Public Relations: How Practitioners Lia Weintraub and Sasha Bennett Do It

The best way to learn the practice of public relations is through hands-on experience. Of course, one can argue that this statement is valid for any type of professional field. However, in contemporary society, public relations isn’t just a single field of study; it’s a necessity for any and all business practitioners who need to interact with the public at large in some shape or form. That said, as each business has its own clientele, needs, and goals, public relations specialists need to be experts in a variety of different skills in order to make themselves more marketable to different kinds of employers. As a public relations specialist, it can be hard to develop the dexterity needed outside of the classroom as many situations dealt with in the professional world are hard to simulate. Internships in the field can be hard to find, and consequently, without the experience in dealing with these situations firsthand, it can be hard for burgeoning public relations practitioners to market themselves as professionals to future employers. To solve the conundrum of acquiring hands-on expertise without a professional career, I went out and interviewed two different public relations specialists about their careers, how they got to where they are currently, and how they go about practicing public relations in the professional world.

Lia Weintraub, formerly of the Pastorum Group was originally not interested in any type of career within the public relations field. “I thought communication was more for students and I wanted to work more with nonprofits,” she said. So, when entering into her first job at Webber- Shandwick, one of the world’s leading global public relations firms, she didn’t know what to expect from a communications standpoint. Weintraub did not know much about public relations as a career field, but she was curious about the social impact the practice could have on society. Thus, her career in the public relations field began with a headfirst dive into professional communications.

In contrast, American University alumni Sasha Bennett had been interested in public relations as a career since she took her first public relations course under Professor Leonard Steinhorn. “I was originally a public affairs major planning on going into law school,” Bennett explained. “However, I quickly figured out that law school wasn’t for me. Professor Steinhorn’s class on crisis communication risk mitigation taught me what the public relations field was like, and I grew interested.” For Bennett, the draw towards public relations as a career drew from the fact that no two days are ever the same; one has to think creatively and outside the box in order to get the job done successfully. Thus, Bennett’s career began with an internship at the advocacy consulting firm APCO Worldwide that led to a job at Edelman, one of the largest public relations and marketing consulting firms in the United States.

Both Weintraub and Bennett started off their careers in public relations with different experiences. Weintraub was the assistant to Weber- Shandwick’s Manager of Public Affairs, her days consisting of answering phone calls and sitting at a desk. “It was a really strict and rigid environment,” she said. “I felt like since I wasn’t able to work directly with clients, I would do whatever I could to learn and contribute more on the fly.” One of Weintraub’s most memorable clients was the Bank of America, where she worked to build up the reputation of the bank’s corporate branch. She notes that it was an interesting case because while surveying to gauge public attitude, many people proclaimed to like their local bank branches, but hated their corporate branches. Thus, the firm was faced with the immense task of campaigning around corporate philanthropy. “Our assignment was to conduct Bank of America’s communications around media markets in Virginia and Maryland in order to boost the reputation of the bank’s corporate branch,” Weintraub described over the phone. “However, I personally saw more of the grunt work as I mainly assisted with writing press releases and template materials.” For Weintraub, this case was more about learning the structures of communications, understanding basic public relations vocabulary, and learning how to write like a public relations practitioner. Weintraub’s takeaway? Weber-Shandwick served as a learning

experience that allowed her to realize communications was a skill set that everyone should have.

For Bennett, her time at Edelman consisted of working in crisis communications. “One of our biggest and most challenging case studies was with Shell,” she said. According to Bennett, Shell started a controversial project where it would start an expedition for oil discovery off of the shores of Alaska. “I remember we were on call four times a day between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m., in order to follow the rig as it made its way to Alaska,” Bennett said. “We had to stay on top of everything as protests and media backlash occurred.” Part of Bennett's job was to pull together reports of any movement and activities on the rig, along with any protests or conversation about the rig on social media as it made its way to Alaska. This was to be preemptive in the face of protests and any reputation management that needed to be conducted as time went on. “I recall that one protest group hung themselves off of nearby cliffs in order to stop the rig from passing. Since they were suspended in mid-air in front of the rig, it couldn't move,” Bennett said with a laugh. “It was insane.” Overall, Bennett describes that her time with Edelman taught her to be open minded and flexible on the job, in order to be prepared for any type of situation.

