Speaker Series: Jill Swartzentruber Seeks Out Public Relations Connections

For this week’s speaker series, we sat down with Jill Swartzentruber. As a rising junior at the University of Delaware, she’s ready to dive head first into the PR world and cultivate her green thumb in Kennett Square.

Jill is majoring in English with a concentration in Professional Writing and a minor in Community and Organizational Leadership. She is the publisher for her university’s fashion magazine, UDress, and a proud member and contributing writer to UD’s Public Relations Society of America (PRSSA).

Blogging is one of her true passions. She writes for Delaware’s The Odyssey Online and is a style guru for CollegeFashionista.

She is excited to embark on her first public relations journey!

Continue reading to learn more about Jill and the role she plays at Garden Media.

What are your strengths?

I believe my strengths lie in all things having to do with planning. To-do lists are my favorite. They help me with time management and organizing. I think these skills go a long way in any industry because you always need to be on your toes and ahead of the curve.

Who do you look up to?

Every person that is in my life is in it for a reason. I believe that reason is for them to teach me something and for that, I look up to them.

The people that take the time to impact my life are the ones that deserve this recognition.

What do you enjoy about the PR industry?

I enjoy every little bit of it! Although, if I had to pick one thing I would choose the connections. This industry opens up so many doors to so many different people and companies, and life is all about who you know.

With these connections you gain different insights to things you never would have thought about. It is a never ending roller coaster and I love it!

What are you studying in college and why?

My college career path has been the opposite of consistent. I started out as a New Media Journalism major, and then switched to Interpersonal Communications. Now I am English-Professional Writing (with a minor in Leadership).

Going into my junior year at University of Delaware, I hope I have found my niche.

I have always had a passion for writing, whether it is song lyrics, poetry, blogs or even creative stories. It is an outlet that is truly expressive. I think English fits well into the PR world because you need to know how to write well in order to deliver a good pitch, press release or even common email.

I decided to minor in Leadership because why not? Who doesn’t need a good leader?

What are you looking forward to the most during your internship with Garden Media Group?

I am looking forward to getting to know everyone on a personal level. Like I stated previously, connections are so important and all of the lovely people here are people I want to know and stay in touch with.

As for the PR side, I am looking forward to seeing how a project moves from start to finish. There are so many details you can only pick up on if you witness them firsthand and I can’t wait to see the process.