like figuring those pieces out, it’s like a puzzle with a temporal dimension.
Another thing I really like about the PR work I’ve done in the past is being an “outside eye.” I like helping clients get outside their bubbles, their jargon, their assumptions about what people already know (and don’t know!) about their products. We all have echo-chambers, but if you want to reach new audiences you need to recognize your blind spots. Often, the way you tell your story can exclude people from engaging with you and that undermines efforts for growth at the outset. But simple changes (sometimes right in the copy) can boost engagement. And it works the other way too—I like helping clients understand more about who they want to reach.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
I always wanted to be a writer. I’m going to date myself here, but when I was little my mom (who was high-up in the echelons of commercial real estate), had a computer at home, which was rare at the time. She was a business lady and I wanted to be one, too! So, I would spend hours sitting at her computer using MS-Dos, (only people over 35 will know what that is!) watching the flashing yellow cursor box turn into my own stories. And I would save them on an actual floppy disk!
At a young age, I won a few writing prizes for essays which reinforced the idea that I could write. I was so into writing that I did the Mavis Beacon typing course when I was six because proper finger placement and “words per minute” was all the rage. My grandmother, a legal secretary at the time, would work with me and give me little typing assignments. Eventually, I got my own Smith Corona typewriter and I just wrote everything down, whether it was random “house rules” or letters to neighbours, cousins and friends, or a series of kids books about a character called “Morris Boris” (that I still might publish one day). Luckily a career in PR will let me keep my writing chops up!
What kind of music are you into?
I love anything by STAX Records. If you don’t know STAX then you don’t know Motown. I also listen to classical music when I’m writing or editing: Ralph Vaughn Williams, Arvo Part, and French romantics and Impressionists frequently stop me in my tracks.
What makes you laugh the most?
My two kids crack me up the most. My three-year old daughter Millie is possibly the next Buster Keaton, crossed with Elaine Benes. It’s a wonderful combination for sparking joy and laughter.
Who would make you starstruck and why?
I have a love for dancing and Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite is one of my favourite dancers. I am also a huge fan of actor Sir Patrick Stewart and writer and broadcaster Monty Don. I have also had a long-standing and impossible crush on Patrick Swayze, otherwise known as Johnny from Dirty Dancing. I would be utterly gob smacked to carry a watermelon near him.
Do you like to cook? If so, what’s your favourite dish to make?
I like to cook. My husband is Iranian, and I was introduced to the cuisine late in life. But almost any Persian stew has rocked my world, as has Iranian rice. However, all these preferences have been replaced by any dish that both my kids will eat. That is now my true preference.