Currently, Weintraub works as the Communications Director for the Center for Popular Democracy, an advocacy group that promotes progressive politics. Here, Weintraub can be found working on a number of different cases for a variety of different grassroots organizations. However, during our interview, I found myself most intrigued by her recollection of her involvement in the breaking of the video depicting Senator Jeff Flake’s elevator confrontation during the Kavanaugh hearing. “We used a tactic called bird-dogging, in where we train people to ask politicians questions while videotaping as they’re walking in order to get things on the record,” Weintraub explained. “Once we had this video of two sexual assault survivors confronting Senator Flake in the elevator, we contacted CNN and put a name to the story.” Once this was done, Weintraub and her team worked on rapid response statements in order to make sure the video was out with a name attached to it, followed by crisis management on the conservative rebuttal that the woman in the video was a puppet of the press. “One of the most important things we had to remember was to never go into the opposition's argument saying ‘no its not that, its this!’,” said Weintraub. “That would give more air time to the opposition, and undermine our main goal of humanizing the woman confronting Senator Flake.” This particular case study delved into many of the themes discussed in class, allowing me to draw parallels to previous examples given. This specific case involving breaking a certain news story in a precise way reminded of one of the most important principles of public relations: in order to maintain a certain public light, one must proactively get out the message you want the public to see while simultaneously not giving the opposition more air time in the process.

As for Bennett, she now works for The Clyde Group, a smaller, more personal public relations firm with no less important clients. “I wanted to work at a smaller firm as it allowed me to take on more responsibilities in every sector of public relations,” Bennett said. Since becoming a practitioner at The Clyde Group, Bennett has worked on several different cases, including managing communications for the Federal Credit Union, the University of Phoenix, and the Navy Fellowship Program. Currently, Bennett is dealing with a client involved with an FDC investigation- a client that shall remain unnamed. With this current case, Bennett finds herself in a board room the majority of the time, writing up and implementing mock scenarios in an attempt to be proactive. “We’re writing mock press releases, emails, media segments, answers to potential questions reporters may ask, and more,” she said. “It’s a lot of high pressure and it can be stressful, but for me, it’s also fun.” Amid this chaos, Bennett and her team find themselves also preparing and prepping for potential lawsuits and settlements that might occur. “Overall, it’s kind of insane right now,” Bennett said with a smile, “but we want to be as prepared as possible.” Bennett’s explanation of her current client relates back to the concept of be prepared and being proactive. A good public relations team wants to head off the problem before it gets blown up by the public, allowing the team to get their point of view out at the very beginning of a newsbreak. My takeaway from this case study? Good public relations efforts are proactive public relations efforts.

Arguably the most important thing to understand when practicing public relations is having a clearly set goal, without which would make implementing a sound, conclusive campaign unachievable. Through the interviews I conducted with Lia Weintraub and Sasha Bennett, I was able to gain a better insight and understanding of what the professional world of public relations is like. Their previous experience working and managing campaigns for various clientele of different backgrounds has allowed me to apply my classroom theory to real-world situations; the essential principles of strategic public relations are clearly conveyed through each of their various case studies. Despite their differences in background and working experience, each interviewee started off their strategies with a clearly stated goal- this goal fed into situation analysis that was essential towards making sure their research would help them reach their targeted audience properly. Each campaign had a clear message that was properly executed and delivered to each targeted audience, and each campaign emphasized the necessity of anticipation and proactive implementation.

It is difficult to get a clear picture of what the professional field of public relations is like without participating in an internship directly. However, these interviews have provided me with important insight into the world of public relations and all its varying facets. While I am personally interested in crisis management and communications, both interviewees have shown me how being openminded, flexible, and open for criticism are some of the most important skills to have. Not all public relations specialists work and experience the same things in the professional world; yet, I’ve found through these interviews that with the right foundations and technical skills, one can still be as successful as possible when working with a specific client.