Kickoff Event with Rachel Tillapaugh

"Communications at its core is interpersonal relationships." 

Wise words by Rachel Tillapaugh, local reporter for ABC-13 right here in Lynchburg. 

PRSSA welcomed Tillapaugh to talk about PR from a news standpoint. PR exists in every business and company. Although Tillapaugh works exclusively with politics, public safety, education and business. 

Rachel Tillapaugh

The key to mastering any field in communications is spending time in college getting to know yourself. Tillapaugh transferred in as a business major but ended up in interdisciplinary studies focusing on communication and fine arts. 

Today, she works a not-so-common schedule of 3:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. What makes the schedule worth it for Tillapaugh is that she is front and center of "history being made". She functions as the "mouthpiece" for change across time. 

Tillapaugh's advice to students is that workplace success comes from organization, personal improvement, having a standard of excellence, knowing how to work in a team and staying creative. Bring these character traits into any job and you will find success. 

College is about building a personal brand and getting to know yourself and others. It's this time that students have the chance to learn how to attack problems and not people. 

So Tillapaugh invites you to ask yourself, "what do I enjoy day to day now that I could push myself to turn into a career?"