{"id":5920,"date":"2015-04-07T07:00:43","date_gmt":"2015-04-07T11:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/?p=5920"},"modified":"2018-08-20T15:48:46","modified_gmt":"2018-08-20T19:48:46","slug":"three-public-relations-tips-to-lift-public-relations-women-to-the-top","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/2015\/04\/07\/three-public-relations-tips-to-lift-public-relations-women-to-the-top\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Public Relations Tips to Lift Women to the Top"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"IMG_1715<\/a>
Weber State University PRSSA member Shaquille Heath poses for a photo with Jill Chappell of CNN during Utah Valley University’s Regional Conference. Courtesy of Heath.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even though we live in a time where women are increasingly dominating in the workplace, and the gender pay gap is shrinking in some industries, women are still lagging in management. You\u2019ll hear chauvinists say women don\u2019t assert themselves or aren\u2019t aggressive enough. As a future public relations professional, and as a woman, these proclamations are disheartening.<\/p>\n

The fact of the matter is that having women in management roles only benefits an organization. \u00a0There are studies which prove that businesses with women in senior management roles make more money.<\/p>\n

I recently attended the PRSSA Regional Conference at Utah Valley University, yearning to hear from other women. I wanted to know how they got to the top \u2014 and how I can get there too.<\/p>\n

Here are my top three tips:<\/p>\n

1. \u201cBe confident.\u201d
\n<\/b>Jill Chappell, CNN Senior Editorial Producer, The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer<\/i><\/p>\n

Think about the first episode of \u201cScandal\u201d when Olivia Pope\u2019s phone rings as she says, \u201cIt\u2019s handled.\u201d Her posture is straight, shoulders back, her eyes slightly squinted, chin up \u2014 she means business. And so should you. The second Chappell walked on the stage, you felt her presence. Her voice was loud, but controlled. Her hands were placed on her hips, and precisely so. Chappell demanded respect \u2014 partly because to do her job, she has to.<\/p>\n

In our field, how can you expect to gain attention for you clients if you can\u2019t manage to look up when you walk? You are just as able as every man in the room. The studies support this claim, so cultivate it. If you feel unsure, practice in the mirror the perfect \u201cI\u2019m sure\u201d face that you can pull up when you\u2019re stumped. You are intelligent. Show it.<\/p>\n

2. \u201cQuantify it.\u201d
\n<\/b>Kara Schneck, Head of Corporate Communications, Nu Skin Enterprises<\/i><\/p>\n

Everyone knows that only a small proportion of women pursue math degrees. I\u2019m not saying that you have to love math, but you have to stop hating it. Embrace numbers. They are not that bad. In fact, Excel spreadsheets and Google Analytics pretty much do all the math for you.<\/p>\n

Tell me which person you would hire. Person 1: \u201cI increased our Twitter following.\u201d Person 2: \u201cI increased our Twitter following 10 percent in a manner of two months.\u201d If you said person one, please watch more \u201cMad Men.\u201d I think we all know that showing increases, decreases, raises, expansions, perceptions, attitudes, ROI, engagement, followers, tweets and anything that you else you can quantify, is a billion times better when you use numbers that help the C-suite and other managers make sense of it. Quantify everything! This will take a while, but will result in great practice.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

3. \u201cAuthenticity goes further than spin.\u201d
\n<\/b>Cheryl Snapp Conner, Founder of SnappConner PR<\/em><\/p>\n

At first I thought, \u201cOh duh.\u201d Then I thought, \u201cOh, DUH.\u201d The best thing Snapp Conner said was that \u201cIf your work is good, it will speak for itself. You shouldn\u2019t have to put a spin on it.\u201d I know we all generally learn this concept along our public relations paths, but hearing it said like this \u2014 wow, does it make that much more sense. Also, if you\u2019re quantifying everything and slightly tilting your head up and to the right, you are going to kill that presentation.
\n_____<\/i><\/p>\n

Shaquille Heath is a member of Weber State University’s Chapter of the PRSSA. Outside of school, you can find her watching Scandal, eating popcorn, or fighting for feminism. Connect with Heath on LinkedIn, follow her on Twitter @shaquilleheath<\/a> or email her at shaquilleh22@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even though we live in a time where women are increasingly dominating in the workplace, and the gender pay gap is shrinking in some industries, women are still lagging in management. You\u2019ll hear chauvinists say women don\u2019t assert themselves or aren\u2019t aggressive enough. As a future public relations professional, and as a woman, these proclamations are disheartening. The fact of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2103,2110,400,41,15,40,32,2112,2111,1854],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5920"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5920"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9126,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5920\/revisions\/9126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}