Three years into a successful career in Public Relations, we asked Associate Manager Lee Zhong Ci to share her thoughts on the journey thus far and her plans and dreams for the path ahead.
Q: Tell us a bit about you
I joined the industry immediately after graduating from SUSS – Singapore University of Social Science – where I was part of the very first cohort and majored in Marketing. Being honest, I didn’t know much about marketing, so it was a journey of exploration, learning how brands and people engage and I am glad that I took that direction.
One important part of student life was the internships and I did three over my degree course. It was the last one, with a small PR firm, that delivered the huge “wow” when I was part of the team managing the Outstanding Social Service awards, that convinced me that PR was the right way ahead for me. I got to visit the Istana (the Presidential office in Singapore) and to meet the President herself which was really amazing and it took me beyond the consumer work that I had done previously.
After that I joined Priority Consultants as an Account Executive and like my first role was media outreach in support of events, news and media briefing sessions. That ground-up experience is really very important in this profession as it lays the foundation in how the media works and then after a few months I started to engage directly with our clients. As a young professional, having a solid understanding of the media landscape was very important in building my confidence as I was able to share this knowledge with our clients.
Q: PR is a relationship business so talk a bit about that?
For a successful career in PR, it is important that you like working with people and bring the sensitivity and acumen to build relationships based on mutual trust and value. In this context, media relationships are more difficult to build because you cannot go online and do the research as you can with a client organisation and so it is gradually building up awareness and knowledge every time you connect. Plus, we stay with our media relationships over time even though clients change and that is a valuable asset for any professional.
Q: What personality traits are needed in PR?
A “go get” attitude is absolutely vital – we are not here to carry out instructions, but instead to put forward ideas and when necessary, solutions to any problems that our client may have. Sometimes, we face situations where there is no textbook answer, and this is where a professional will step forward to consult and counsel and formulate the best counsel for that situation. Equally, this is where client and agency need to have built up mutual trust.
Integrity is also important so speak up if you make a mistake and do it fast – because waiting doesn’t make anything go away and makes it even worse. So, state the facts and explain – then learn.
Q: Anything stand out in your work at Priority?
Many things have been exciting and I have learned a lot about different industries and about people. The most exciting project however was providing the PR support when Barack and Michelle Obama came to Singapore and we got to see all that was going on both on stage and behind the scenes. I was so excited to have an opportunity to invite our media friends to attend and thank them for their support at the same time. (Ak ZC a photo for bama)
Q: Any advice for a young professional?
Know your own strengths and weaknesses and never be afraid to give something a try and take all the internship opportunities you can while studying – at least learn what you love doing and then stick to it.