Student-run communications agency provides real-world experience

With more than 300 student clubs and organizations on campus, choosing an extra-curricular to join at FIU can be difficult. But for students interested in building their skills in public relations, journalism, marketing and communication, as well as gaining real work experience, the choice is easy: Check out the Bold Strategic Communications Agency.

BOLD is a student-run agency that works a lot like a public relations internship. Members are divided into groups and paired with an organization that needs help with public relations, advertising and marketing. For an entire semester, students are put in charge of their clients’ communication strategies, taking on the roles of account executives, event planners, social media specialists, content writers, market researchers, web or graphics designers, and more.

BOLD currently serves six organizations, who were introduced to the agency by alumna Lily Saviñon ’10, founder of the Miami-based advertising agency LD Creative. Saviñon is BOLD’s professional consultant, and she meets with the students regularly to guide their work and give insight into the industry.

Mary Corbin

Mary Corbin, a senior majoring in public relations and political science, serves as account executive for the team working with the Ladies Empowerment Action Program (LEAP). LEAP is a Miami-based nonprofit organization designed to empower incarcerated women by providing them with entrepreneurship training, education and mentorship. The organization is small and needed help getting the word out about their work, so to start out, Corbin’s team is working to rebuild LEAP’s website and design email flyers for upcoming events.

“Non-profit work is a good way to get into PR,” Corbin said. “LEAP has a small board of directors, so we’re trying to show people who they are and what they do, and start fundraising.”

As members of BOLD, students gain real-world experience working as a company’s public relations and advertising department, which is useful for building a resume; and any student in the FIU community who has an interest in the field is welcome to join.

Leonardo Cosio

Leonardo Cosio, a sophomore majoring in broadcast media, serves as the account executive for the team working with the FIU Honors College. The Honors College is looking to connect more with students, faculty and the community, so they recruited BOLD’s help to recreate its image and strengthen its online presence.

“When Honors College Dean Lesley Northup got word of BOLD, she seized the opportunity to not only obtain student insight, but to allow our very own bright and ambitious students to take the lead on this very sizeable task,” said Honors College Head of Career Services Isabel Green, who works directly with Cosio’s team.

Green said the Honors College’s goal is to create a consistent message about the college that can be communicated through every channel, including social media, website, marketing materials, events and more. To get started, Cosio said his team will consolidate the Honors College’s 15 Facebook pages into three or four central pages that encourage more interaction among students, faculty and the community.

“In our initial meeting, everyone involved, including the Dean, was blown away by the ambitiousness of each of the students. Of course, we should have known, considering the team is made up of Honors College students,” Green said. “We were expecting the meeting to be filled with introductions and general overviews, but were delighted to see that each student came prepared with impressive ideas for improving the Honors College’s marketing and public relations—ideas that were are already in the process of implementing.”

Students who are interested in joining BOLD but don’t want to participate in the group work portion have the option of simply attending monthly general meetings, where guest speakers from the professional world are invited to talk about different aspects of the public relations, advertising and marketing industries. At the BOLD’s first general meeting, held in September, NBC 6 South Florida’s Lourdes Reigosa and Brandon Lopez spoke about the do’s and don’ts of pitching stories to the news and other media.

“BOLD gives students the opportunity to see what’s it’s really like to do PR,” Corbin said. “You really get the hands-on experience on how to run a PR agency.”