Shannon Alyse Mitchell

My Personal Brand

So how am I lookin’?• I’m a student at Humber College, getting one of the

best educations in public relations in Toronto• I will be done in one year, and will have completed a

four month internship• I come from a BAH in Theatre, which may help me in

some ways, but can also hinder me in that my knowledge at this point may be less than my peers in some areas

• The public relations field is growing, and is a field that is good when things are good, and good when things are bad

• With a growing trend for university students to attend college, I will be one of many looking to make their start

Y’all ready for this?

• My goal is to be a powerhouse professional. Someone who is capable of leading her team in an engaging and creative manner straight to the top. Who is known for keeping things light, but getting the job done. To use my skills and interest in the theatre and comedy to help facilitate a dynamic and enthusiastic environment, not only in my personal life, but in my professional life as well. Whatever it is I decide to do, my goal is to do it, be confident in it, and sell it.

Just you watch me• I will increase my presence on the internet by

50%• I will connect with my mentor within one month• I will develop a personal relationship with three

public relations professionals in five months• I will secure a job in the field of my choice

within one year• I will be in an upper management level position

in eight years• I will run my own public relations education

outreach entertainment industry in fifteen years

But how am I gonna do it?

• I will Tweet: I will tweet for both personal and professional use. I will not tweet that I got a new haircut, or I’m having soup for dinner, or that my boyfriend and I got into a fight about laundry. I will tweet with others in mind, and only when my tweet is of value, interest, or hilarity.

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• I will blog: I will blog about things that interest me. I will keep a separate blog for personal use and share my complaints, rants, hopes and dreams only with friends. I will keep another blog for a merge of my professional life and my personal life. This blog will ask for no pity, will not go into the minutiae of my daily life, and will maintain professionalism with the air of a personal and non-corporate touch.

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• I will comment: I will comment on others blogs when I feel I have something of value to say. I will not comment “first,” “pwned” or “FTW.” I will ask questions in my comments. I will stay away from getting into online disputes with other commenter's, even if I know I’m right (and I am). I will comment with links, and I will never comment… just to comment…

My message• I would like to get the message across that you do not need

to fall into a mold. You don’t need to be certain of anything you like or dislike, as long as you’re confident that you like who you are. I think you can like a lot of things, and be good at a lot of things, without necessarily putting yourself in a category with other people. Even your personal brand does not have to be set in stone. This is what I believe my personal brand to be today, but I know tomorrow I could think something entirely different – this is my brand. I choose to constantly evolve, but always, always be confident that that evolution is taking me place and making me better. I think it’s important to take people’s feedback and not let it influence you. If you spend your life doing something because someone else thinks you’re good at it… you’re probably missing out. And if you don’t know if you’re good at something, or even if you like it… all the power to you for at least realizing that and not being pigeonholed.

• This is my message: Evolve

My Oath• I promise not to overload the internet with

comments, blog posts, tweets and photos of Shannon Mitchell. That being said, I promise to maintain an online presence and more importantly, continuously maintain it. I promise to not have anything on the internet I would be embarrassed of, but to remember that I have nothing to hide. I believe that if someone is hiring me, they deserve to know the real me. If they dislike the STYX shirt in my profile pic, or that Keanu Reeves is one of my interests, and are willing to judge me purely on these things, then our corporate culture may not mesh. I promise to be okay with my decision to remain myself online. I promise to censor my online profile, but not to point of forsaking any part of my personal brand or who I am.

And just how am I going to do all this?

• I figure, the best way to figure something out… is to ask.

• September/October: Discover personal brand, work on absorbing new vocabulary and getting a feel for the industry.

• November/December: Find a mentor through CPRS. Develop my personal brand further.

• January/February: Connect with mentor. Look into deciding what field of PR I’m interested in.

• March/April: Confirm possible career field by securing internship placement. Ask mentor for advice. Continue personal brand remodeling and continue to network and develop skills I learned in school.

• May/June: Start placement. Focus on networking and finding my niche in the PR field.

So… why exactly am I doing this?

• I want to prove myself as a successful woman in public relations. I also want to pursue comedy and live theatre. I think that together, these two could be really great things for me. Comedy and theatre is all about timing, awareness, knowing your audience, keeping up with current events and being comfortable in public and loving that limelight. Public relations can be about the same thing. Everything has already been done, and this is one field that I don’t think has been conquered yet, at least not by a female. I want to bring public relations to the forefront of the entertainment industry and use my skills in theatre to really get on the same level with my audiences. Ideally, I would love to run conferences incorporating presentations and comedy that teach companies and their employees about the most important ways for their company to look good and act smart.

…• This would give me an unlimited audience.

Every company wants and needs to know how to make their company run smoother, sleeker, and more effectively. Public relations can teach them that. But who wants to listen to boring presentations or have to take a course? Entertainment is really what it’s about, and people want to be entertained. That’s where I want to step in. I think this is an undiscovered goldmine, and I intend to work hard and persist until I’m rolling in that gold like Uncle Scrooge. Metaphorical gold of knowing I’ve helped people learn skills in a way that makes them happy of course. Not real gold. Although that would be nice too.

Why dontcha click me for a vid?