Art is nourishment to the roots of our culture.

After taking considerable time to view and observe my blog site, boring, is the first thing that popped into my mind. I decided to go with a pink and white background because I thought the colors were vibrant and fun. After all, the event I am planning is suppose to be a celebration of healthy living so I thought pink and white were fun, vibrant colors. The font style I used is Georgia, and I choose this font type because it seemed the most readable. But changes need to be made to make this blog site enhance the overall feeling of celebrating healthy living.

I decided to add a totally different background to my blog site. I choose a picture of trees growing blueberries. I think that blueberries are one of the top healthiest fruits you can eat, so I thought this background would be perfect to capture the essence of healthy living. At the top of my blog I also added a picture of a healthy living banner and a photograph of a dance instructor, instructing dance routines. I thought these photos represented a great essence of healthy living and gave examples of what student's can expect at the event. On the right side of the blog I posted a photo of a lady holding a grocery bag with fruit in it, to display a vision of the free food that will be served at the event. These new additions tie into the Celebration of Healthy Living event because the goal of the event is to help students cut down on the obesity rate and to let them know that living healthy can be fun and excited. This blog site gives guests a vision to look forward to, a promise.

Passion and Commitment

Some people were born with a natural creative edge, while others go to school year after year trying to figure out how to become more creative. I would say that my creative side is much more powerful then my scientific side. I often find myself creating new art work, graphics, thinking of creative ways to plan a party, and so on. But when it comes to strategically planning the event or creating a strategy model, I find myself seeking a little bit of help. I remember when I was a publicist for Epicurean Fashion Experience, my job was to plan and promote events for the organization to make sure the public was aware the organization existed and what they had to offer. I just loved coming up with flyer ideas and planning parties for the organization. It also was my responsibility to make sure to schedule events for members to attend on campus. When FAMU hosted clubs and organization day on campus I created posters and set up a table with different display items for students to view. This was a very tedious task because I had to think of strategic ways to make the Epicurean table stand out among all the other 50 organizations who had tables set up that day, this is where the scientific aspect of planning the event came into play. The science behind planning this event was making sure the brochures had accurate information and were free of errors. I also had to make schedules for the semester to make sure members were informed on upcoming events, this was not a strength of mine because making a schedule takes a lot of planning.


Creativity is something that requires passion and commitment. A passion to think of great ideas and a commitment to make those ideas turn into a reality. Two blog spots that I find creative are, Mark Ragan, http://blog.ragan.com/prjunkie/  and Lisa Sprague, http://lisaforsheriff.blogspot.com/. These two blog sites consist of creativity and passion. I am inspire by ideas. It's like a could be sitting outside on a bench just taking in the fresh air and trying to clear my head, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I will just come up with some brilliant idea. It's something about being around nature and outdoors, the atmosphere really sparks my creative side. I realized that I am excellent at planning parties and events. I hope to one day be a PR specialist for a company in the entertainment or fashion industry. I've always been interested in entertainment and fashion. I remember when I was just a little girl in elementary school, I use to just draw fashion pieces and sketches of designs while my teacher was talking in class. This is when I first discovered my creative side and realized that even though I was only a little girl doodling in a notepad, this meant something. And when I came to college, I finally started to realize my purpose in life and what path I plan to take with my career.


"Great minds discuss ideas," this is something that my father always told me while I was growing up. He is someone I definitely remember as a great mind, and he will forever be my inspiration. He just had a presence about him that executed creativity.  He was COO of a fashion line named, Micheal Wesley. He created men's blazers and pants suit ideas and sold them to distributors to create. I remember when he would leave the country, and travel for months at a time to pursue his dreams of making the company world known. Nothing seemed to stop him and he was so determined and motivated to reach success at any cost. He never thought on a normal level. I remember he told me if you can see it, then you can make it become a reality. I strongly believe  that I get my creative edge from him. His memory inspires me to want to pursue all my goals, and whenever I think that something is impossible, I think of him, and feel motivated again. Inspiration is a powerful thing, it can influence your mind and motivate your actions. I admire my father, for his inspiration that he instilled in me. He will forever be someone that I look up to.

The Analyst

       After viewing Whitley and Christopher's blog sites, I must say I was very impressed. There is always the good, and then the bad. But critiquing others and giving our peers helpful advice only makes us better. First, I really liked the fact that Whitley's blog site has the pink background and a picture of a professional woman included on the site. I do think that her fonts for the top of the blog could be a little bit smaller and the font style is a little hard to read on the computer. I think it would look more professional if her blog site fonts were in like a New Times Roman font or something more basic. I do like the font style Whitley used for her wedding event post because it fit the description of the event. The event that Whitley is planning seems very fun and exciting. I wish Whitley could have went into a little more detail about her event, because I'm a little confused about what the event will actually include. But winning a free trip to Atlanta seems like a great bargain. I would definitely attend Whitley's event.

