The team behind the "Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable" campaign includes PR students Katrina Marcotte, Camille Basto, Meagan Perkins, Colleen Raymond and Alicia Maciel.
A team of five DePaul students, Di-Voice-City, is breaking down barriers and inviting people of all backgrounds to partake in conversations about race and diversity. Each year, the PRSSA
Bateman Case Study Competition gives public relations students the opportunity to develop a full public relations campaign. This year, the PRSA foundation challenged Bateman teams nationwide to increase awareness of diversity and inclusion in public relations. After students conducted preliminary research—including surveys, interviews and secondary sources—they discovered that diversity is an uncomfortable topic for most people, and that people's understanding of the PR field is vague.
The student campaign features the new book "Diverse Voices: Profiles in Leadership," which shares the stories of successful PR professionals.
Taking this knowledge, Di-Voice-City created the "Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable" campaign to heighten awareness about PR and the importance of diversity and inclusion by engaging people in conversation.
The campaign is spread across a variety of platforms. One of the group’s tactics is building relationships with Chicago high schools by donating books, providing infographics and creating a mentor database. All of these educational resources will help high school counselors have the tools to educate minority students about opportunities in PR.
Di-Voice-City’s "Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable" campaign is engaging DePaul students on both campuses. For four weeks, the team implemented a movable couch installation at DePaul, encouraging all students and faculty to take a seat and join the discussion about diversity and inclusion in PR and what it means to them. The Di-Voice-City team also took over College of Communication social media channels and partnered with the
Public Relations and Advertising program to spread the word about their campaign.
Di-Voice-City’s concluding effort for their campaign is the exciting event "Millennials Shaping the PR Landscape," which will feature Ketchum PR professionals Tony Balasandiran and Annayelli Flores to discuss diversity in PR, followed by a Q&A session.
Event Details:
"Millennials Shaping the PR Landscape"
Wednesday, March 7 at 3 p.m.
Barnes & Noble, DePaul Center (1 E. Jackson Blvd.)