Starting as a PR Intern at Caster: Payton St. Lawrence

Starting senior year of college is scary, especially with family and friends constantly asking what you’ll do with your life once you graduate. The best time of your life is coming to an end, and it is time to get a “real job.” My college experience has been nothing short of amazing: it started with a far journey from a small town in Rhode Island to James Madison University in Virginia.  

Though the move taught me so much about myself, I met lifelong friends, and even began adapting to the slow-paced Southern lifestyle, I knew this wasn’t where I wanted to spend my college career, so I enrolled at the University of Rhode Island. I love the beach here – I have a second home in Block Island — and I’m always looking for new health foods and adventures to keep busy.   

I hadn’t immediately declared a major, but one of my peers spoke highly of her public relations courses. She always talked about how much creativity went into her classwork, how she worked on real-world PR projects, and how great the professors were, so I decided to give it a shot. Flash forward three years: I love what I am studying. My courses have taught me what it is like to work with a non-profit client to increase social media engagement and I learned how to create media kits and press releases about upcoming events.  

I had my first PR and social media internship at Providence Mutual Insurance, which taught me a lot about the importance of research in PR. As my first time applying what I had learned in my public relations courses in the real world, I was responsible for creating content for the company’s Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts. It was a cool experience to research the pros and cons of businesses getting involved with Instagram and I drafted potential Instagram posts for when they did start their Instagram page.   

I was intrigued when I heard that Caster was looking for an intern, because I had always been interested in the PR firm environment. I heard that it was fast-paced and challenging and I, of course, loved that it was local, so I didn’t have to leave little Rhody. I was lucky enough to start two weeks ago, and on my first day at Caster I was already learning how to use PR tools like Meltwater and Tweetdeck, and how trade shows worked. I was surprised by the willingness of all team members to help me learn and get a feel for what it is like to work at Caster.  

I wasn’t expecting to learn so much in so little time, but it just shows how much this position will help me in furthering my PR career. Prior to starting my internship with Caster, I did not know much about the home-tech industry. With just a few weeks of work and research, I feel like I’ve learned a lot! I have learned so much in my few weeks as an intern and cannot wait to see where the rest of this semester takes me. Follow me on Twitter at @PaytonStLawren1