     When I first browsed through Christopher's blog site, I most say it caught my attention immediately. I love the NBPRS background on his blog. The white background with the black writing is very easy on the eyes. I feel like Christopher's writing is very informative and unique. He is definitely a great writer and I can tell he has a strong passion for public relations after viewing his blog. He has excellent and brilliant ideas for his fictitious event "Blackout Brunch." I wish Christopher would have went into a little more detail about his event and explained what some of the summer events would consist of. Overall I really love Christopher's blog site and I can tell that his event will be great and I can't wait to attend. 

     Combing these two student's events with mine seems like a great idea, and beneficial to all parties involved. "The Blackout Brunch" and The Celebration of Healthy Living event could definitely partner together to make an excellent event.The Celebration of Healthy Living will take place on July 31, but we could have a second event next spring and collaborate with Christopher's event. The African American women in PR could come the the healthy living event and talk to young women about all the opportunities that are available to them. The Celebration of Healthy Living event is mainly targeted to incoming freshman students, so this would be a perfect chance for students who are still undecided about their major to learn more about public relations from other women who are working in the industry.

    

Be the change that you want to see

 "Be the change that you want to see," is something a mentor always told me whenever I came across a road block in college. Today, our society is often changing and evolving around how the media views, feels, or tells somebody how they should look like. For example, most models in the fashion industry are over 5'8" in height and weigh under 120 pounds. Fashion magazines display these tall, skinny figures, and tell people that this is the definition of beautiful. This is a false perception, and over half of the United States population is over-weight. On the other hand, in the entertainment industry, rappers and singers are saying such words such as "I like my girls thick," or "bounce that butt, it's the roundest." These type of derogatory sayings make a lot of women think that "thick" or "fat" is the way to go. With this being said, The Celebration of Healthy Living event will dismiss these rumors and spark an immediate change in minority students on FAMUs campus, who are often persuaded by the media. This fictitious event will positively impact the FAMU Student Health Services by helping to get there message out to the public about how important it is to live a healthy lifestyle and cut down on the obesity rates among incoming freshman.

FAMU, is a historically black college and university, and has an obesity rate of 30%. African Americans are more prone to eat unhealthy and not work out. The Celebration of Healthy Living event will impact the FAMU community by letting these students know that "the time is now" to start living healthy. The Celebration of Healthy Living will let students know that what you see on television or here in rap songs is not the lifestyle they should try to portray. This event will hopefully change the mentally that being "thick," which is border-line fat, or looking "anorexic" is not healthy. This event will change students perceptions and provide them with hard core facts on healthy foods, exercise and dieting.

Many times, people think that if they look slim or a good size in the mirror, means they are perfectly healthy. This statement is not true. Just because you may not be over-weight physically, doesn't mean that you are healthy internally. The foods that you put into your body everyday has an impact on your future. The Celebration of Healthy Living event wants to let participants and other public's know that eating healthy is 80% of the goal towards losing weight, and the time is now to start living a healthy life. This event is geared to let participants know that you have to change old unhealthy eating habits and save yourself from serious health risks that are associated with unhealthy lifestyles. Through my career aspirations I plan to help motivate and encourage people to "be the change that you want to see." I plan on doing this by implementing planned programs of actions that will better serve the PR organization I will work for. I want to get the messages out to the public so they can have accurate information and make decisions based on true facts and ideas. I can make a positive impact in the world by speaking, writing and counseling people who may not have the tools necessary to do so.

Wedding Event

Live music, lots of food and beautiful flowing water, are all I can think of when I think back about a wedding I attended in April. This event had me driving all the way home with a huge smile on my face from ear to ear. The purpose of the wedding was the join together two people who were obviously head over heels for one another. It's crazy, because I had no idea who these two people were because I was invited to the wedding through a mutual friend. At first when we were driving to the lake where the wedding was taking place I had a not in my stomach because I didn't know what to expect, being as though I had no idea who these two love birds were. But when we arrived to the wedding, I was welcomed with open arms by family and friends and the atmosphere was filled with love and positivity.

The event was so enjoyable because you could tell that someone or a group of individuals really took a lot of time out to make sure everything went according to the program. After the couple exchanged vows we were instructed to have a seat at one of the tables that were set up outside or help ourselves to something to drink. When we took our seats appetizers were served by cheif's and then about 20 minutes later we were able to stand in line to serve dinner. A lot of planning went into the event because someone had to create the theme of the wedding with decorations, programs and ordering of the cake. I remember laughing because I seen near the drink table there were two kegg stands. This immediate made me assume that this couple must have just graduated from college and it also allowed for guests to see their fun personalities. This was obviously not your typical wedding because the bride even wore sneakers with her wedding dress.

