Chelsey Saatkamp, an alumna from the public relations emphasis in the department of communications, completed an internship at the end of her BYU career and has not looked back since being hired on with Goodman Media International located in New York City. As one of the small number of college graduates working in the same industry in which she studied, Saatkamp is as happy as ever.
Goodman Media is a public relations and corporate communications agency that specializes in media relations, social media campaigns and numerous other facets of the media industry. These are areas that Saatkamp thrives in professionally and where her experience lies from the internship that originally brought her to the company.
“I work at an agency, so I’m part of several accounts for which we do the PR and media relations work. I do a lot of media pitching, social media, gathering news clips, research, and strategizing campaigns,” she said.
Saatkamp expressed that she got so much experience from the faculty members from the Department of Communications as well.
“Drs. Wakefield, Plowman and Carpenter all prepared me for the real world in their teaching styles,” Saatkamp said. “They were all so helpful in making sure we always knew the reasons behind what we were learning and letting us learn things hands-on. Jeff and Lincoln in the Bradley Agency were also hugely influential for showing me how real-life agencies work and guiding me in that setting.”
Working in New York is almost as fast-paced as living there, according to Saatkamp.
“I get into the office and check my email and read the past news headlines from the day before to see if anything can be leveraged there. Then throughout the day its meetings, calls, pitching, research, gathering news clips, strategizing, etc.. Some days there will be events I’m helping with or new business meetings, but I’m never very far from my phone. I get an average of 100 emails a day!”
Her desire to work in the media industry is deeply rooted in advocating for people, organizations and causes that she is passionate about. Seeing the behind-the-scenes and mechanics of what goes into a company’s reputation is something that she finds fascinating to this day.
BYU’s Department of Communications also helped teach her necessary skills that have taken her far in her day-to-day tasks to date.
“Good and persuasive writing is key in my job, and I felt I got a lot of practice with that in my classes. While I may not use the matrix everyday, knowing those fundamentals has been really helpful in larger strategy meetings, making sure my team is on the right track and aware of the reasons for each tactical decision,” she said. “All the group work and working with actual clients that we did made the transition to agency life natural.”
To top off her dream job, Saatkamp enjoys the fun that the city has to offer after she is finished with working for the day.
“I love living in New York! There is always something fun to do after work, and for work I’m right in the heart of the industry. It’s very exciting.”