 I just really appreciated the fact that this couple didn't want to have just a ordinary traditional wedding, yet they wanted to do it their own way, under their own rules. One of the public relations tools that I think they used for promoting this event was sending out messages to friends and family via online. The couple or the couples event coordinator created a website for the event where friends and family could RSVP and look at photos. This really gave a sense of what to expect at the wedding and how things would be ran. My expectations for any other wedding are high now after attending this well planned event.

Action is the fundamental key to success.

 Throughout my college experience so far, one thing has been made clear to me; public relations is not for everybody. When I first came to Florida A&M University, I was slightly confused on what public relations really meant, or the opportunities one could experience with a degree in the field. After meeting with an adviser as a sophomore in college, I decided to pursue a degree in public relations because I had a strong interest in writing, persuading, and promoting events/organizations. Throughout the past two years I have had several different internship experiences and relative public relations course that have helped me gain hands-on learning and better develop my skills.

My first internship experience was with Sony Music as Stache Media lifestyle representative. This internship definitely opened my eyes to a whole different aspect of public relations. For the first time, I had to run my own different campaigns for music artists and market promotional tools to different public's in the Tallahassee area. I used grass-root promotions to market to college campuses by hanging up flyers, posters, using chalk to write on sidewalks, and passing out promotional tools to students. I gained experience in promoting through cyberspace by using social media sites such as, Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. I even stepped up my photography skills by taking photos every week of the work I performed and making it look neat by posting the pictures to a lifestyle report. Not only did I have the opportunity of working on this internship during the spring semester, I was also a member of the PRodigy PR Firm. This PR-related campus organization taught me how to work in groups and finish tasks at deadlines. I served as a work group leader for an account called J-School Journals, where it was my responsibility to make sure all the members on the assigned account were performing duties to ensure that the event turned out to be a success. As a collective unit, we had to make sure that a qualified Mistress and Master's of Ceremonies were selected for the event, find and audition a group for entertainment and the make sure the program ran as planned.

During summer, I worked with The Media Sales Institute as a PR Coordinator intern. This internship was a very fast paced, intense, two week program that allowed me to implement planned programs of action for daily operations. I created program flyers, schedules, radio PSAs, and assisted recruiters with directions and documentations of scheduling for daily operations. At the end of the internship I realized which direction I wanted to go with my public relations degree. 10 years from now, I plan to open up my own PR consulting firm, called W-Brown Consulting Group, which will help solve marketing problems for different organizations in the entertainment/fashion industry. In order to reach this goal I will work full-time for two years at a PR Firm so I can learn how the business operates from the bottom up. During these two years working at the firm I will make it my objective of being the best associate by performing tasks before deadlines, exceeding expectations,  and ensuring I'm the first person in the door and the last person to leave. I want to work my way up in the company to a CEO or COO position after having several years of experience. This experience will give me the skills needed to one day open up my PR consulting firm in 10 years and ensure that it is successful. During these 10 years I also plan to pursue a Master's degree in business management.

Objective of PR Communications Course

Capable, creative, team-oriented person with a dynamic outlook on life and a strong desire to succeed in Public Relations. I'm Delmarshae Walker; a fourth-year Public Relations student from Aberdeen, Maryland. In 2008, I moved to Tallahassee, FL, to earn a Bachelor's of Science degree at Florida A&M University. I have strong talents in analyzing trends, creating documents, writing, and serving organization leaders and their publics. After graduation I plan to move to New York, Chicago, or Miami and pursue a career in Public Relations, working at a PR agency.

The Public Relations Communications course is designed to help students improve their writing. Throughout this course I hope to learn how to prepare communication tools PR professionals use to get messages to target publics and audiencess. The course is designed around a fictious special event and each student is responsible for planning and promoting their fictitious event. During the course, we will prepare documents that will be included in a media kit and develop a social media strategy. This course will help me to become a better writer and learn how to develop documents based on a deadline.

The name of my event is, "Celebration of Healthy Living." The event will take place from 9a.m.-3p.m in the FAMU Recreation Center. We will provide free breakfast and lunch for students with valid Rattler cards.The FAMU Food Services (Sodexo) has offered to sponsor these free meals for students. For the first time, students will be able to excercise one-on-one with world famous athletic trainer Shaun T from the Insanity Workout. Shaun T will host a boot camp from 2p.m.-3p.m. in the recreation center's dance studio. Dr. Oz, from the Dr. Oz show will also be in attendance and will host a free seminar for students. Throughout the day there will be music, games and a lecture on how to live a healthy life.